Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Studio Brief Three Penguin Books - Competition Brief
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Rationale ‘Evocative, entertaining, sexy and funny; but then Murakami is one of the best writers around’ Time Out Haruki Murakami’s books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally. His writing is vivid, dazzling, experimental and imaginative and your cover design should reflect this. Try to design a new cover for a new generation of readers, avoiding the obvious clichés. Originality is key. The Judges are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the cover (front, back and spine) need to work together, remember that the front cover has to be able to work on its own, and to be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting as well as on screen at a reduced size for digital retailers. The winning design will need to: - have an imaginative concept - be an original interpretation of the brief - executed with strong use of typography - appeal to the broadest possible audience - show good understanding of the marketplace - have a point of difference from other books
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Research Suzanne Dean is the main judge of the Haruki Murakami brief and was responsible for the new rebrand of his series with penguin books. Her approach to book cover design is very experimental and goes above and beyond when necessary. Key aspects to implement into the book design from Dean’s work is that it would be clean, eye catching, hands on, and “extraordinary”. An interview with Suzanne Dean on ‘The secret to a good book cover’ is that the cover should offer an interpretation of the books context, and goes to reinforce how a more hands on approach to a book cover will pay off a lot better.
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Initial Ideas The brief of the competition asks to create a cover that visually represents the book itself. With the Multi-layered approach of the book and the many layers of genres it entails I wanted to create a final outcome that visually represented these layers. The outcome will visually tell the story of the book through the key characters and scenes. The target audience for this book is 18 years and up due to the maturity of the book - so the outcome will reflect a style that is sophisticated yet still visually appealing to the younger target audience. Initial sketches look at ways in which this can be done, through the use of a simple layered vector designs, layered paper and mixed media such as watercolour to further represent the layering approach. The key design foundation that will be explored in development of initial ideas, is the inclusion of the main character ‘Toru’ this is because the whole book itself is written in first person, and the idea of the elements becoming or consuming his silhouette represents the ways in which key characters and moments in the book define who he is.
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Development Development from initial sketch ideas and using a silhouette as the main design; Exploring the use of layers and colour choice with watercolour. The use of watercolour offers a more fragile feel to that of vector design. Having a more hands on approach with the design process is heavily inspired from Dean’s work and potentially something that would stand out from other book designs. The developed work entwines characters together, and frames crucial moments of the book. Contrasting colours explore the representation of different themes and feelings in the book as it is about both loss and love. Simple composition layouts are made to look at the ratio and negative space of the cover, and how the painting would fit. Simplitistic san serif type offers a readable and more updated feel to the book, and something more appealing to all target audience.
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Development Inspired from Initial concept of creating layers with paper to represent the books narrative, the design approach was further explored and developed through photoshop. The development process looked at forming a gradient mapping tool in the photo of the cut out work experimenting with the look of texture, tone and shadows. The design was further developed to form simple composition outcomes for the front cover - forming stronger developed visuals to be presented during crits. Designer Eiko Ojala (design work top left) work looks at using coloured paper to form stronger more vibrant outcomes to his work. Using a stronger stock of paper would help form stronger shadows and more defined layers in the outcome. The use of red although used commonly was used to represent the dangers of death and the passion of love throughout the book.
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Further Development and Production Representing the characters as close to the context as possible was taken into account - watching the film and reading the book of Norwegian Wood created a stronger understanding of the characters and key elements of what represented them well. This helped with the final development of final layout of the design. Silhouettes of the characters were taken from the motion picture, and implemented in the final design. The final design was visually shown through a vector design first for critiquing, the outcome places all the key elements and characters that play a huge part on Toru in the book. Characters placed further back represent how they resonate with him deeply, along with how the size of the characters represents how important they are to him. Visually the design unknowingly tells the story of the book from beginning to end, from the car representing the loss of a friend to Midori waiting on the phone echoing the end of the book. The production of the outcome involved hand cutting and assembling the 3D design, creating the design physically instead of digitally created a stronger depth of field, and stronger shadow casts. The outcome was stuck together using foam stickers, to create a structure that allowed even composition of each layer. Photos were taken of the final outcome to then be used for the final cover, the process of photography allowed for experimentation with lighting and shadows in natural light.
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Amritha Vadi OUGD603
Final Outcome The final outcome created successfully follows the criteria of the brief. The design concept is imaginative and original, visually representing the narrative of the book in a sophisticated hand crafted outcome. The research into Suzanne Dean and the Book helped inform the reasoning behind the layered portrait and the silohettes. The cover design is a mature and clean design that is suitable for the chosen target audience. The simple and clean composition creates an outcome that executes typography and craft well.
Amritha Vadi OUGD603