Helaman Higley’s
Process Book Creative Book Covers
Project Brief
01
Define
02
Visual Research............................ 02 Reflections..................................... 02
Discover
04
Word List........................................ 04 Sketches.......................................... 05
Design
07
Typography Cover....................... 07 Physical Cover.............................. 07 Designer’s Choice Cover............. 07
Deliver
08
Typography Cover....................... 08 Designer’s Choice Cover............. 10 Physical Cover.............................. 10 Final Typography Cover............ 11 Final Designer’s Choice Cover. 12 Final Physical Cover................... 13
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Project Brief Overview:
Design 3 book covers for the same book to be shown in an exhibit at the Library of Congress of the 100 most influential books of all time.
Context:
To celebrate the most influential authors and books of all time, the Library of Congress is hosting an exhibit that will feature historical artifacts, original manuscripts, 1st editions and other objects related to the authorship and original release of each text. The exhibit features a timeline of books, their respective artifacts and exhibits, and ends with “Looking Forward, Modern Interpretations of the Classic Covers”. This space will feature 100 cover concepts for each of the 100 books featured in the show. The idea is to use the book cover as a way to spark interest in and communicate something about each story in unique ways. To accomplish this last effort, the library is hiring teams of designers to contribute to the event.
Assignment Details
You have been invited to design 3 different cover options for a single book of your choice to be featured in this section. All covers must be for the same book and should be designed within the following specifications: Flush mounted to foam core, final trimmed size: 5.5in x 8.5in All covers must contain the full title & author’s full name Cover 01: Type Only (use only typography to create your book cover concept) Cover 02: Physical (you must construct your cover from physical pieces/collage or 3D and photograph or scan the final art. You may print elements and pieces but the final piece should be physical or at least appear as if you created it physically.) Cover 03: Designer’s Choice of format (you may create the cover art in any style or format you choose as long as you stay within the size and content requirements listed above.)
Book Cover Process Book | 01
Define Visual Research *Images with a teal frame are those which had the most infulence on the final design of my book covers.
01: The use of negative space caught my eye.
02: Great symbolism through the reflection in the knife.
03: Clever juxtaposition of a camera and person to speak to a major theme of the novel.
04: Bold color and typeface choice is attention grabbing.
05: Fascinating illustration which demands the attention of the viewer.
06: Clever interaction of type and picture that I may emulate in my cover.
07: The iiustration uses good colors for the them of 1984 and also conveys deeper a meaning.
08: Creative analogy to the role of Big Brother in 1984.
Reflections From my research I discovered that the book covers which grabbed my attention the best all told a story. Those which were for 1984 I could understand more of the story because I have studied the novel for this project. For my novels
02
to be succesful, they will also need to tell a story. Elements of design which most strongly told the story was smart use of combinations to create new meaning along with creative use of whitespace and colors which fit the mood.
09: Interesting combination of a person’s neck and a barcode to createa new message.
10: Awesome physical cover. Cutting into a dictionary conveys strong symbolysm as well.
11: Clever use of apostrophes to create a nine and also a pair of eyes.
12: Creative aplication of combination through whitespace usage.
13: The combination of a book cover with an outlet helps inspire me to what is possible.
14: An eye looking down the memory hole has symbolism that grows the more you read.
15: Another great way to use the title to form an analogy of the book.
16: Replicating this is a possible stragey I am considering for my physical cover.
17: The illustrations aren’t overly clever, yet they still have a charm that caught my eye.
18: The combination of lights and cameras create a spooky mood to match the book.
19: The use of containment was expertly done with this cover to express a deeper meening.
20: Striking colors are paired with symbolism that grows in meaning as the book is read.
Book Cover Process Book | 03
Discover Word List
Thoughts on the word list From my word list the concept which stuck out to me the strongest was the idea of changing the past they way a copy editor would edit a newspaper or novel before going to print. Other ideas that I would later sketch out was red sash, big brother, watching, surveilance, eyes and censorship.
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Sketches
*Images with a teal frame are those which had the most infulence on the final design of my book covers.
Book Cover Process Book | 05
Thoughts on Sketching Through my sketches I was able to exlpore ideas from my word list such as editing the past and big brother. As I would later discover, most of my ideas from sketches never came to fruition, but as I was turning my favorite sketches into digital drafts I came with even better ideas which did make it to print.
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Design Rebel Fear 1984 Rebel Hate Love Love Hate
Fear
Love
Physical Cover
1984 love r fea
reb el hate
Typography Cover
fea George Orwell r
Designer’s Choice Cover
Book Cover Process Book | 07
Deliver Typography Cover
1984 1984 om
freed o
m
love reb el r fea
freedom
love
fea r George Orwell
George Orwell
d free
tho
love ug hts
George Orwell
fre edo m
1984
1984
tho
George Orwell
ug hts
1984 1984 1984 1984 m edo fre
love
m
08
r fea
r fea
tho
George Orwell
reb el
reb el
n
sto
win
reb el
edo
freedom
love
love
love
ug hts
fea r
fea r
fea r George Orwell
fre
om
d free
George Orwell
George Orwell
j
ly fami
ly fami
el reb
n
n
v
jn
on
m capitalis
on
el reb
winst
winst
m
capitalis
m
fre
edo
m
fre
edo
m
el reb
ly fami
edo
m
th
fre
edo
tru
fea r
George Orwell
sym
capitalis
m
syme
privacy
e
George Orwell
m
fre
4 1984 1984 truth
fea r
love
edo
love
George Orwell
ry
th
fre
George Orwell
fea r
love
n fea r
n
sto
win
histo
ry
tru
privacy
reb el
love
histo
syme
syme
on
st win
reb el
love
th
privacy
love
syme
4 1984 1984 1984 1984 tru
on
ry
winst
reb el
edo
m
George Orwell
fre
fea r
n
sto
win
histo
fea r George Orwell
Book Cover Process Book | 09
Designer’s Choice Cover
Physical Cover
George Orwell’s
10
Final Typography Cover
1984 love ton
s win
fre
edo
reb el
m
fea r George Orwell Book Cover Process Book | 11
Final Designer’s Choice Cover
12
Final Physical Cover
George Orwell’s
Book Cover Process Book | 13
Final Thoughts Now that I am here, I am hungry to continue refining my typography skill. Personal Growth
Greatest Success
Looking back on this project, I am proud of the final covers I created, ecspecially my typography cover because this is the first time I am able to look at my work and be proud of it. It is great to see my progression in my work over the years and to now be at a point where I am comforatble with my typography work. By comforatble I don’t mean that I am content and not pushing myself further, rather I am now at a point where I can understand the conversations around typography. I am starting to see payout in the years I have practiced typography as it is finally reaching a point that I feel proud of. Now that I am here, I am hungry to continue refining my typography skill so five years from now I can look back and see another large step in the quality of my work. Over the course of this project I have also become more aware of my process. If something is not working in my current design I understand the cause is because I need a stronger definition of what success for the project is, or I need to come up with more ideas through sketching for example.
My greatest success in this project was my typography poster. What makes it unique was how the idea came about. It wasn’t through the typical path of idea on a word list to sketch, then digital draft and final product. Instead this idea came during the initual creation of digital drafts. I wanted to show with type that the only emotion allowed in the world of 1984 is love for Big Brother. This idea then evolved to focus on the theme of the memory hole to destroy. I chose Neue Haas Grotesk as the type for the title because I thought the gemetric shapes and clean look could create a sterile, emotionless mood. This is something which as read the novel I felt whenever the Inner Party or Big Brother were being described. The color pallete was inspired by the posters of the Russian Revolution of the early twentieth century. For many people these colors bring about feelings of revolution as well as opression and Leninsim, all of which are themes of the novel.
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