Design Practice - Studio Brief 1 - Final Outcome / critique and response

 Book cover 1

Book cover 2

Book cover concept

The idea behind my book cover was to create a more modernised and simplistic version of the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. To do this, I researched ways that the cover had already been created and took inspiration to use in my own designs. As this was a serious themed book, I decided to make the focus point of the book designs based on the idea rather than a certain scene or object. These ideas include murder, dark crimes and media coverage, all of which I believe were successfully communicated in the covers.

Questions for peers in the crit

1. which of the two final book cover designs do you prefer and why?
2. what would you change?
3. is the typeface appropriate? If not what would be?

answers

1.  I prefer book cover two - the white versions don't have relevance and the black creates a bold feature to the front and back cover.

2. The spacing above the silhouettes look too bare for the overall cover. the figures could be moved more central to the text.


1. Much prefer book cover 1, I find the block black colour scheme more professional and intriguing. Really like the use of the mugshot numbers/codes - I think they will interest people especially if they haven't read the book.

2. you could try using a grid to line up both sets of silhouettes and keep them the same size, I like the choice of Bodoni for headers but I feel like the text is stretched sideways - body upwards.

1. Book cover 1 because there's no key/obvious explanation for which characters are filled on book cover 2.

2. maybe add in the use of colour, like in dark red, it feels a bit plain as is. The layout is good though, and I wouldn't change how that looks.

3. For the blurb the typeface is appropriate. For the names within the silhouettes, yes they are also appropriate. The title however is not as it looks stretched out and a bit wide.

1. Book cover 1 is better as the silhouettes on the front and back tie the book designs together. Cant completely understand what the cover means however it is intriguing as the numbers don't make sense.

2. The title looks a bit squashed and could be changed.

- try adding some colour as the black isn't standing out.
- the choice of type is fitting
- from viewing the cover it looks as though it is targeted at a more mature audience.
- consider colour in the template.

• Possibly add a simple splash of colour to make it stand out.the use of lines in the title make the cover quite top heavy to the viewer. consider the sizing on the silhouette text. white space or different line weight could be used rather than lines to separate the text on the back.
• could maybe rearrange the silhouettes so they are all along the bottom. Maybe keep the names minimal by using only caps. a modern look would be better using sans serif font.
• Prefer the first cover were all the silhouettes are black. keeps the design consistent from the front to the back. I like the small element and the font with the date.
• leave the names of the victims off the back cover so that it leaves the viewer open to interpretation of who the figures might be, which will intrigue the viewer.

Following the final critique session, I received feedback from many peers about what to do with the designs I had presented and what could have been done differently to improve them. I also presented them with ideas from the initial stages of the project to see if there were elements that could have worked during the final stages of the project.

Overall, the feedback showed that the first design, in which the silhouette designs were included, were favoured most by peers. This was because it showed more mystery and intrigue as it showed similarities between the imagery of the family and the imagery of the killers. This therefore worked better in leaving the interpretation of the designs up to the viewer.

One thing that was mentioned by several peers was the use of the title and how it looked as though it was too stretched out on the front page. Therefore, to enhance the design I shortened the width of the centre title and shortened the separating lines in accordance with the text. This furthermore, helped to make the front page more presentable to the audience.

Other changes include the text layout on the back page of the book cover, the sizing of the silhouettes in comparison with the front page and the names of the family have been removed. This is because several suggested that by leaving the names out of the back cover, it would give the audience who have not read the book more intrigue into finding out who those silhouettes are representing.

Resizing the images on the front page and back page, have allowed for the layout to look more fluid and structured when the book is opened. I believe that this final outcome has been successful because it has combined elements of certain steps of the project that were well received by peers and reorganised them so that they work well with one another. For example, the title page uses the layout of a newspaper article, but is combined with the silhouette imagery from the development stage. It has also made use of Bodoni 72, which was the most favoured font during the first three initial design ideas.