Tone: The tone that I tried to set for the 3 book covers was classic and olden. Since we were given this assignment my idea was to pay tribute to the cult classic initial D by redesigning the covers in a more professional and respectable manner. To spark this feeling of professionalism I took inspiration from old encyclopaedias I had at home and also an old bible. I wanted people to wonder what the book was about and try to relate the book to an older age group rather than just teenagers.
Inspiratoin:
Style: The style of the dust jackets I was going for was to give the manga the respect that it has within the car world and extend that to a wider audience. I wanted to give the dust jacket a professional feel for this exact reason. I also wanted to maintain some of the fun and hand drawn aesthetics that Initial D produces. By creating everything myself I believe I’ve kept all the designs to well within the style I was trying to achieve.
Typography: The typography style I have chosen for all 3 dust jackets include the themes I was aiming to promote. Those themes being professionalism, respectability and credibility all while retaining the cartoon and hand drawn aesthetics of the series. I feel I have made use of the typography to accurately represent each book. My favourite would be the ‘Racing for Life’ jacket as I made use of tactile typography and created the text using zip ties and then photographing, removing the background, image tracing and finally expanding to create the letterforms. The reason I used zip ties is because zip ties are a very popular way to fix things that get damaged while racing such as bumpers and oil coolers.
Type / Logos:
VOLUME 1
Relationship: I believe I have kept balance by both implementing new ideas to promote the ideas and themes that I wanted the jackets to produce and paying respect to the original Initial D book cover. Yes the changes to the design transform the manga from light and colourful to dark and professional but the jackets retain some of the original manga flavour by including a redesigned logo and using playful type designs in the titles.
Colour: The colours I chose were plain black and white. I felt this was the best way to go about creating the olden bible feel I was going for. I originally was going to go with black and gold but decided the gold was not going to look as it should unless I hand crafted the type in gold leaf and bevelled it into the covers which I did not have the money, skill or time to do. I feel the black and white although not traditional bible colours still help promote the themes that I had decided for the dust jackets.
Nets:
Blank Net:
Refined Net Book 1:
The street racing scene in Gunma Prefecture is fierce, sporting some of the best racers in all of Japan. The winds of change have started to blow as Tak and his Eight-Six go head to head against Ryosuke 'Ry' Takahashi and his Mazda RX-7. Can Tak defeat the best racer in Gunma Prefecture or will the Red Suns conquer Akina on their way to glory?
1
VOLUME 1
Refined Net Book 2:
With a little more torque and some tightening of the turns, Tak rides his brakes with the delicate touch of an artist. The young Speed Star drives his father's Eight Six through treacherous mountain passes in a race against the Night Kids' Zack. It's intuitive rookie vs. seasoned street racer atop Mt. Akina, where a deadly combination of five consecutive hairpin turns puts drivers to the ultimate test. As Ry of the Red Suns follows behind, he studies Tak's unorthodox moves and incredible raw talent with keen interest. He is one of many racers eager to pit their own talents against the mysterious Eight Six.
2
VOLUME 2
Refined Net Book 3:
Tak may be in over his head against Shingo in a downhill with his hand fastened to the steering wheel, especially considering that this kind of race favors an FF like Shingo's Civic against an FR like Tak's Eight Six. Tak's life is changing in so many other ways, too. Bunta waxes emotional about his Zen-like training of the increasingly popular Akina downhill specialist, expressing for the first time the importance of Tak's racing reputation to his own ego, and Natalie advances ever-closer to the edge of a romantic relationship with Tak. And, in a related development, how will the racing scene in Gunma change if Ry actually does get an offer to race professionally in Tokyo?
3
VOLUME 3
Photos:
Thank you