Graphic Design 2.1: Professional Practice, Project 6: ‘Professional Bodies and Graphic Design Competitions’ Exercise 1
Exercise 1: The Front Cover - Reading Matters
Ahead of the assignment, this exercise asks you to break down key components that make up a book’s front cover.
Firstly select a title from a book of your own choosing - this can be from any genre, just make sure you are very familiar with the narrative. Alternatively choose a classic title from the list below:
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000)
Herman Melville, Moby Dick (1851)
Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass (1995)
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003)
Visit: LitCharts or Goodreads, both are excellent resources to get you started.
2. Secondly, having chosen your title and researched into different cover editions, question whether there are key conceptual motifs being used over and over again within different cover treatments?
Can you identify more expressive versions of the covers? Check the date of each version and try to speculate about the historical, political or social context for each one. (Don’t spend long on this but it’s important to realise that creative design doesn’t happen in a vacuum.)
3. Using one of the main motifs you have identified (such as the uniforms that feature in the Handmaid’s Tale), the title of the book, author’s name, and no more than three colours (including black and white), generate as many different layouts of the cover design as you can.
Think about how you can dynamically layer, organise, frame, clash, or balance these elements. Work quickly and come up with lots of different visual possibilities. Aim to generate quick design possibilities by arranging your typography, motif and colours in as many, and as varied, ways as possible.
4. Lastly use thumbnail drawings or DTP layouts to achieve at least ten fundamentally different layouts. From this, select one that you think works best and write a brief rationale for your choice. This is a warm up exercise that will help you with your approach to designing a cover for assignment six.
The book I decided to focus on for this task was the classic novel ‘Crime and Punishment’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This is one of my favourite books and it has various motifs and visuals that represent the overall narrative's meaning. I began to research different book covers, including official and ‘fan made’ versions, noting reoccurring and interesting motifs.
Crime and Punishment was first published in 1866, making it 158 years old. I also researched some of the more classical book covers, trying to find the oldest I could.
Some of the earlier versions of the book I found from the 1950’s had very similar styles of covers (Figure 13,14,15). The first element that stood out to me from these covers was the use of a similar serif style typeface. Figure 13/14 are very similar, this reflects the time period in general but it also represents the more serious nature of the book’s content. Figure 15 is slightly later in the 50’s and uses a more experimental typeface, what I believe to be influenced by the Russian Alphabet.
The colour palettes of these books are all very similar, using Red’s/oranges. These colours encapsulate a sense of violence and severeness, all tropes of the book. They also represent blood and fire, again elements linking to the narrative. The newer book covers also use similar colour palettes.
The illustrations in figures 13/14 are very similar and reflect an older style of illustration than the 1950’s. I believe that they draw on styles from the late 1800s- early 1900s black and white illustrative style in order to represent the age of the book.
The overall composition and hierarchy of information is quite formal and standard/less experimental across these book covers, again representative of the time, especially when compared to the newer covers which are more experimental.
Throughout my research, I noticed various reoccurring motifs and colour palettes. The main motif was imagery of an axe, representing a key moment of the narrative where Raskolnikov commits murder using an axe. A reoccurring colour used is red, which represents blood, violence and evil.
Below I have listed potential motifs I could use, describing briefly how they represent the narrative of the book, including ideas from my research and others I had when considering how to visually represent the book.
Motifs:
Axe: The axe used by Raskolnikov when committing murder, an integral part to the narrative.
Cross: Sonia gives Raskolnikov a cross, resembles suffering, redemption and forgiveness which are key themes of the book.
Scales: Balance of good and evil which is a key theme of the book.
Cage: Represents Raskolnikov going to prison and the metaphorical meanings behind this such as finding redemption through suffering/repentance.
Horse: Raskolnikov dreams of a mule/horse being beaten, which represents key themes in the book such as suffering and inherent cruelty of humans. This is an integral part of the book as this dream presents to himself how wrong his acts were.
Siberia (outline of country): Where Raskolnikov is exiled and symbolises where he begins to ‘forgive’ himself.
Candle: Symbolises light and dark themes within the book, used throughout the book in various scenes, highlighting key moments such as death and redemption.
Maze: A maze like image could represent the busy streets of St. Petersburg which symbolises Raskolnikov’s mind, thoughts and complicated emotions of all humans.
Chains: Used when Raskolnikov is in prison, represents the emotional and psychological burden being carried by people.
Eye: "The eyes are the windows to the soul” a good symbol for Raskolnikov’s redemption.
I felt that the scales motif worked best in representing the overall themes of the book. The balance of human emotion, justice, morality, punishment, psychological imbalance etc.
I considered the images style, typeface and colour simultaneously so they were all cohesive. I considered designing in a more modern style using a simple vector drawing of the scales, or even a hand drawn ‘messy’ style to represent psychological struggle, paired with a sans serif type face.
I later decided that a modern style that paid homage to the older black/white illustrative versions of the book could work better in representing the overall themes of the book, age of it and it’s serious narrative.
I deliberated between colours to use, red being representative of suffering/pain, blue being more contemplative and gray/beige being more balanced (representing the character beginning to find peace at the end of the book). I decided on using red as the nature of the book is violent and a key message is relating to suffering/retribution and red represents this theme well.
When choosing a typeface I decided on a serif, older style typeface that didn’t look too stylised and still conveyed seriousness. I moved forwards with using ‘Iowan Old’.
I went onto finding imagery to use, with Midjourney I developed a suitable image of old, balanced weighing scales (figure 23). I then edited the image in Photoshop, creating a bold black and white image, inspired by the older 1950’s book illustrations (figure 13/14).
Using the limited elements (colour, one motif and typeface) I wanted to convey a sense of the book emotionally and metaphorically. I worked quickly with an aim to get a rough idea of how each composition looks as opposed to perfecting them.
I then moved onto choosing 10 of the compositions I felt worked best visually/ones that had potential.
10 layouts:
Final choice:
I debated between compositions 1 and 2. I felt that visually 1 was more effective aesthetically but 2 worked better with the concept.
With both compositions I tried to convey the key themes of the book (battle within a persons mind of good and evil, representing the 2 words/acts of crime and punishment, balance of scales literally and metaphorically) by having the title ‘crime and punishment’ in the red side to convey negativity and the battle between good and evil with the authors name in the white (good and evil, balance of scales on both sides).
Overall I finally decided that 2 was more effective as it visually split the scales in half creating a clear divide which meaning is more explicit than composition 1. I would change the composition of the title and authors name slightly making it more balanced and change the colour of ‘crime and punishment’ to white to represent the idea of good and evil/the blurred line between them and the complexities of peoples minds by having some of the white colour within the red side.
I really enjoyed this task and found it great practise for assignment 6. This task is an example of something that helps create more interesting and complex visuals from simple elements which in turn opens up ideas that can be enhanced and improved upon. The idea of choosing a singular motif or main motif is very helpful as it allows for more cohesive design where a singular motif can be used throughout the front cover, spine and back of the book cover.
Resources:
Figure 1: Literati (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/804525920964291169/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 2: Behance (no date) Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/32420923/Dostoyevsky-Crime-and-Punishment (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 3: Rakuten Kobo (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/286682332518546608/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 4: Crime and Punishment (2019) Peachy Essay. Available at: https://peachyessay.com/blogs/crime-and-punishment-essay-the-theme-of-alienation-from-society/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 5: Amazon (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/807059195757065627/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 6: Peggy Smulligan on vintage paperbacks (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/269019777732985692/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 7: Pin en 1001 Books you must read before you die (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/199776933464128433/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 8: Indigo (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/232639137076289925/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 9: D E M (No date) Flickr.com. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7452274@N08/4786212699/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 10: Crime and Punishment (no date). Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/355771458183?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=355771458183&targetid=1405062617979&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006800&poi=&campaignid=17218284410&mkgroupid=142217514411&rlsatarget=aud-1168779490075:pla-1405062617979&abcId=9300867&merchantid=138357491&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMLDWIgy0Jqyf9VikILPDx50hn_pjMc_L0gO7WzKc895euxorZo2A3xoCrEAQAvD_BwE (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 11: Crime and Punishment (No date) Amazon.co.uk. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crime-Punishment-penguin-Classics-Editions/dp/0143107631/ref=asc_df_0143107631/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=570383611607&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13009019524349048613&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006800&hvtargid=pla-449484610779&psc=1&mcid=7c50b5428fad3654956eb9645fc06358&th=1&psc=1 (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 12: Crime and Punishment (No date) World of books. Available at: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/fyodor-dostoevsky/crime-and-punishment/9781509827749?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMFGB3wFaHSC_8dTMjjOClvV-AEUB_ceolafc2T3559cOUEyZt5WtIxoCY-AQAvD_BwE#GOR008612730 (Accessed 6 June 2024).
Figure 13: Crime and Punishment (No date) eBay. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335408462511?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=335408462511&targetid=1405282543879&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006800&poi=&campaignid=17218284410&mkgroupid=142217514411&rlsatarget=aud-1168779490075:pla-1405282543879&abcId=9300867&merchantid=6995734&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMOB4Ip8s6C8FWsBIQg20zxxG4eAJEyfW1YfmD-rc8YSzBv3-yat6DxoC76EQAvD_BwE (Accessed 6 June 2024).
Figure 14: Crime and Punishment (No date) eBay. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125797166151?chn=ps&_ul=GB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1MbuatWJCTZujjNdRi5lDpg29&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=125797166151&targetid=1647205088760&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006800&poi=&campaignid=17206177401&mkgroupid=136851690655&rlsatarget=aud-1168779490075:pla-1647205088760&abcId=9300866&merchantid=119087605&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMGxdEy3IurmzUSnnRbWoKhkQZVNuJ11f4rv-Il3ms5cXcN1E-exkLxoCZtoQAvD_BwE (Accessed 6 June 2024).
Figure 15: Crime and Punishment (No date) eBay. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235602667132?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110025%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.COMPOSITELISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20220405142716%26meid%3D62615a07b21f4d8bbaa5046b14975d24%26pid%3D101506%26rk%3D7%26rkt%3D25%26sd%3D125797166151%26itm%3D235602667132%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4247815%26algv%3DAlgoIndex5SimRanker&_trksid=p4247815.c101506.m1851 (Accessed 6 June 2024).
Figure 16: Crime and Punishment (No date) eBay. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387034602015?chn=ps&_ul=GB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1H6VffeKmS06Ht_anr9dEDg34&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=387034602015&targetid=1647205089800&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006800&poi=&campaignid=17206177401&mkgroupid=136851690655&rlsatarget=aud-1168779490075:pla-1647205089800&abcId=9300866&merchantid=137585763&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMGPWZ1yAXBCGMt_XtThVZjHS7HZrJZ_C1NU_cD7FuzvHlF4WieqJkRoChnAQAvD_BwE (Accessed 6 June 2024).
Figure 17: Crime and Punishment (No date) eBay. Available at: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387013394774?chn=ps&_ul=GB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1fdjA7SKMQQa64RqiXD60jA80&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=387013394774&targetid=1647205088520&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006800&poi=&campaignid=17206177401&mkgroupid=136851690655&rlsatarget=aud-1168779490075:pla-1647205088520&abcId=9300866&merchantid=137623468&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMG3DydcvM63SjLJ3Iff9gNKWE4ADoZ66Z1FzcIN-iRWxFRQbFYjkkBoC4FoQAvD_BwE (Accessed 6 June 2024).
Figure 18: John Iliff (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/74098356363389399/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 19: Crime and Punishment (No date) Pinimg.com. Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/86/20/e0/8620e0f9eac9fc2451464c8b704bb919.jpg (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 20: Pin on beloved books (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/962292645370381405/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 21: Pin on lists (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/623607879670290029/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 22: Pin on books to read (no date) Pinterest. Available at: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/223068987769432121/ (Accessed: 6 June 2024).
Figure 23: Image created by Midjourney 7/6/24.
