Introduction to Typography Amelia Hulme - s2843430 Griffith University Semester 2 2015
Assessment Item 3 - Book Jackets
Manifesto
For this assignment I decided to use the well-known series by Lemony Snicket, ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’. I loved the stories myself as a child and while the current covers are quite nice, they are very illustrative and the text is hardly noticeable. I decided I wanted to create something a little more modern while still achieving that creepy stylised feel. My original concept built off a sort of spindly typeface for the word ‘unfortunate’, with a complimentary font for ‘A Series of’ and ‘Events’. I was originally starting the down strokes quite fat towards the top and tapering away toward the bottom, but decided that delivered a very cliche ‘creepy’ look and so instead inversed it, tapering away towards the top of the letters, and I really enjoyed the effect it produced. I struggled a little with vectorising the type - I was unfamiliar with the image twrace function and so played around with a few different brush styles but nothing looked quite right. Finally I discovered the image trace and after that everything was hand-drawn, then I edited the contrast in photoshop and image traced each item in illustrator. I’m quite happy with how all of the type turned out. I actually ended up digitising the illustrations in the same manner. From there I wanted to add in a basic element of imagery - the books themselves are very visually descriptive and I wanted to add an element to each cover that referenced an item or event pertinent to the plot of the relevant novel. But I wanted each to be woven into/around a sort of frame or box within which the text could sit and which would help to unify the individual illustrations. So for ‘The Bad Beginning’ I have a picture frame that has been burnt and is charred and cracked around the base as a result. For ‘The Reptile Room’ I’ve taken inspiration from the illustrations on the original cover and made a framework
that represents a cage with the front door missing (note the hinges on the right side and the broken latch by the serpent’s head on the left). Then obviously there is the serpent itself, wound around the bottom of the frame. Finally we have ‘The Wide Window’, the framework illustration for which is obviously a window frame with curtains. I couldn’t draw any decent looking curtains without having them encroach upon the text space for ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ and so I decided to place white backing behind the text to give it a little border and prevent any of the illustration’s line work merging with the text. Luckily this was the simplest of the illustrations so I think that worked quite well. I was really enjoying the minimalist effect of the black text and illustration on white, and when I tried my original plan to make each book a solid dark colour (to help convey the dark tone of the series) the text and illustrations simply did not stand out enough. I toyed with a few different ways of imbueing the covers with colour until I arrived at the method I implemented in the final work; a 15pt stroke rectangle of the specified colour, one to sit behind the illustration on the front cover and one to enclose the blurb on the back. I then played with the setting to really make everything work together - I brought the opacity of the coloured frames to 90% to take the edge off of the colour and then reduced the illustrations to 60% to ensure that they didn’t draw attention away from the typography. The colours I selected for each book were also relevant; the red for the fire in ‘The Bad Beginning’, the green for the serpent in ‘The Reptile Room’ and the blue for the ocean in ‘The Wide Window’. Each of these are significant elements in the novel’s landscape or the plot itself and I chose the darker hues to suit the mood of the writing.
Dear Reader, I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune. In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast. It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of things. With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket
Dear Reader, If you have picked up this book with the hope of finding a simple and cheery tale, I’m afraid you have picked up the wrong book altogether. The story may seem cheery at first, when the Baudelaire children spend time in the company of some interesting reptiles and a giddy uncle, but don’t be fooled. If you know anything at all about the unlucky Baudelaire children, you already know that even pleasant events lead down the same road to misery. In fact, within the pages you now hold in your hands, the three siblings endure a car accident, a terrible smell, a deadly serpent, a long knife, a large brass reading lamp, and the re-appearance of a person they’d hoped never to see again. I am bound to record these tragic events, but you are free to put this book back on the shelf and seek something lighter. With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket
Dear Reader, If you have read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this; Violet, Klaus and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted, but their lives, I am sorry to say, are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched, and the one you are holding may be the worst of them all. If you haven’t got the stomach for a story that includes a hurricane, a signaling device, hungry leeches, cold cucumber soup, a horrible villain, and a doll named Pretty Penny, then this book will probably fill you with despair. I will continue to record these tragic tales, for that is what I do. You, however, should decide for yourself whether you can possibly endure this miserable story. With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket