Penguin books design boards

Responsive The brief: In Cold Blood - Design a cover for ‘In Cold Blood’ by Truman Capote using the Penguin books design template (198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 20mm) considering its literary merit and its chilling content. The design must be eye-catching and engaging based on primary, contextual and visual research. Most importantly portray the story and be true to the book. All designs must work both printed and on-screen.

As highlighted in the brief the winning design will need to - Have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief - Be competently executed with strong use of typography - Appeal to a contemporary readership Show a good understanding of the marketplace - Have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

Penguin Books

Studio Brief 01

This brief gives an opportunity to explore book cover design, responding to a live competition brief, explore both conceptual and traditional approaches to book cover design, as well as create a really high quality refined final outcome.

Aims: To create a professional, high impact graphic response that shows and alternative interpretation of the iconic book title. Displaying my skills in typography, idea generation and project development.

Researching a huge range of examples in exceptional book cover design though history especially relating to the Penguin books has been immensely beneficial, this work by the legendary Romek Marber shows simplistic imagery that is both graphic and intriguing, relating the crime theme of ‘In Cold Blood’.

This dynamic and graphic imagery informed the initial outcomes of this brief, the designs needed to be bold, easy to understand and often utilising just one or two colours.

Samuel Harpin

The work of Bob Gill in the book ‘Forget all the rules about graphic design.’ Shows an approach to ideas and solutions that have an emphasis to problem solving, sometimes obvious ideas that are often the most appropriate response to the problems. The section titled ‘less is more’ has been really impacting on the approach to idea generation and outcomes.

Responsive In terms of idea generation it was about exploring both obvious and ambiguous design solutions, all trying to reflect the classic examples of penguin book covers researched.

Exploring a large range of ideas is vital is reaching something new and not done before.

It wasn’t until the 14th solution the most appropriate and effective design was realised.

An important selling point of the book is the way it is written in a semi journalist style, much of the content had been discovered through research the author has conducted, due to this an idea formalised of using all the content of the book outlined by Penguin as a mock up news paper title. This theme relates to the murder, thriller aspect of the story as well to the idea of an investigation into the murder of the clutter family.

Studio Brief 01

Though feedback with peers and tutors this idea was confirmed as the most appropriate and a being a unique approach to the brief. Something imperative to the competition.

Samuel Harpin

Penguin Books

On top of this gave an amazing opportunity to explore the 1950’s graphic news paper styling.

There was therefore a wealth of research available into the news paper front pages online.

Penguin Books

Studio Brief 01

Responsive

Once the idea had been realised it was about getting the quality, communication and aesthetics correct. The work of the studio MinaLima working on the Harry Potter fantastical newspaper the Daily Prophet.

The really graphic imagery was vital in communicating the message on screen, much like the book cover, the message must be all about the book being ‘In Cold Blood’ its not till a closer look that the detail and information is highlighted.

The artworks are nearly completely typographic this was something that is really appropriate to this idea, a purely typographic solution is not very common and would set the designs out as different.

Another aspect of this work is the apparent ageing, as the book is set in the late 1950’s it is appropriate for the cover design to reflect this.

The Daily Prophet covers demonstrates the perfect balance of aged and slightly ruff around the edges as well as being clear and in a way contemporary.

This has been achieved a number of ways including, using slightly off white paper, a degree of imperfection in the large typography with marks and dots, as well as the typography not being perfectly printed and a hand made aesthetic. These details are vital in the communication being appropriate to the final solutions.

Samuel Harpin

The final aspect to highlight of these works is the small details. Under close inspection every element of the news paper has a relevance to the world in which it sits, for example the weather reports, the subheading all relate to the story and add to the final communication.

This attention to detail was vital to replicate the final outcomes. Overall these artworks have been fundamental in the inspiration for the ‘In Cold Blood’ designs.

Penguin Books

Studio Brief 01

Responsive

In terms of the production the design seemed to design itself it was more about making sure the communication did the idea justice. All the information used relates to the story and adds to the intrigue of the book for both new and existing readers.

This image above shows the original layout that was information heavy, it was though feedback from peers that informed a more stripped back design that would allow the vital content to be at the forefront.

The typeface family ‘Knock Out’ designed by Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, has an amazing range of weights and thickness’s that was really appropriate in the bold impacting

communication, that was so vital in the news paper headline theme.

As typography was the fundamental aspect of this design it needed to be conside and put together with real quality. This work took all my typographic knowledge and skill to ensure the communication was effective just using type.

Contrasts in black and white type assisted with this communication.

Informed by the Daily Prophet work using a thin outline with the words ‘In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’ emphasised the news paper theme.

Another task in this design was the header, informed by a newspaper that reported the

Samuel Harpin

murder called ‘The Kansas City Post’ the size and positioning needed to be clear but couldn’t be seen as the title as this would disrupt the communication. Overall the balance was effective and communicates the news paper theme perfectly.

Another important design feature was the slight ageing effect of the lettering, redrawing each of the large letter-forms created a less uniform and more hand made styling, alongside this some slight textures were added to ensure the designs felt appropriate to the time the book was written. Once again striking a balance was vital in the communication too much would have made the designs look tacky and unprofessional and not enough and it would look too polished.

Responsive The final image shows the front, back cover and spine. The back cover has been designed to be cohesive to the front, keeping the same impacting direct communication fitting to the news paper theme, but with more of a subtly that is needed for the back.

Another degree of ageing has been achieved using an off white colour scheme, printing the image and rescanning it has given a more tactile and hand made feeling that improves upon the communication.

The overall idea is clear and easy to read, the designs achieve this balance of direct communication with many small details and interesting aspects that were so effective in the Mina-Lima Daily Prophet designs. The idea has been greatly informed by Bob Gill’s approach to problem solving, being an obvious solution that works and would resonate with its audience.

Studio Brief 01

Overall this project has been successful in answering my initial aims, it is professional, uses impacting and graphic typography that has been realised through extensive research and idea development.

Samuel Harpin

Penguin Books

Professionalism is such a key aspect in responding to competition briefs, these designs maintain a level of professionalism shown in the previous winners designs.