Cove Series: John Green

Type 2/Spring 2012 Anthony Schmiedeler

JOHN GREEN

Process Book Book Cover Series Redesign

BIO:

John Green grew up in Orlando, Florida.

He moved to Ohio for university, where he studied English and Religion. For several months after graduating, John worked as a chaplain at a children’s hospital. While there, he was inspired to write his first novel, Looking for Alaska, which became a bestseller in the United States and won many literary prizes around the world, including the Michael L. Printz Award in the US and the Silver Inky Award in Australia. He was 2006 recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award winner, and has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Green’s books have been published in more than a dozen languages.

In January of 2007, John and his younger brother Hank began a videoblog project called Brotherhood 2.0. It became hugely popular around the world, spawning a community of proud supporters who call themselves nerdfighters. John and Hank continue to make videos back and forth to each other, and they are available to watch on YouTube and have over 75 million views.

OTHER BOOKS: (2006) An Abundance of Katherines (2008) Paper Towns (2008) Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (2010) Will Grayson, Will Grayson - w/ D. Levithan (2012) The Fault in Our Stars Short stories (2006) “The Approximate Cost of Loving Caroline” (2007) “The Great American Morp” (2009) “Freak the Geek” (2011) “Reasons” (part of What You Wish For) Other (2009) Thisisnottom (2010) Zombicorns

I chose these books to redesign because: 1. I am a John Green fan, I have read these books, and they are good.

2. These books are usually targeted at a younger, teenage audience but I believe they could be appreciated by an older audience as well.

3. The cover’s are lacking a personal feel which I feel is important in these character-driven stories.

Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska is separated into two parts “Before” and “After”. “Before”, Miles, tired of his friendless, dull life in Florida, convinces his parents to send him away to boarding school in Alabama so that he can seek “the Great Perhaps.” There he meets his roommate and soon-to-be best friend, Chip, called the Colonel, and Alaska Young, the moody, gorgeous, wild girl who instantly becomes the object of his lust. Miles is quickly enlisted in their war against the Weekday Warriors, the rich kids who go home every weekend, and they bond over elaborate pranks, studying, and assorted rule-breaking. “After” begins about halfway through the book when a tragedy occurs, and those left spend the rest of the book trying to make sense of it, to solve the mystery it leaves behind, and to pull off one the greatestever prank.

The message of the book is finding out what it means to journey into a “Great Perhaps”, growing up, and learning to forgive.

An Abundance of Katherines The main character Colin is a former child prodigy who has just graduated from high school as valedictorian -- and just been dumped by the 19th girl he has dated named Katherine (well, eighteenth really, one of them dumped him twice). He is in a deep funk, worried that all of his early promise will add up to nothing, and that his talents, for absorbing knowledge, working hard, languages, trivia, and anagrams, aren’t really of any use in the real world. When his best friend, Hassan, a genial if lazy lout, decides Colin needs a road trip, they soon wash up in Gutshot, Tennessee where they get a job recording oral histories from the town’s residents. While there Colin works on what he sees as his last shot at mattering: a mathematical formula to predict the course of romantic relationships, The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability.

The message of the book entails overcoming the anxieties and fears one encounters when facing adulthood, taking chances, and facing reality.

The Fault in Our Stars

This book follows a teenage girl, Hazel, that knows she is dying of cancer. She makes an instant connection with survivor Augustus Waters at a youth support group, she is determined not to start a romance with him (“I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?”). Even so, when he uses his Wish to take her to Amsterdam to meet a reclusive author she loves, it is impossible to deny that he loves her -- and she loves him. And though she soon learns that Gus has a painful secret, Hazel learns that loving others is worth it, even when it leaves a “scar.”

The message of the book deals with facing mortality and also deciding to love and be loved, even when you know it will cause pain.

ROUGH CONCEPTS: This series will coach parents of teenagers on the difficulties their growing children face.

This series will introduce 40+ adults to real issues facing young adults.

Final Concept Statement:

This series will expose Generation ‘X’ to the current obstacles facing transitioning teenagers.

AUDIENCE PERSONA:

Michelle is a 42 year old single mother. She has one 16 year old son that is a junior in high school and is the light of her life. She works a lot at her office job and does not have as much time to monitor her child’s activities as she wants to. Also, as her son is getting ready to become a senior he is asking for more lenience on his curfew. Michelle wants her son to have a clean transition into college and is very worried about what young adults could be getting into these days. She was born in the 60’s and graduated from a small four-year college in the early 80’s so she feels a bit behind the times. She also does not want to pry because she has a good relationship with her son but she is curious and feels “unhip”.

Michelle spends her free time searching parenting blogs and participates in a little bit of Facebook stalking. She enjoys a lot of mainstream music and television but catches flak for it from her son. Michelle is familiar with teen culture from her MTV watching, but she doesn’t feel like she getting the full story. The parenting blogs are getting old so she is looking for some fun literature to help her and the fantastical Twilight series is not going to cut it.

ASSOCIATED WORD LIST: maturity school rules distance adventure young - Having lived or existed for only a short time. outcast enemies loss - The state or feeling of grief when deprived of

someone or something of value. dark depressed travel danger recklessness - the trait of giving little thought to danger. pranks sex drugs alcohol friendship - The emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends. lonely wild love lust surprise new unknown broken - Rejected, defeated, or despairing. death adulthood - the period of time in your life after your physical growth has stopped and you are fully developed.

attraction failure work funny teenager cancer Shakespeare tragedy - An event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. fight pain - Physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury. love romance - A feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love. smart sick disease recluse hazardous - Risky; dangerous. secret famliy anxiety miracle crying drama struggle survival - The state or fact of continuing to live or exist, typically in spite of an accident, ordeal, or difficult circumstances.

TO SUGGEST:

TONE GRAPHS:

-- problems, disruptions -- young love -- serious issues -- uncontrollable circumstances -- life & death -- growing up

minimal _ _ + _ _ ornamental retro _ + _ _ _ contemporary unrefined _ _ _ + _ clean machine made _ _ + _ _handmade traditional _ + _ _ _non-traditional complex _ + _ _ _easy serious _ + _ _ _ playful young _ _ _+ _ adult

“GOOD” BOOK COVERS:

RESEARCH:

Semiotics- The Theory of Signs Signs are things used to mean something else, usually only in context can they be correctly understood. One example is “666”. Some people may interpret that as “the mark of the beast” and others would interpret is as merely numbers. Another example is a siren that might be understood as a tornado warning, but on certain days just a drill.

An index is a sign that usually has a physical or causal relationship that explains it. Some examples include frost caused by cold temperatures or a ‘honk’ caused by someone pressing a car horn.

Symbols are more loosely defined signs. They are also used to mean or represent something but have arbitrary relationships. For a example a two-striped chevron could indicate the rank of Corporal or it could represent the Chevron Corporation. Another example is the buzz of an alarm clock that means it’s time to get up.

TYPE STUDIES:

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska JOHN GREEN

Looking for Alaska looking for Alaska Looking for Alaska

John Green john green John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN

Looking for Alaska John Green LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN

Looking for Alaska John Green Looking for Alaska John Green

Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN looking for Alaska john green

Looking for Alaska John Green

Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN looking for Alaska john green LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green looking for Alaska john green Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green looking for alaska john green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA Looking for Alaska

JOHN GREEN

John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN

Looking for Alaska John Green Looking for Alaska john green

LOOKING FOR ALASKA JOHN GREEN Looking for Alaska John Green

VISUALS:

24

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Gelatin silver print, 9% x 7J.\in. (23.5 x 18.4 cm). Columbus funds provided

Museum of Art, Ohio, Photo League Collection,

by Elizabeth M. Ross, the Derby Fund, John S. and Catherine

Museum Purchase with

Chapin Kobacker, and the Friends of the Photo League

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COLOR PALETTE:

SKETCHES (1st Round): WHAT

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The Fault in Our Stars

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THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

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Combination bold, comic-like graphics with serious tones = Young BUT Adult

Combination bold, comic-like graphics with serious tones, type = Young BUT adult

SKETCHES (1st Round):

John Green

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AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES

AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES

“You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.”

“You don’t remember what happened.

What you remember becomes what JOHN happened.”

GREEN

Show a space minus people + Highlight the missing human element; dislpay a feeling related to the place, objects

Show a space minus people = Highlight the missing human element, display a feeling related to the place, objects

SKETCHES (1st Round):

an abundance of katherines

“What's the point in being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? How AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES

very odd, to believe God gave you life, and yet not think that JOHN GREEN

john green

life asks more of you than watching TV.”

AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES

Old photos + modern type = Connect past with present; teenage story to adults

Old photos + modern type = Connect the past with the present, children to adults

SKETCHES (Round 2):

Looking

for JOHN GREEN

Alaska first drink, first prank, first friend, first girl last words Part of the Understanding your Young Adult series

john green

FIRST DRINK FIRST PRANK FIRST FRIEND FIRST GIRL LAST WORDS

A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

an

abundance

of

katherines

A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

“If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”

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alaska

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21ST

21ST

A EXPOSÉ SERIES ADDRESSING TODAY’S TRANSITIONING TEENAGERS

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

looking

for

an

alaska

abundance

of

katherines A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

spine

inside

FINAL DIRECTION: A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

JOHN GREEN A

21ST

When it comes to relationships, Colin

Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun-but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove the Theorem of Underlying Kathreine Predictabililty, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Love, friendship, and a dead AustroHungarian archduke add up to surprising and heartchanging conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself by Printz medalist John Green, acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska.

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

an

abundance

of

-

katherines

an

WS

abundance

of

katherines inside

front

spine

back

A

21ST

inside

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

JOHN GREEN A

21ST

When it comes to rela-

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

an

abundance

John Green is the Printz Award-winning author of Looking for Alaska. John has also written for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and for The New York Times. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Before he got married, he was dumped fifty-three times. But never by a Kathrine.

of

"Fully fun, challengingly complex and entirely entertaining."

katherines

an -KIRKUS REVIEWS

abundance

of

katherines dutton books

tionships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun-but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove the Theorem of Underlying Kathreine Predictabililty, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

Love, friendship, and a dead AustroHungarian archduke add up to surprising and heartchanging conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself by Printz medalist John Green, acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska.

looking

JOHN GREEN

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words-and tired of his

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alaska

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safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green’s arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction

A EXPOSÉ SERIES ADDRESSING TODAY’S TRANSITIONING TEENAGERS

inside

back

spine

JOHN GREEN

John Green is the Printz Award-winning author of Looking for Alaska. John has also written for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and for The New York Times. He lives in New York City with his wife. Before he got married, he was dumped fifty-three times. But never by a Kathrine.

“John Green has written a powerful novel-one that plunges headlong into the labyrinth of life, love, and the mysteries of being human.

This is a book that will touch your life, so don’t read it sitting down. Stand up, and take a step into the Great Perhaps.”

-K.L. GOING, author of Fat Kid Rules the World, a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

front

inside

looking Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words-and tired of his

for

alaska

dutton books

A EXPOSÉ SERIES ADDRESSING TODAY’S TRANSITIONING TEENAGERS

safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green’s arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction

JOHN GREEN

Despite the tumorshrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has

the

is ,

never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

fault

Insightful, Bold, Irreverant, and Raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

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f

our

stars inside

A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

back

front

spine

inside

JOHN GREEN the

John Green is the Printz Award-winning author of Looking for Alaska. John has also written for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and for The New York Times. He lives in New York City with his wife. Before he got married, he was dumped fifty-three times. But never by a Kathrine.

“A novel of life and death and the people caught in between, The Fault in Our Stars is John Green at his best. You laugh, you cry, and then you come back for more.”

fault

-MARKUS ZUSAK, bestselling and Printz Honorwinning author of The Book Theif

in

our

stars dutton books A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

Despite the tumorshrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has

never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, Bold, Irreverant, and Raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

REFINEMENTS:

AN abundance

A MODERN COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

A

21ST

CENTURY COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

an abundance

of katherines

A MODERN COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

A MODERN COMING OF AGE SERIES FOR GENERATION X

lookingfor

ALASKA

an

ABUNDANCE

of

katherines a novel

FINAL COVERS:

INSIDE PATTERN:

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The goal of this project was to package three books together (connected by theme, author, or otherwise) and redesign the book covers as a series directed toward a certain audience.

The book cover as a design problem is unique because you are working with a lot of elements that might be repeated elsewhere and thus have to visually represent the book and work together. Also, working with a book cover restricts you to a small size and specific format that needs to fit a lot of information. The most challenging part of a book cover is drawing in a reader without revealing too much of the story. The most successful designs give just enough of an introduction to the story to attract an audience without giving anything away.

Through this process, I’ve come to understand the difficulty in designing for a specific audience. A lot more things are taken into consideration when what you are designing has to appeal to and be understood by a certain group. But once you find a direction, it’s all about refining and simplifying.

This series was designed as an expose of modern teenage problems for the parents of said modern teenagers. I used comic book-style imagery to bring out the youthfulness but gave it a Lichtenstein feel that was popular in their era. To highlight the emotional aspect, I used dramatic poses and cropped them to focus on the feeling. I put a tilt on some of the text for the same effect; showing that there is a disturbance ance something is not right.

Anthony Schmiedeler