The first design for the cover was inspired by a particular poster which focused primarily on Russian heroes, rather than political party views. The poster reads "We will fight strongly, strike desperately - grandsons of Suvorov, children of Chapaev." The design used in the poster itself consists of multi-media design decisions, including a minimalistic background, which looks to have either used print or paint. The bottom half of the poster shows the soldiers and tanks of the army, which have been made using graphite or lead pencils.
The background to this poster is what was most appealing, as it subtly blends the black and red together in a minimalistic style. This is what inspired the cover design to use limited colours in the same way.
The aim of this design was also to make sure that the Napoleon or all of the pigs would be shown in the design as the most superior. When thinking about what made the pigs superior in the story, it was clear that they begin to show human qualities, and are even described as being as powerful as the farmers. This brought about the idea of showing the pigs to be human-like in their nature. One way to do this was to show a pig with a human's shadow. This concept would then explain to the reader how the pigs in the story eventually become more and more human-like, developing less animalistic traits.
The idea that first came to mind was to show a pig coming out of the barn and the light cast from the doorway of the barn would reveal the shadow below the pig. As the design was to be minimalistic, in the same way as the propaganda poster, the barn and the pig would both coincide with the colours that they would be set against. For example, the light from the barn would also show the details on the pig's body, in the same way that the propaganda poster uses black to highlight the lines over the red.
As shown here, we can see how the white of the background would subtly blend into the red revealing the characteristics of the pig's body. Creating the design in this way also means that the number of colours used can be kept to a minimum.
For the front cover of the design, the barn would be situated in the centre of the page, with the pig shown in the doorway. By showing the pig to be the only animal in the design it reminds the viewer that the pigs are the primary focus of the story. The barn would also be placed at an angle on the page, as many of the propaganda posters tend to show direction in their designs. This idea of direction allowed viewers at the time to imagine their countries as "heading in the right direction", with many designs consisting of armies, tanks and planes all advancing to a certain direction. This allows for the design to illustrate the power and force that these countries possess.
In the same way, the barn would be placed at the top of a slope, with the rest of the farm land appearing on the back page, at a lower angle. This shows how the barn is seen as one of the structures of power for the pigs in the story and the rest of the farm are under their control.
The next step was to then divide the design into two pages and add a spine to the centre. From here, further decisions could then be made about the type of font to use for the title and body text. It also meant the pig design could be added with proportion in mind, relative to the back page and spine.
Another idea that came to mind during this stage, was that the shadow of a human figure coming from the barn would also fit in well with the windows being black. As the shadow will also be black, this could potentially show a subtle hint to the viewer that the barn belongs to the humans, but it later comes into the possession of the pigs on the farm. In the same way, the colour used for the pig is also the same colour used on the farm land. This reminds the viewer of where the pig has come from and where it is now. This also allowed the doorway to be a more central focus in the design as the white stands out among the black and orange.
The next step involved finding a suitable font to use for the cover. This meant looking for either traditional style fonts that were similar in style to the original book covers for Animal farm, or to look at a more up-to-date version of the font. A modern up-date, might allow for the design to appeal to modern audiences. However, the traditional option would show a link with the time in which the book is set and when it was released.
Narrowing the options down to four different fonts meant there could be discussion with peers about which is the most suitable. After the discussion it became clear that the traditional style was best suited for the cover, especially Century and Bodoni 72. Although the idea to use a modern style was well received, it seemed that most were in favour of the traditional look of Century, as it was a more structured typeface that had wider letters and was easier to look at. It was also seen as a compromise between Bodoni and Garamond, as Bodoni possesses thicker letters, while Garamond has more spacious weight in its letters.
After the typeface for the design was established, it was then applied to the front, back and spine of the cover. The use of Century also proved appropriate for the body text on the back cover, as it was spacious and easy to read. The body text also begins with one of the most notable quotes from the book. This would allow viewers who may know the quote but not the book to understand that this is where it comes from. Once the design was finished it became clear that the limitation of colour proved to be appropriate for creating a cover that was minimalistic.
Alternatively, another design approach was taken which follows the stye of Russian Suprematism. In the same way that El Lizzitsky created Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, a design for the cover of Animal Farm could mimic this painting. That way further exploration into the style could be made and whether it would be effective when communicating the ideas of the book.
The idea behind this design, was that the black object to the left represented the windmill in the novel and the red arrows represent the attack on the windmill. As the attack in the book leaves the windmill destroyed, the red is shown as larger and more overpowering in comparison to the small black objects at the bottom.
Analysis: As the design is inspired by another painting that represents an overpowering attack, the design theory works well in explaining the scene from the novel. However, when perceived from the audience's perspective, the design may seem confusing if they do not know what the design is referencing. Therefore, this would likely be a weaker option to pursue for the development of the over.
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