Book Cover
Book Cover
Book Cover
Book Cover Inspiration
The Beginning After reading Chip Kidd’s “The Cheese Monkeys” we were to write a description of our interpretation of the book. I would argue that the tone of The Cheese Monkeys is deceiving. On one hand it offers light-hearted humor with airy commentary and structured arrangement. Suddenly the humor shifts to a dark, mysterious place that is quite confusing and chaotic. All together the tone of the book is unexpected, strange and quirky. There was a lot of variation of imagery that came to mind while reading The Cheese Monkeys. Some of it included a clean college town then it was throw up on the side of the car. Imagery included a normal scene and then something completely random that comes in to steal the show. Bizarre things popping up every which way – broken baby dolls, flowery home-made dresses, men being humiliated without pants on and class trips that turn into hitchhiking. The most annoying image that I came away with at the end of the novel was being left behind. Using our interpretation as a stepping stool for our design process, we had to create a book cover that delivered the essence of our initial analysis. Because the book was so strange and unexpected I was a little apprehensive about designing its cover. I’m used to things that are normal, straightforward and simple. I appreciated the challenge and dove right in. I brought lots of ideas to the table during my brainstorming phase which helped me develop my final idea later on. I was a little overwhelmed while looking for my inspiration. There are so many creative designs out there and I was trying to view each cover as inspiration instead of completely copying someone else’s idea. I found myself gravitating toward pieces with hand written type, especially because it correlated well with my impression of The Cheese Monkeys. I loved the idea of combining photographs with written overlay so I tried to find covers that used the combination successfully.
Book Cover The Process
Book Cover
Book Cover
Book Cover
The three sketches on this spread were brought to our class critique. Out of these choices I was challenged to proceed with the option below. I still needed to make some changes, but I was excited about where my design was headed.
Book Cover
Book Cover
Book Cover Iterations
a new york times notable book
a novel in two semesters by Chip Kidd
Chip Kidd
For my first computer iteration I decided to photograph the critique area to incorporate in my design. I liked the direction I was taking, but I agreed with my classmates that it was still pretty stale looking. In order to bring some life into the back side of the book I needed to bring in some more white sheets. I was encouraged to try writing everything by hand, as well.
As you can see, there was a lot of improvement in this iteration. The handwritten quotes on the back help make the cover more cohesive. Now I just needed to resolve the placement of “a new york times notable book� and fix up a few small details.
Book Cover Front Matter Process
Book Cover
Book Cover
Book Cover
Final Book Cover and Front Matter
A new york times notable book
A novel in two semesters by Chip Kidd
There were obviously a few things that needed fixing right away in my first iteration of the front matter. I needed to work on some margin spacing and resolve the table of contents page. Both of them were pretty easy fixes, especially because I walked away from critique with a lot of different ideas.
Chip Kidd
Book Cover
Book Cover
Book Cover
Reflection Creating this project has stretched me in great ways as a designer. My eyes have been opened up to a creative process in which you have to stick to a specific intent (in this case, our initial interpretation) without allowing your natural design tenancies take over. I loved that challenge even though it proved to be difficult at times. I don’t think there is a whole lot that I would change if I had more time or were to re-do my project. I’m very pleased with how my cover turned out, but when I look back at my interpretation after reading I could’ve made my cover a little more on the weird/deceiving side. I’m excited about having this new piece in my portfolio!