Design Practice - Studio Brief 1 - Book cover research and analysis

The original book cover design for In Cold Blood was designed by American graphic designer Sadamitsu Fujita. In terms of the design itself, the cover has been created in quite a minimal fashion, focusing primarily on the use of typography. One thing that stood out most was how the font is appropriate to the time period of the book being written. This meant that from the audiences point of view they can expect the book to be set in the 1950s and 1960s era. Another example of Fujita's designs being appropriate to the context, would be the cover he did for The Godfather book, which also uses typeface that supports the era in which the story takes place.

The colours being used are very basic and minimal, which I believe could be impactful to some audiences. The use of red could be in reference to the violent nature of the crimes committed, while the black could be a reference to Capote's writing.

The only thing that could have been changed about this book cover would be the hair pin placed in the top right hand corner of the design. As Fujita had chosen a minimalist approach, it has been made difficult to interpret what the object in the corner is.

This book cover also utilises the use of red in a way that reflects the nature and themes of the book. Although this approach is also minimalistic, the difference here is that the book cover focuses on imagery. The ranch shown on this cover is a reference to the scene of the crime from the book, which is accompanied by the red background, suggesting to the audience that something bad is happening in this particular scene.

The small uses of white also help to represent the lighting of the ranch, with just one of the windows remaining red. This could be a reference to one of the murders taking place in that room in the house.

In a similar manner to the first cover, this one has used font that related to the subjects of the book. As it is written in a typewriter form, this is likely to be reflective of the typewriter used by Capote at the time it was written. It could reference the print style used by the newspapers of the time.

One thing I would have changed would be the typeface used for the name of the author as it doesn't have as much impact as the letters used above it on the cover.

The last book cover I looked at has also taken a more literal approach to the cover design. This time through the use of photography, the designer has been able to reference objects relating to the story and the author himself.

The glasses are a reference to Capote's icon image and the journal beneath them are in reference to the notes kept by Capote when writing the non-fiction novel. I think that this approach has focused more on the writer of the book rather than the story itself and therefore could be interpreted by the audience as anything.

In terms of the typeface used, I think that although it reflects a traditional and formal setting, it has also given the book cover a more modern look. This is evident in the fact that the kerning has been taken into consideration and the layout of text on the cover also gives audiences a direction in which to focus their attention. For example, where the other two covers show the title above the authors name, this cover has placed the title below the authors name but enlarged it so that the attention is drawn to it first.