Final Book Cover for Penguin Adult Design Award 2013

The image below show the final image my my designed cover for the Penguin Adult Design Award 2013.

Feedback Developed Book Cover Changes

Keeping in mind the feedback I got, I then started making changes upon my book cover.

The screenshot above shows that I changed the brightness of the skull. By doing this, I can a hug improvement and the cover look more eye-catching.

The screenshot above shows that I adjusted the levels and brightness of the background. To make the text look more visible but keep the crime/mysterious effect, I used a soft brush and applied shading around the text. By doing this, the effect it gave out was that the smoke fog had blended with the text and gave a creepy feel towards the book.

The screenshot above shows then started focusing on the text on the behind cover. I also changed the levels and brightness of the background so it was the same as the front cover.  Here I made specific text in bold, different text style and in a different font colour. For example, the publishers of the newspaper in which a quote on the book is extracted from.  I thought that the important information of the book should be in bold instead of the summary of the book because I thought that it would inform the reader about what other people think of the book instead of reading the summary to find wither this book is the type of book that interests you.

The screenshot above show the final book cover for the penguin awards 2013

Feedback

After showing the cover to fellow classmates and friends, the feedback I gathered from them was near enough similar. After explaining what the book was about, they felt that the cover made sense and it was stating the obvious because they wouldn’t link a skull physically to the book but the meaning behind the skull yes. It worked hand in hand. Below are some of the overall improvements that they recommended that I should change was:

1. The title of the book in the front cover wasn’t clear enough to read and got lost within the background.
2. The back cover text needed re-thinking as some of the text was to light and other was too bold. Maybe only apply certain sections in different text styles.
3. The colour upon the skull was to bold and to reflect stain glass windows, it would be better if the lighting was lighter.
4. Don’t let the front contract to much together. You want everything to be visible and clear.

Having this feedback in mind, I will go back to  my designs and altered all the necessary elements as requried.

Creating the Cover

After creating the main image for the cover, I then started placing together all the other elements to create the book. This consisted of typography, layout and backgrounds. Below shows the progress of this.

The screenshot above shows that I  placed the image of the within the book template that was provided from the penguin adult award 2013 package.  Having placed the image in the template, I then re-sized the image to what I felt was the right size and proportion layout of the book.

The 2 screenshots above shows that I was looking at different backgrounds. To make the image stand out on the cover, I had to have a dark and gloomy background. Comparing the the two background, I felt that the rain background worked best because it gave the book more depth and didn’t look dull but interesting. It also set the scene of the story.

The screenshot above shows that I was experimenting with typography.  I was fond of this type called “Death Branch” because I personally felt that it related to the book in regards to the the fields and orchids. After looking at the page as a whole with this text type, I felt that it the cover wasn’t appealing at all and that it looked like it was more of a children type font. Keeping this in mind I looked at the type of font that penguin have used and tried to work in that style.

The screenshot above shows that I changed the font to “Calibri” because it was bold, clear and readable.  Comparing it to the previous font, this font worked out a lot better. I Then started placing in the other text required for the book and adjusted the leading and tracking.

The screenshot above shows  that I duplicated the background from the front cover and place in the summary of the text. Here the size of the text and format of text was adjusted (the styles like in italic, the aligned of the text center and the right etc).

After looking at the overall looks of the back and front cover, I felt that the background wasn’t working. So then I started thinking what other background could I use. I found a stock image of a smokey background and after testing and experimenting, I selected the one that you can see in the screenshot above.

After selecting the background; the screenshot above shows that I started focusing on the spine of the book. Here I experimented with the text being portrait and landscape and came to the decision that it worked best landscape as the text would of been to cramped and not readable to the reader. Here I made the title of the book bigger than the authors name and changed the tracking to -50 to also reflect the same upon the front cover. The text colour is also different from the authors name to the title of the book as I didn’t want the text to look like one line but be breathable and distinctive.

The screenshot above shows the final back and front cover of the book. I am know going to show this to my fellow classmates and friends and get feedback for improvement.

 

Designing Stage – Creating the Cover Image

After selecting the design for the front cover, I then started creating the main images; which was the skull.  The images below shows how I created it.

The screenshot above show that I started off by getting a template image of a skull as this would be the guideline for me in creating the face.

The screenshot above, show that I used the pen tool, and traced around the image. The reason I did this was because I didn’t want the skull to be realistic but illustrated and vectored as I want to follow along the same lines of the styles of the penguin books.

The screenshot above then shows that using the pen tool, I recreated the shape of the skull to look similar to my initial sketch.  Once I was happy with the happy, I filled in the content in black.

The screenshot above shows that I then used the guidelines to help me located and place where I was going to put the eyes and nose so that It would look symmetrical.  To create this, I used the pen tool once again.  The nose is is the form of a heart but upside down to illustrate the gambling within the book.  The original image of the skull helped with the layout and positioning of the features.

Once I was happy with the positioning, I then found a stock image of a silhouette of the Los Angeles and flipped it upside down and re-sized it so it fitted with the proportion of the mouth. By doing this, it gave the idea of blood dripping and this emphasized also death from within the book.  The screenshot above shows this.

This screenshot above shows that I started creating the image for the stain glass window. To do this, I used the pen tool to create random shape but made sure that the flowed with each other. The choice of colour, was purely based on the use of the 1930’s as the colour was light and vibrant. I also tried to keep with the colours that had been associated with all the colour that the penguin book have used on there book covers.

The screenshot above show that I have completed the face with stain glass window effect.

The screenshot above shows that I selected the outline of the skull and erased the access bits of the glass window.

The screenshot above show the final version of the skull image. I filled in the eyes and nose in black.

Book Cover Development

Having look at the cover designs, I decided to go with cover idea 6 as I thought that the stain-glass window would draw the attention to the audience via it use of colours.  Having this is mind, I started to develop the idea further to get a strong conceptual concept and something that would make the audience think when they see the cover but also intrigue new readers to have glance and be curious what the book is about.  The slide shows shows the development of the idea but I will discuss it in more details below.

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This show a skull but in a retro style. I choose to imply the skull on the cover as I felt that the book was mysterious and this emphases this. The nose is the in the shape of a heart that describes the gambling within the story. The orchids to state the fields and the skull being dripped states the blood of deaths within the story. I didn’t think that the text and layout of the typography worked well with each other.

 

 

I then developed it into a different angle of a love heart within the stain glass window and a image of the knight in the form of a chess piece. To give it the crime and mysterious look, the heart in bleeding into a puddle in which some text is written in blood font. Overall, I thought that it wasn’t as strong as eye-catching compared to the 1st development but it still need to be developed more to gain a strong outcome.

 

 

I then thought, what it I combined elements from the previous development and see what the outcome was. Have this in mind, I recreated the skull to make more realistic and not so cartoony and  used the knight of a chess piece. I combined theses two together as a half and half to create a face. The image on the left shows this. Looking at this idea as book cover, I didn’t think that it would really work as I think it came across that it was a demon book or gave mixed messages. Even though it had the mysterious  element towards it, there wasn’t anything that was catching my attention.

So having this in mind, I thought, right, I need to have solid clear image that would portray the book as range of concepts from within it. Straight away, the idea of the skull was my gut feeling but to make it eye-catching but creepy and mysterious was the problem.  In the 1930’s stain glass windows was all colorful and vibrant so I thought why not impose that upon the skull and then have the background crime and dark so that together the book cover will look different to the existing book covers out there yet be crime/mysterious. The nose is a love heart upside down which states the gambling and the dripping mouth in dripping in the form of the location of story, Los Angeles.  I loved this idea concept because to the reader who are familiar with the book, they will be able to understand the cover and to new readers, they will feel intrigued to find out more as the cover doesn’t state the obvious at all.

Cover Book Ideas

Below are ideas that I came up with for designs for the front cover.

Idea 1

The idea above is pretty simple and self explanatory. The rain drops in the background is emphasising the mood and the set of where the story starts. The gun states that the book is about killings. It is fairly basic but it wasn’t eye-catching at all. The text of the title seems to get lost as it to cramped together with the imagery. A better layout is required.

Idea 2

The idea above shows  a detective dressed as a gangster in style of the 1930’s.  The background is of the mansion.The image of the guy is also dripping and by doing this it emphases that the book is about deaths. I explored with typography here but it didn’t work well at all. It wasn’t readable or clear. The cover wasn’t orginal all. It follows allow the same line as the existing book covers.  I had to start thinking outside the box now.

Idea 3

The idea above shows that I took a different approach towards the concept of the cover. Instead of showing the obvious, I thought about more of the feature of the book. The design shows the olden day photography imagery and within it different elements of the book. To the audience they will be able to act like an detective and solve the story along side Marlowe. Overall, I think that is is a good cover but it just gives away what the plot is about.  It just couldn’t state the obvious.

Idea 4

The idea above shows the Knight from playing chess and the background is of the chessboard. I actually liked this idea a lot but I felt that to the audience, it may portray to them that book is a romance book or someone being the knight in shinning armor and saving people. Keeping this is mind, I came up with another concept within different elements and key facts from within the book to see if there was any other ideas that could lead to me a stronger idea.  What I liked about this idea was that the horse, had a drip of cry. I did this because I wanted to shows that the book is also sorrowful.

Idea 5

The idea for the cover above is simple and clean. It is showing the orchids, glass of drink and magnifying glass. I felt that the overall idea didn’t portray. Also it didn’t shout out mystery and crime at all. It wasn’t effective  effective on its own and I don’t think it would be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting

Idea 6

The idea for the cover above is showing a rain drop and within the rain drop is the silhouette of the location of where is story take place. In addition, I have incorporated a gun within it and had stain-glass windows. The rain drop may not only states the weather the scene that place but also as a tear drop for the amount of deaths that took place.

Research

Whilst looking at the variety of different book covers, I realised that penguin book covers are all vectors/illustration Having this in mind, I will create a concept with the cover being a vector or illustration instead of making use of photography because by this I will be able to keep a consistency with the originality of there other published books; there will be a link.

 

Each of these book covers have something different about them but lot of them have reference to Phillip Marlowe the detective on the front. This is purely from the fact that he is the main character in the book, however when designing my book cover, I would want to work along side  the obvious and as well as the non obvious. Have a concept that doesn’t inform the reader immediately and give away what the book is about. An example of this would be the twilight book. The image below shows this.

Research Book Analysis

The book cover below is a much older cover but it’s an interesting one.  The designer uses very simple and basic illustrations on the cover and I like how the green works well in contrast to the red of the sticker. The cover is broken down into sections; the authors names and the book title is included at the top in separate boxes. By this, it allows the artwork space to breath. This may be something I should take into consideration when I create my own cover.

The book cover below, I didn’t really like it at all as I found it boring. The images had no humph or excitement about it to capture the audience attention. I found that the use of font was strong, bold and clear but it didn’t shout out anything any crime but more of slick, clean, calm romance.

The book cover below was designed by “Tom Adams“. He is a famously known for this Agatha Christie paperback cover in the 1970s. He also designed a range of book covers for Chandlers books and they are good book covers in my opinion. I found that this book cover was different but I liked it a lot. There variety of stuff going on within the background, animals and different  colours. But despite that it is hectic, the book cover is very eye-catching.  I feel that this design cover are still very mordant even though it was designed 40 old years ago.

The book cover below I found look conceptually interesting and a lot of work went into it as it looks very creative but I felt that it wasn’t really eye-catching and the font/text wasn’t clear at all. The cover is illustrating mansion and the it flow from the front cover to the spine and onto the back. It very interesting but i personally think that the designer should of just focused on the image being the center of attention then the spreading it across the cover.

The book cover below was very simple but effective. I like how the designer used concepts and facts about the story in the form of a silhouette.  The use of colour work well within the book but I felt that as a new reader, the images gives away what the book is about even if the person doesn’t know the sort of stories that the author writes about. Instead of reading the summary, the covers tell you exactly what the book is about.

The book cover below, is different to the other, as it uses the photography.  Concept wise, I think it works but it aint very eye-catching. It colours are dull which works well as it reflects the theme of the book. Whilst looking at at other existing penguin covers, they all seemed to work along with illustration/vectors.

Research – Existing Book Covers

The brief stated that “Try to design a new cover for a new generation of readers, avoiding the obvious cliches. Originality is key“. Having this in mind, I thought I would carry out existing research into the book covers for this book, so that it will give me an insight and try to come up with a different concept.

Below of images of book covers.