Wang Zhi Hong
FORREST GUMP, 2017
Forrest Gump is a novel, which was written by Winston Groom. Wang makes the cover colorfully. In the novel, Gump says a quote, “Life is like a box of chocolate. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Therefore, the cover is almost filled in the chocolate which have rounded edges in different color. It is really interesting because before reading the line below the image, I didn’t realize that these are the chocolate, but I could see that he wanted to create a man’s face. I think it is creative to see that he used the chocolate, which is mentioned in the novel to create an image.
unfair, 2017
He designed a book cover
makes the cover looks more
for Unfair, which was
interesting although he only
written by Adam Benforado.
used line, size of the font and
Interestingly, he emphasizes
triangle to convey the name
“un� with using red color.
of the book.
This is my favorite book cover in all of his work because the cover makes me calm by using simple geometric shapes and two colors. The scale he designed
In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom, 2015
I also notice that he likes to play the shapes and lines in his wor k. For example , the cover of Under Cher r ies in Full Bloom has some playful shapes in pink. Although they are different shapes, I notice that the star s and the r ibbon are composed of two same tr iangles, and the geometr ic shape which is on the left-hand side of the fr ame is cropped by the tr iangle , and it is the same piece of the one on the r ight cor ner. If you look at it closer, you will see there are there are some embossing of the Japanese words which catches my eyes. Even though the shapes are not consistent, but it creates the balance of negative space to make reader to think about what the fiction will be about. The text are aligned with the geometr ic shapes.
Wang does not only design the book cover,
of Story Thief, “So I jigsawed together oth-
but also make the cover of the album.
ers’ sad stories, So I pasted other people’s
He designed this CD album for a famous
happy stories.” Maybe this is the inspiration
Taiwanese singer, A-Mei. The photo of the
of the album cover.
singer is composed of two pieces. The hierarchy works successfully, I see the photo of the singer first, then my eyes move to the title of the album and her name. Even though I don’t know if there is a relationship between the concept of song and the design of the album, but I found the lyrics
Wang has designed many book covers and other design such as album cover and logos. I find that the style which is in his work is very simple. Even though he also makes his design in complex way , there’s order in chaos. The good thing about his work is that his work contains many styles from different countries such as Japanese, Taiwanese and Western. Most of his work, it also has photography, geometric shapes and typography. The unique style which is different with other designers is that each of his work has their own characteristics. When he explained about one of his work, 1972 Seishun Gunkanjima, he mentioned, “In other words, their idea of design would not have been the same sufficient. That was why I used the meaning of the three Chinese characters for “Battleship Island” on the cover as pictographs, directly transplanting the hand drawn maps by the author and the dimensions of Battleship Island detailed in the book into words. In this way the ‘meaning’ of the words was transformed into ‘form’.” (Wang Zhi Hong - Interview) Therefore, I appreciate that he turns the meaning into form in his design. It is challenging to me to do it, but I think it is important because it could be another way to see the design.
Shunkinsho, 2017 The story of Shunkinsho is a novel written by a famous Japanese writer, Tanizaki JunichirĹ?. The novel tells the story of a love affair between Sasuke and blind koto teacher Shunkin, who lost her sight at the age of nine. Blindness gives Shunkin an extraordinary ability to masterfully play the traditional Japanese instruments of the three-stringed shamisen and thirteen-stringed sophisticated koto. She performs as a renowned musician and also gives music lessons. The book cover contains four eyes to show that the book is about a blind woman.