Part 5 layout Exercise: Judging a book by its cover
Introduction - taken from https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311175/the-husbands-secret-
by-liane-moriarty/9780425267721/readers-guide/
At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read My darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died… Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret-something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive…Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all-she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia-or each other-but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.
Liane Moriarty’s ‘The Husband’s Secret’
Guilt
Secrets Grief
History Trust?
Betrayal Timing the Berlin Wall
Liane Moriarty
I know Liane Moriarty’s books have had multiple covers so I wanted to see what kind of style emerges across the different titles but also the differences in terms of how the cover itself develops. This was a secondary thought though to the visual communication techniques that I was trying to identify. Any imagery that is used within the cover is simple, with a shallow depth of field which is where the title is then featured. A book cover needs to convey one simple message, it is supposed to tell you something about the book and in doing so it is supposed to encourage you to then read the book. The visual language of these covers has developed across a period of time and the most recent covers (the furthest cover of big little lies) don’t communicate this message effectively. Having read the book, the only reason this image makes any sense is because of the link to the TV production. What has this image got to do with ‘Big Little Lies’ book? Nothing, this scene was not written about in the book. These covers have introduced the realism element back into the design as for covers like the furthest right on ‘The Hypnotist’s Love Story’, this has an element of realism but it is unlikely. Your eye is never naturally going to be able to stop a motion like this. The only way we know that a shattering object can look like this is because of slow-motion images that have previously been shown to us as an audience.
What benefit does it have to introduce more realism to a cover?
Realism on the cover makes you believe in the story more, it makes it seem like this could really happen. Obviously some of these stories would never happen but using a cover like this gives it this perception. The covers that are similar on this page to those of the most recent ‘Big Little Lies’ book seem to idealise the persona even more. They look obviously staged and almost barbie doll like. This allows for any personas that you imagine as an audience to be placed within the shoes of the person on the front. This approach for a book cover is very interesting, it isn’t used much on covers that share a similar genre so does this make them stand out for a good or bad reason? Personally, for me, it is a bad reason, I don’t like the covers and I think this is partly due to the TV production. Sharing this style is interesting, but doesn’t convey the message that the covers once did.
Learning points so far - the visual language and communication techniques of a book cover: - Form is a key focus, it should catch the reader’s eye from the shelf before it can even start trying to convey a message. - The words are the path to follow with book covers. This is the main message that you are trying to communicate to an audience so as a designer, it is my role to try and help the audience visualise what this title could mean within the context of the book. Although some of these covers may not make sense just yet, after you read the text, it makes it so much clearer and this is because the text often leads the design process. - “The visual-verbal connection must be present and strong. A good book cover should also reward the reader - there should be a little bit of mystery to allow for personal interpretation, and enough depth in the image so the reader’s experience of the cover changes and grows as they make their way through the text.” https://bearbooks.se/tag/newvisual-artists/ -This one single message that needs to be conveyed to the audience should be highlighted through every single choice. The spine may seem like a small thing but even this needs to indicate what the reader should be focused on. - Double meanings aren’t a bad thing, this will allow the audience to be intrigued by what the meaning could really be behind a cover. - The title is typically bigger than the author’s name. Although an author’s name can often sell a book, the style of the book cover will help identify the author without having to even find the name. This obviously only happens once the author is established and written a few books. - Creativity isn’t something that is required here, it is more being clever with your choices. Extravagent fonts will get you nowhere with a crime novel. - During the process, try and separate yourself from a designer and a reader. Critiquing work as a reader is more important, the designer part will slip through on some occasions but it’s best to look at something in terms of how you would read it if you were to find it on a shelf - SOMETHING THAT I REALLY NEED TO FOCUS ON.
Trial covers using images that I have previously taken
Using other people’s images to try and get a better idea of what kind of photo would work on this cover.
Key points to take forward:
- Having enough blank space to put the necessary text is important. Blank space provides a space for the reader’s eyes to ‘breath’. It also allows them to fill in their own gaps of the story so that they can guess what will happen or each time they pick it up, this space becomes fuller as they begin to understand the storyline more. - Full bleed images work best. Thinking about it, I have not seen a cover for a similar genre that uses white space, as in literal blank spaces on the cover, the blank space is encorporated into the image. - Adding a filter on this images to reduce the saturation works really well, it makes the image seem more whimsical and works well for using slightly lighter weighted fonts (helps for the communication between the elements on the page and not just communication to the audience). - At the moment, I am not sure if the scale of these images is quite right. Something to experiment with during my photos is how close up I make the rings to the camera.
Initial Photographs
Developed Shoot
From a photographic perspective what does each element of the photo communicate? - Red can communicate love but also hatred. Using this as part of some of the photographs is a perfect connotation. It suggests the secret being hidden is a dark one. - To further enforce the thought that this is a dark secret, the lighting has been dimmed down, it keeps a very muted but dark tone to the image. It is almost sinister and it makes the text appear strong. - Using shadows was something that I first tried to avoid but the shadows also indicate that there is something hidden away, there is something hidden in the shadows. - The space between the rings is also used to infer something. In a way it suggests that there is another woman in the marriage however, there isn’t, it isn’t a typical chic flick in that respect. This portrays something that is against the message of the book, maybe only two rings should be used? This could be a man and woman’s or two woman’s, it depends on the context as to which combination would work best. - The effect that I am trying to mirror from one of the previous covers hasn’t quite been achieved. This uses a heavier filter than just reducing the saturation, it is something that I can continue to experiment with once I have the final selection of images. - A letter could still work really well as a concept with the rings, whether a hand is in this shot or not is yet to be determined but this could elevate the cover a little more which is needed.
Personal pointers: - Using a different camera meant it took a while to get it right and the photos still weren’t quite as I had hoped but this encouraged experimentation that I perhaps wouldn’t have done and it was these photos that turned out the best. - Nothing is right first time so I will continue to experiment, introducing the letter element could be really interesting as this is the starting point for the book. Although three stories intertwine I think this is the main focal point and highlighting its power on the cover will only emphasise this.
Learning points for visual communication: - Every little element needs to communicate the same message. Although the concept of marriage and secrets is portrayed here, the main thing that anyone will take from the cover is the fact that there are three rings which means someone else must be involved, but there isn’t in terms of there isn’t an affair. - Using text within images needs to be done carefully. Using a dictionary, when you can’t decide on the surrounding words isn’t an ideal situation because this can confuse the message even further. - A block of colour is a good separation method but it isn’t used on book covers. Books tend to use blank space within an image as this unites the two elements but there is still the fore-ground and background differentiation that the viewer’s eye will understand. Here, they appear to be two entirely different elements which doesn’t portray a cohesive story or an well-written book.
Which colour combinations best portray the storyline? The concepts of this storyline vary. One of the few colour explanations to begin with was about the yellow dust on the letter. Could yellow somehow feature? Red emerged throughout the shoot, I used this to portray love and hatred. It also has connotations of danger, do we really want to know what this secret is? Is it a dangerous secret to know? Based on earlier colour research, there are various ways of displaying danger and I want to look back at how I showed it before.
Colours taken directly from the signs and it shows the impact that it has to have the text, especially on the blue and white. This isn’t dangerous to me, it is the text or symbols used on these signs that make it appear this way.
Although red and black currently has the most effective combination, on a book cover this could be very different. The shades may have to be changed just to mute them slightly otherwise the contrast could be too much.
Just typography book covers was something that I thought I would find easier than I did. Although I could get the text right, it was about trying to add depth to the cover as it looked a little dull and wouldn’t have that intrigue that a cover needs for the audience to pick it up from the shelf. It required a different focus that played purely on the words through typography. Secret in a way was an easy word to pick up on so I played with the visual language and connotations had with a top secret stamp that is used so frequently. Playing on common visual language methods like this helped with the design but still kept it quite flat.
For the covers on the previous page - The yellow doesn’t hold much significance within the story told but it adds further contrast to the book cover which is needed. Equally the slight brush patterns in the background, representing the dust from the letter, help to add some slight variation to the otherwise black and flat background.
Although the same visual focuses exist on this cover, they exist within a different capacity. Contrast is more controlled within the lighting of this photograph and because it is a photograph, depth naturally comes to the imagery. The composition also had to be thought aabout before taking the photos. I knew that I wanted to use a white envelope and the text should also be white so there needed to be enough blank space within the image so the text could fit in this gap. And it had to fit so that the text could have enough impact on the page.
Relooking at shape psychology... I have looked at shape psychology for another exercise, The French Hen. Here I was looking at the use of shapes within logo design but many of the theories can be carried forward. With these two designs, one utilises the use of the rectangle whereas the other doesn’t and through the image selected it actually contradicts what the other design is trying to say.
A rectangle when used within the logo suggested that the company was perhaps closed off, uninviting. When used on this book cover it suggests something similar. By only having the word secret within this rectangle, it highlights that this is something that has been kept hidden for many years and taking this off of the page suggests that this secret is slowly going to be opened up throughout the book. This suggestion is really strong and the way it is communicated highlights the visual communication methods that I have learnt in other exercises. The cover on the right though doesn’t utilise the use of a rectangle, this time an envelope is used. The envelope shares a similar form however it isn’t so direct. Once again the rectangular form is taken off of the edges of the page to suggest it is being opened up and revealed but the fact the envelope itself is also ajar suggests this more explicitly. For the cover to work effectively, the red background had to be eliminated and instead the colour palette of the book remains at just yellow and black, whilst the other one uses red, black and yellow. The connotations of danger are a lot stronger with the typography cover but considering this is not the main focus of the book, the colour palette of the photographic cover would prove more successful. Everything points to the typography cover being more successful in terms of both shape and colour psychology, the links remain for the photographic cover but the links aren’t as dominant. This would suggest that the first cover is more effective, but there is still something that is far more appealing about the photography cover.
But which is more effective?
After doing my designs, I came across this book cover that reminded me of mine but it was for a crime/psychological thriller, so what makes this suit this genre and make my cover still fit within the genre of a drama or mystery novel?
Initial observations:
- Minimum of 3 fonts (typed) - Everything has a central alignment - We know one of the main character’s names already - Black and white with an accent colour - Textures! - High contrast - Stark lighting that reflects the approach taken for police investigation imagery - Pink being used as the accent colour adds the femininity to the word ‘Sister’
What suggests that this is a psychological thriller?
- The stark colour contrast - The solid structure of everything being centrally aligned and everything (except ‘the’) is kept bolt upright - The vinette around the edges, zooming in on the details, something is under the spotlight - Very strong formulated fonts (both Sans Serif and Serif), they don’t use script fonts (only on the letter).
The covers, in terms of tones, highlight a stronger contrast instead of making something seem more whiimsical, as do the fonts. Similar novels, that aren’t necessarily in the same genre but have cross over in style, definitely do not use the approach that I have used.
Based on this one cover, it looks more like a psychological thriller!
More Psychological thrillers...
Common characteristics:
- High contrast - Black, white, deep blue/green, hot pink and yellow seem to be common tones to use - Mainly start Sans Serif fonts, some Serif used but not often - Everything seems to be central in the frame.
What do I need to change on my book covers?
The tones are an evident issue, the fact they have a deep base from the start doesn’t help. But Moriarty’s work has been linked to psychological thrillers before and the style is very different. It is the use of yellow and black as a symbol for danger that doesn’t help but the connotation still needs to be there for this cover. Experiment with which colour is seen as dominant.
Paula Daly is also a Crime novelist that I looked at the start in terms of visual research. The links I made to other authors were sometimes done through suggestions made by Amazon which in itself has an algorithm, it isn’t necessarily based on the same kind of stories but people’s buying habits. In order to properly judge how successful this cover is, I need to situate ‘The Husband’s Secret’. It has been identified as a Thriller by many sources and therefore, I can say that the covers I designed are incredibly strong designs for portraying this genre. My initial research and identification therefore failed me in terms of what I looked at. I should have been clearer at identifying what genre this is and in some ways, although it is similar to ‘chick flick’ writing, there is the thriller aspect which makes it a different read and therefore a completely different cover to design.
Previous book covers do not suggest the genre at all! All book covers are given a similar appearance to make us think they are similar to the chick flicks that I compared the covers to earlier. There are some stark colour combinations but they don’t have the characteristics that I identified to be common of thriller books. This is perhaps what overshadows the book now for me. There is a darker side to the story and the covers do not reflect this. Had I looked at these book covers for thrillers at the start of my research, it would have been very clear how the research influenced my designs. Although my tutor did say it was clear to her also, this has strengthened my confidence in my design work because I have been a) able to design book covers which I really struggled with during part 2 and b) I have designed covers that fit so strongly to a genre without me realising! The next part in my development is realising earlier on so that I could undertake more direct research earlier. But the fact that I was able to identify the colour choices through other research and not looking at these covers has also helped to build confidence.
The book was originally designed to be similar to that of a stereotypical chic-flick but Moriarty creates it with far more depth and it becomes difficult to guess the storyline. This in my opinion takes it beyond that typical genre as they are often very predictable. The same target audience exists of younger women but the cover needs to reflect that it isn’t going to be love and flowers. Avoiding an illustration style that portrayed this was important and therefore, I went with photography whereby I could experiment with what the light decided to show or hide to the audience. The Hidden is a massive theme in this and I wanted the lighting to really show this. I did try and employ some of the house style features that I had identified within Penguin Publishing however, I was able to identify that book covers within the same publishing house vary a lot in order to give each book it’s own identity. The logo always features so I made sure this featured in two of the most common areas on the cover. Other than this, there are no specific colours, fonts or spacing used between the covers. In terms of success between the two covers, the cover with the photograph on it is more successful in my opinion. I think this covers have more interest, the idea of a hidden secret is more deeply explored and the cover has the intrigue that is required in order for an audience member to pick up the book having not heard of the author beforehand. The use of yellow, although is a very small part of the storyline, provides the perfect accent colour for the cover, adding some contrast and further depth to the style. Although there are aspects of the other cover that are successful, I personally wouldn’t find the book interesting enough to pick up from the shelf. The use of the typical red band round bold Impact text is something that does portray a well hidden secret, one that shouldn’t be known to the audience. In this respect, the employment of this within the cover is a strong, universally understood component of visual language. However, other than this, I find there to be no focal point that helps to further employ the message. This is the benefit of having an image. The message can be employed in an additional way instead of just a single colour background. Although I did struggle with the image that was used, once I used the envelope encasing the ring, I realised that this provided the stark contrast between the light and dark, what used to be and what is now.
What have I learnt from having to create these two different book covers? - Depth doesn’t have to be created by stark contrast, texture can also help as it mirrors that created within photography without having a photograph. - It works to have different alignments on the same page, but only if you are ok for them to be read as two separate components. - Each small component indicates something different about a storyline and it is important that, what looks like completely different elements, in fact is seen as one to convey one single message. - The continuation of a pattern is important to flow over the whole design (front, spine and back) however, there is more information to read on the back page so the pattern needs to not be too overpowering that is is hard to read. - Previous visual language techniques are a successfully way of communicating a message on a cover that isn’t using imagery. The use of a red box around the word secret is a very small move but it has many connotations to go with it. Sometimes these techniques help to further a message but sometimes I also need to be wary of them as a designer as they could communicate the wrong thing depending on the context.
Evaluation: In many ways, I was dreading doing another book design exercise because last time, it really hadn’t worked! The designs themselves worked well individually but not as a series and as a result, I was unsure whether the designs were actually any good. Having worked my way through the Core Concepts module since then, I was pleasantly surprised at the results that I was able to produce. The designs not only capture what the book is about but throughout this exercise I have been able to develop my creativity and visual skills to make sure that these book designs were more successful than the last ones. What initially helped with these designs was the fact that I know the book. I have read it and loved the storyline and therefore, knew exactly what needed to be highlighted within the designs. Looking at the previous covers, as well as covers from similar style books, threw me a little off guard to start with. The covers suggest that the books are more romanticised, possibly being a ‘chick flick’ kind of book. Being able to identify that this is more of a thriller book, directing the research into a more appropriate field that enabled me to judge the success of the designs on how well the covers portrayed the genre (just part of the criteria). In many ways, the photographic book saw me develop my visulisation and photographic skills more than the typography book design did. In order to be more focused when shooting, I used other people’s images to create mock book covers so that I knew the style of image that I needed to take. From here, more refined shoot plans could be made so that during the shoot, I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve and it made me consider every photo that was taken. The lighting style that I opted for whilst photographing was a little different for me. I had to make sure that the thriller style of cover, whilst also romanticising it slightly, could be achieved within my images. This meant I opted for 2 very harsh lights which were sometimes too harsh or produced flash spots on the rings. Softening this during editing was something that I had to start doing but it made me work backwards in my head when it came to the second shoot. The focus of this exercise was the layout and in order to understand the layout properly, it helped to have developed an understanding for shape psychology through my development for The French Hen exercise. The use of a rectangle not only mirrored the shape of the envelope but by positioning it slightly off of the page, the shape is broken and therefore, what originally would have seemed closed off and secretive is now being revealed. This reflects the storyline well as a letter is opened to reveal ‘The Husband’s Secret’. The layout was driven by the contrast and dominance of different colours. Using a previous exercise, I was able to establish which colours should be more dominant within the design in order to present a sense of danger. The omniscious nature of this leaves the audience wondering what is contained within the letter that could cause this idea of danger. It helped that yellow was also put in the description of the letter. When the letter is found in the book, it is described to have a layer of yellow dust on it which is originally why yellow was used. But after revisiting the key words, it reminded me that yellow would also fit with the connotation of danger and it would be inkeeping with the research points that I made when looking at other thriller books. Out of the two covers, I think that the photographic cover is a more sucecssful design based off of other thriller book designs however, the use of typography on its own produces something that still portrays the thriller genre just in doesn’t use the image to the advantage of the design. Communicating a message to the audience is done more successfully through the photographic cover as it portrays more about the story. Whereas, when looking at the covers and which has helped me to learn about layout more, it would have to be the typography design.