Introduction to Typography 1609QCA Assignment 3
The Millennium Series Book Jackets Emily Ludwig S2901250
Concept • To re-create the book covers of Stieg Larrson’s novels; - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - The Girl Who Played With Fire - The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest • Paperback • A symbol will be created for each novel relating to the nature of each book.
Original Covers
First Attempt These were my original book covers. The feedback that I recieved from my tutors and class mates was that they looked too digital and it didnt appear that I had created them myself.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Design Shots
The Girl Who Played With Fire
Design Process
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest
Design Process
Manifesto I have chosen to recreate Stieg Larsson’s ‘The Millennium Series’ book covers. The titles for these books are: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest. The reason behind why I chose this trilogy is because it is one of the few books that I have read and really enjoyed. The book covers to this trilogy have been recreated twice already with a paperback format so I wanted to create a book cover with a different theme but keep the paperback format because it is aesthetically appealing to me. In creating the titles and symbols for each novel I have used a different technique for each one. The main focus in symbols on each cover is representative of the title of each book. In designing the look of each title, I decided to make the most important words a larger font. This was done deliberately in order to make the title stand out, be legible and not be to over crowded with large font because there are a lot of words in the titles. Al l of the titles were initially hand drawn. For the first title I created a stamp, used red paint for the words and black ink for the dragon to create the textured effect. For the second novel, I used a pen to write the words ‘The Girl who played with’ and created a nib to write the word ‘fire’ in ink. For the third novel I created a stencil out of tracing paper for the title ‘The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest’ and cut out the shape for the hornet on a piece of paper. I then used water colours to create both the title and the symbol. After I had finalised the design and techniques of my titles and synbols, I then placed them together onto a page and scanned them into the computer. The reason why I scanned the images is because I wanted to keep the textures of the varoious tecniques used and for them to not appear digitally designed. The crumpled piece of paper texture was used for the background due to the fact that it made the titles and symbols stand out and because using a plain white background made the covers look boring.
The colours chosen for each novel reflect the signature colours associated with the themes. For ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ red and black was used because those colours are typically associated with blood, gore and thriller themes which is what the book is about. The Girl Who Played With Fire has black font due to legibility but I have used red, yellow and orange for the fire symbol because those are the colours associated with fire and a main theme in the novel. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest consists of green and blue partly because I was influenced by one of the previous book covers and to relate to the theme of nature and wildlife, which is where this novel is primarily set. The positioning of the blurb, barcode and information on the spine of the novels were all placed in the same places to reinforce the series of books. Through doing this I intended to make it easier to find the author’s name and the name of the novel quickly and easily.
Thank You.