OUGD406 - Studio Brief 2 - Final Book Jacket Development

I started by designing the book jackets by just doing the front, back and spine. I chose my favourite designs and the ones that were a favourite in the feedback session that we had. 

I really like how this design covers the whole jacket so the back still feels like part of the design. Also I feel like this design stands out the most because it has the brightest background so I feel like people will be more drawn to this design. 

I really like the contrast between the yellow and the black in this design but I feel like the spine is lacking in interest and doesn't sell the book at all. All the interest is on the cover of the book so if they don't look at the cover it looks like a pretty boring book. 

I really like the strong links that this design has to the content of the book. I feel like once printed this design will have a touch of luxury to it because of the use of metallic inks. I also really like the simplicity of the layout of this design, with not too much text on the back and there is lots of room on the front for the image to breath. The pattern also adds interest to the spine making people want to pick the book up from a shelf. 

I chose the yellow design and the patterned design as I felt like these two represented the content of the book best. 

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 2 - Development

I started by making one of the simpler thumbnail sketches that I created, using a statement serif typeface to grab people's attention. However I feel that this serif typeface is not right to display the avant-garde nature of some of the pieces that were shown within Typographica as it feels too old fashioned. Also simply having it black and white makes it seem dull as it lacks impact, even though it is bold. 

Scattered Type

After searching through some of the content of Typographica I found this piece on a German national newspaper. It uses helvetica for a strong, reliable looking brand. I liked the way that the designer has scattered and rotated the letters in the word "Zeitung" to create an abstract image of sorts. It forces the viewer to look longer and harder at the image to work out what word is being portrayed. I decided that I should try this with 'Typographica'.

I used Helvetica like in the National Zeitung design but I decided that I should vary the type size rather than keeping it all the same so the letters would fit into a smaller space as I didn't want to completely fill the page. I find this design very effective as I feel it communicates modernist and post modernist messages and it is simple yet effective. 

I then tried varying the background colour and even the weight of the font from bold to regular. I much prefer the bold helvetica as it stands out much more from the background. Also the blue kind of masks the type and makes it not as visible than on the yellow, it blends together. But I do like the use of a bold colour with the black as it makes the letterforms pop out from the page.

Next I tried with a completely different font - Bebas. I wanted to add elements of colour to this design so I used the counters to place the colours found in bauhaus design - blue, red and yellow. However I didn't notice until my critique that this is 3 colours rather than 2 because of the black. They also said in the critique that this combination of red and yellow might be seen to some people at ketchup and mustard, so I don't know whether to continue with this colour scheme.

I changed the background of the piece to yellow so that it would no longer be 3 colours and I think that this definitely works a lot better as it is punchier. I also tried with blue and yellow instead of red and yellow and I think that the colours complement each other rather than clashing like with yellow and red.

Next I tried a completely different colour scheme, I changed the text to white and made all the counters yellow and I overlaid it on a black background. I feel that this adds more impact to the piece and makes it more eye catching. Getting feedback on this design, people said that they thought it didn't need anymore work - it is simple and eye-catching and that's all thats needed in a book cover. 

Experimental

These designs were inspired by Wolfgang Schmidt's serial patterns which were created using an aesthetic pattern programme that creates the patterns using a strict objective system. I took one of the lines of the pattern and isolated it to use it for the cover. I really like the simplicity of the pattern and even though it's geometric I still feel it is a contemporary cover that highlights some of the inspiring work that was contained within Typographica. 

I then took the patterned line and duplicated and rotated it to create an interesting circle - where half of it is linear and the other half is curved. I feel like this could represent the two sides of Typographica - the modernist and post modernist. I also tried straightening the line and duplicating it to create a square. I really like this design as I feel that it creates something that the viewer can interpret, to different people this could represent different things.

I then played about with adding colour to the designs. I looked at if it would work if I overlaid the circle design over the square in contrasting colours and I think it does. However the yellow gets lost on the white background and due to the thinness of the lines there isn't much overlap of colour going on. So next I tried to expand the circle pattern to fill the page completely and I feel this works because it looks almost like a vortex sucking you in.

After the critique with the second years and having a discussion with my peers I decided that it might be interesting to take these designs and do them silver on black as screen printing metallics is really easy. I really like the strong contrast of the light greys of the silver and the black, it makes the cover look really powerful and bold. Also the silver will add a bit of a feel of luxury to the book, as it is quite expensive having metallic embellishments would feel like you were getting more value for your money.

I wanted to see what the circle shape would look like half off the page so I could position the title like on Typographica's magazine covers. I really like the idea of spreading the design right across the spine to the back cover so you have to interact with the book to see the whole image. I think this is definitely my strongest idea out of all the abstract shape designs that I have done so far.

Geometric shapes

I wanted to try splitting the title up phonetically as you would read it. I think that the simplicity of Futura and its geometric shapes works well with this idea as it is really clear however I feel like it is too plain for a front cover. It needs something more to make people want to pick the book up and buy it.

So i decided to add some shapes inspired by some of the work within Typographica. I used a yellow overlaid the colours to create a darker yellow. I think these shapes work really well in drawing the eye in and grabbing peoples attention. 

I felt like the black on yellow didn't go very well so I tried another typical bauhaus colour of blue. I really like the way that it overlays with the yellow to create different shapes of green. Even though it is simple I think it works. When showing this design in my critique it was said that if I wanted to get this level of overlapping of the colours I would probably have to add more medium to the inks to water it down to make it more transparent. 

Next I tried something completely different. I was slightly inspired by another Typographica cover but I wanted to add the idea of overlapping colours like I have done before to it. The original font used reminds me a bit of alphabet spaghetti so I wanted to move around from that typeface. I used helvetica instead and varied the size and rotation of it to add some overlaps. I did like the concept of this design but I don't think it has turned out how I imagined it to, so I don't think that I will carry on with this design. 

Abstract letter

While doing some more research I found these designs by Ingeborg Scheffers and Marrielle Fredericks which I fell in love with immediately. I love the overlapping that has been used and how it isn't precise. It gives the piece real movement and energy. Also the juxtaposition of the text in the first poster adds more energy and looks quite avant-garde which Typographica magazine was.

I tried to recreate this effect with a letter T layering a bold T over a regular one. I feel like the use of vertical lines didn't look as dynamic as the horizontal lines that were used within the bold number 2 on the Scheffers and Fredericks' poster so I used that method instead. This would work really well as a screen print as I would create some unique colours in the overlaying process and I could do lots of different prints experimenting with the positioning of the second T as it doesn't have to be precise. 

I also tried using this sort of effect with the full word and having it up the edge of the cover. I think that this is a really interesting idea however I hate how empty the page looks. I think I much prefer the bold use of one letter to represent the word as it is much more abstract and I feel like this text is slightly unreadable where as the single letter is more legible. However I do feel like this design would work brilliantly screen printed. 

Type as Image

Next I wanted to try something completely different. I took the first paragraph of the blurb from the book and distorted it using the liquify tool in photoshop. I chose a san serif type face as I felt that when warped it would create more interesting shapes and it also lends itself to the fact that the book is a bit about history. I then split up the title like used within another of Typographica's pieces to make it more impactful and fill the page. Although I did more colour combinations after this one, when asking for feedback most people said that these colours where the most effective.

I experimented with the colour of the stock and the colour of the type a little to see how it would look. I really like the use of a light red stock with a darker red on it as it looks subtle and makes the text look like a pattern rather than words. However I don't like the use of blue over this as I feel that it isn't bold enough. Also I criticised the use of red as a dominating within the current cover as I felt that it was overly masculine so I don't think I will use this colour scheme again. Also I tried the original design on a yellow stock and I got some good feedback for this - though it was said that I could use a brighter yellow to make it more eye-catching. 

I also tried some different font choices for the main title, using Futura instead of Bebas.  It makes the cover feel less impactful as the font isn't as bold. Also the typeface is a bit wider so it covers more of the blurb making it less readable.  

 Additionally I tried using a sans serif font for the distorted blurb in the background. I feel like this didn't distort as well as the serif font did and it is less readable. 

Taking my feedback and my own criticisms on board I changed the colour of the background to a much brighter colour and stretched the distorted font out of the frame to make it look even more like a pattern rather than a font. This also works better with the book jacket design as it means that the lettering spreads across the whole jacket. 

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 2 - Initial Research

For my research I wanted to focus on type based covers because I feel after analysing the cover and the contents of the book I think that the cover should be mostly typography based.

ONLINE RESEARCH

http://rumors-studio.com/projects/verso

Rumor's work with Verso Books started with the Radical Thinkers series and has since gone on to become a long-term consultancy role, encompassing all print and online titles and content. Here are two examples of their pieces that are both highly type based. The first cover creates a bold and powerful message, representing the bold statements that would be made within the book about ideology. The use of black and white may also represent the traditional ideals of the book, but they have added a twist by switching the usual text colour and background combination of black and white. The second cover cleverly combines concentric circles as if to imitate radio waves over the title and author of the book. I like the use of all lowercase as it makes it a more approachable book cover compared to the overpowering all uppercase book cover used in the first cover. 

This book cover initially caught my eye because I thought that this sort of overlapping colour style would work brilliantly using screen printing. Also the typeface used looks very similar to the typefaces used most commonly used within letterpress, which could suit Typographica as it goes through a brief history of graphic design particularly within typography. It reminds me slightly of some of the bauhaus looking pieces within Typographica, like the piece below by Werkman. Combining abstract shapes and typography works really well as it seems to emphasise some of the words within the cover. 

PRIMARY RESEARCH

When looking at the book I took a lot of inspiration from the content as well as from existing book cover designs. Flicking through the pages there was a lot of designs that I found very inspiring and seeing as the existing cover is based on one of Typographica magazines covers I thought it would be apt to use some of its other content for my design. 

I like this cover because it shows the fragmentation of the type on the cover, as if it was built out of the lines and curves. I also quite like the juxtaposition of the author and the subject of the book as it adds to the dynamism of the cover, making it feel like all the shapes and text are jumping about the page. Even though it is black and white it doesn't feel flat or boring because of the texture of the stock and the fact that the pattern of the abstract lines fills the page.

This cover's idea of overlaying the letters t, y, p and e is really effective as it creates an abstract set of shapes that draws the eye straight away. I wish that I could use lots of colours like this in my design however I think it might look more impactful with just two colours. Also I like how the title and all the text on the cover has been fit inside the big letter forms so that the composition is all central. 

I really like the use of one big bold letter dominating the whole cover with no other information on it. All the info like the author or publisher or even the title could be put on the spine so I could create a dramatic letterform to fill the front cover. I also like how this letterform of an A isn't sharp and crisp, you can see all the little bumps making it feel friendlier rather than harsh. It even looks as though it may be a stencil that has the light shining through it suggesting that the book is one of revelations, shining a light on a subject. 

Here I love the use of gold on black. I have already created a screen print using these colours and they go together so well. I also really like the juxtaposition of the type of the title - though the letters are separated it is still readable. I am very tempted to use metallic inks again in my design as the add an extra depth to the piece as they change colour depending on the lighting.

The distortion of the text within this image is slightly odd but strangely likeable - the contrast between the sans serif and the distorted letterforms adds real character to the piece. Additionally I love these punchy colours of the blue and orangey yellow which are slightly complementary to each other, I think within my designs I will try to use bright colours to grab the readers attention. 

It took me ages to actually realise what the title of this book was - the letterforms are interesting for image purposes but they are not very readable as a title. Eventually I worked it out because it was written beneath the title in the corner of the book. The cover is visually striking due to the dramatic differences in the typefaces that have been used, it made me want to look inside from its ambiguous cover.