Beneath the Underdog: Process

“A really good book cover has to work regardless of what it’s about, on a visceral and emotional level.”

– Chip Kidd

Robert Jamal Gamby Book Jacket Redesign Typographic Systems Spring 2013

Project Brief:

The challenge for this project is to redesign a book jacket for (a), a book that I have read, and (b), a book that is not already famous for its design.

By the end of the project I will produce three different design concepts for the same book.

Final Size: cover 6 x 9in, spine .75in, 6 x 9in, flaps 2.75in (final flat size is 18.25 x 9 inches) printed on Epson Heavyweight 13 x19 with a color, pattern or image printed on the back

About the book: I have chosen to redesign one of favorite books, Beneath The Underdog, an imaginative autobiography by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus.

Written throughout the 1960s, Mingus’s sprawling, exaggerated, quasi-autobiography, Beneath the Underdog: His World as composed by Mingus, was published in 1971. Written in a “stream of consciousness” style, it covered several aspects of Mingus’s life that had previously been off-record.

In addition to his musical and intellectual proliferation, Mingus goes into great detail about his perhaps overstated sexual exploits. He claims to have had over 31 affairs over the course of his life (including 26 prostitutes in one sitting). This does not include any of his five wives (he claims to have been married to two of them simultaneously). In addition, he asserts that he held a brief career as a pimp. This has never been confirmed.

Mingus’s autobiography also serves as an insight into his psyche, as well as his attitudes about race and society. Autobiographic accounts of abuse at the hands of his father from an early age, being bullied as a child, his removal from a white musician’s union, and grappling with disapproval while married to white women and other examples of the hardship and prejudice.

About the Author: A wild, lyrical, and anguished autobiography, in which Charles Mingus pays short shrift to the facts but plunges to the very bottom of his psyche, coming up for air only when it pleases him. He takes the reader through his childhood in Watts, his musical education by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker, and his prodigious appetites--intellectual, culinary, and sexual. The book is a jumble, but a glorious one, by a certified American genius.

About the Characters: Charles Mingus:

Duke Ellington:

Role: Foil

Role: Foil

Appearance: Rough,

Appearance: Clean,

Personality: Volatile,

Distinguished, Elegant

Conflicted, Loyal

Personality: Charming,

Verdict: Likeable

Cool, Calm Verdict: Likeable

Mingus Word List: Fragmented, Large, Imposing, Complex, Strong, Impulsive, Unstable, Eclectic, Electric, Dreamer, Outsider, Mongrel, Worldly, Childish, Determined, Insane, Tortured, Explosive, Genius, Individual, Menacing, Powerful, High-Yellow, Exotic, Dangerous, Conflicted, Fractured, Displaced, Passionate, Sharp, Abrasive, Lumbering, Detached, Removed, Idealist, Abused, Self-Destructive, Loner, Gangster, Pimp, Ferocious, Fire, Earthquake, Fragile, Larger-Than-Life, Artistic, Confused, Damgaged, Lost, Serious, Red, Intellectual, Gentle, Trusting, Easily-Influenced, Driven, Depressed, Realist, Eccentric, Aloof, Confrontational, Imposing, Mighty, Brute, Forceful, Stubborn, Broken, Honest, Challenging

About the Objects: Upright Bass:

Piano:

Large, warm, soothing,

refuge, solitude, safe, vast,

strong, foundation, elegant,

home, canvas, composition,

companion, muse, tool,

music, melody,

anchor, calling, life, crutch, fence, chains,

About the Setting: Watts:

New York:

home, slow, behind,

large, fast, flashy, corrupt, det-

divided, incubator warm,

rimental, money, avant-garde,

dangerous, racist, torturing,

cool, sexy, busy, party, high-

love, abusive, poor

class, rich, work, intelligent

Belleview: dark, lonely, tortured, centered, low, bottom, below, hidden, lost,

Quotes From the Author: “Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.”

“Had I been born in a different country or had I been born white, I am sure I would have expressed my ideas long ago. Maybe they wouldn’t have been as good because when people are born free?I can’t imagine it, but I’ve got a feeling that if it’s so easy for you, the struggle and the initiative are not as strong as they are for a person who has to struggle and therefore has more to say.”

“You can’t improvise on nothing man; you’ve gotta improvise on something.”

Book Cover Examples: A great way to start is to find examples of book covers that I feel are successful. I also want to focus on finding a wide variety of covers that differ in style and execution. Finally, I’ll need to analyize what the cover is communicating in order to understand how to create that in my design.

Photo Based:

Based on: Character

Based on: Character

Genre: Traditional

Genre: Romantic

Execution: Image altered

Execution: Placement of

w/ black rectangle

objects in relation to eachother

Feeling: Deceptive

and the space Feeling: Sentimental

Based on: Character

Based on: Character

Genre: Contemporary

Genre: Contemporary

Execution: Photoshop

Execution: Juxtaposition

Feeling: intrigue

Feeling: Sentimental

Illustration Based:

Based on: Character

Based on: Setting

Genre: Humorous

Genre: Contemporary

Execution: Hand-Drawn

Execution: Cut Paper

Feeling: Sentimental

Feeling: Loneliness

Based on: The Story

Based on: Character

Genre: Vintange

Genre: Vintage

Execution: Painted

Execution: Wood Block Print

Feeling: Death

Feeling: Cinical

Illustration Based:

Based on: Setting

Based on: Character

Genre: Vintage

Genre: Vintage

Execution: Screen Print

Execution: Painted

Feeling: Fear

Feeling: Trapped

Type Based:

Based on: Setting

Based on: Conflict

Genre: Vintage

Genre: Contemporary

Execution: Hand-made

Execution: Hand-made

Feeling: Anxiety

Feeling: Pensive

Juxtapostion:

Based on: Object

Based on: Character

Genre: Vintage

Genre: Contemporary

Execution: Icons

Execution: Juxtaposition

Feeling: Mysterious

Feeling: Conflict

Based on: Character

Based on: Character

Genre: Contemporary

Genre: Retro

Execution: Hand-Drawn

Execution: Juxtaposed

Feeling: Dramatic

Feeling: Humorous

Collage & Cut Paper:

Based on: Object

Based on: Object

Genre: Vintage

Genre: Contemporary

Execution: Cut

Execution: Collage

and Folded paper

Feeling: Serious

Feeling: Playful

Reference Images: The next step is to search from images drawing from the list of key words that I identfied from my word lists of character, object and place. These images do not reflect the final outcome of my design. They only serve as a reference to generate ideas from.

Visual Library: I want to compile of library of images and photographs to use on my book jacket design. Again, I am keeping my list of key words in mind while selecting these images. It is also important to note that these images will not be used as they are. They will re-purposed and modified in some way.

Book Cover Sketches: For the initial sketches I am focused on capturing the key words in the overall look and feel of the design. I also sticking to the three categories of character, object and place.

Character:

Character:

Object:

Place:

First Pages: The purpose of the first page is to continue to the tone, mood, and/or ideas of the book jacket design. The challenge lies in it being limited to black & white. This process of creating first pages also allows me explore type treatments that might have an impact on the book jacket design.

Book Jacket Sketches: Through critical evaluation with the help of my peers I am able to narrow my cover sketches down to nine directions. Now I need to take these nine cover directions and translate them into full book jacket designs including the cover, spine, back and flaps.

Book Jacket Refinement: After another round of critical evaluation I have picked five directions to refine. In this case the majority of the backs of my book jacket designs are more effective than the current covers.

Endpaper Sketches: Endpapers are on the inside of the book jacket and present the opprotunity to extend the narritive of book jacket design and/or add an element of surprise for the viewer’s eyes. I start sketching by experienting with different ideas of patterns and images that work effectively with the five book jackets I have chosen to refine.

First Pages, again: At this point in the process it is important to revisit the first pages and design them with the five bookjacket designs in mind. I am creating cohesion between first page and book jacket by using the same typefaces and mimicing other design elements from the book jackets.

Final Refinements: From the five directions I have chosen the three final directions that include book jacket, endpaper, and first page. With the final directions identified it is time to go back and refine further. I also have the opprotunity to create a variation for each of the three final book jacket designs.

Final Three Design Directions: