Visual and Concrete Poetry Research

One of the tasks in order to generate a wide range of experimental illustrations for my book covers before narrowing it down to one idea is to create a series of at least 9 images (3 for each book) in a text-editing program (e.g. Word, Text Edit, Pages). I have not experimented with visual poetry much in the past, so I have begun to research more into it so I have a stronger understanding before creating my images. 

Visual and concrete poetry is the art of creating an illustration using type that visually works in a consistent horizontal and/or diagonal line, this also represents strong layout and gives the illustration structure. Visual poetry is famous because of its deployment by the use of typography. The way the typography (the visual poetry) is laid out, represents the personality of the poem and language used.
'These visual means perform the work as a poem that can't be translated into any other form' - Johanna Drucker

Visual Poetry artists that have interested me;

Pierre Coupey; The alphabet of blood. The publication had an early impact on Canadian poet bpNichol, who stated that it was one of the first examples of visual poetry in Canada. It was published in 1964 where each of the original pages were extracted from the original publication and re-arranged into a curve/shapes of dry-transfer lettering. Published in a little magazine; 'The Alphabet of Blood". I love these specific pages in the publication because of the amount of variations in the kernings of the words/letters. I enjoy the contrast of large and small lettering and the way a horizontal letter is placed next to a smaller vertical word for example. It has an impact of how the word might be said (loud, quiet, its importance within the sentence etc)

 

 Johanna Drucker; Stochastic Poetics. Drucker is the first Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. She is internationally famous for her work in the background of graphic design, typography, experimental poetry, fine art, and digital humanities. The project was conceived during an event at L.A.C.E, (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) that Drucker experienced in her first year in L.A. Three poets, each working with thematic material at the highest possible emotional pitch, were part of a reading/installation event in the galleries in the downtown Hollywood neighborhood. However, she felt that their voices and the concepts/meaning of the poems weren't being heard/presented through the publications/installations. "Sexual abuse, holocaust testimonies, American slave experience, ecological disaster were the subjects in their works. But the event was overwhelmed by street noise, the milling about and comings and goings of the constantly shifting crowd, by the variety show atmosphere of carnivalesque urban night life..." I love how each piece of visual poetry throughout the publication has a voice and emotion to it; the first piece of visual poetry looks as if something is crumbling/breaking, this could represent confusion/trauma/a mess, as the typography starts off in a line and then the letters begin to drift off.

 Alan Riddell; Eclipse. Alan Riddell (1927-1977) was the editor of Typewriter Art (London Magazine Editions, 1975) and regular contributor to magazines that include; Ambit, Fishpaste, Poor.Old.Tired.Horse and Second Aeon. Throughout the publication Eclipse, Alan Riddell weaves typography into shapes/objects and significant patterns that heighten or symbolise the verbal message. The visual poetry is mainly very illustrative and the message is extremely clear (obvious) to see throughout the illustrations; the typography for the piece named 'the locket' is arranged in the shape of a locket.

Further Book Cover Research

I have also started to research into what the existing illustrations/imagery for the book covers consists of, I found that most of the book/film covers for each book look very similar (e.g. most of the existing Cinderella book covers have a simple illustration of Cinderella). I want my designs to look different to the the current typical disney book covers; which often consisting of an illustration of the main character/the main couple; e.g. Jasmine and Aladdin together, Simba as a baby, illustration of a lions head, Cinderella in her blue dress, Aladdin with the lamp etc.

Instead I want to play on the idea of non obvious and obscure associations with each movie; I will experiment with the themes of where the books/films are set, e.g. for Aladdin it could be the Arabian city of Agrabah, imagery that relates to this would be the temples, glamorous/gold scenery, palaces etc) Some more non-obvious imagery that I could experiment with for example are Aladdins lamp, Cinderellas animal friends when she is kept as a slave by her step family, the bridge that Simba crosses when fleeing to the Jungle etc.

Stereoypical Cinderella book cover imagery;

• Cinderella in the blue dress
• Cinderella dancing with the prince
• Cinderella in the carriage on her way to the ball
• Sparkles/glitter
• Night time blue sky setting
• The blue birds

Stereotypical Aladdin book cover imagery;

• Aladdin
• Aladdin and Jasmine riding the magic carpet
• Aladdin and his pet monkey
• The blue Genie
• The night sky and deep sunsets

Stereotypical The Lion King imagery;

• Simba and Mufasa together
• Mufasa
• Simba as a child
• Rafiki holding up Simba when he is first born
• Zazu the parrot
• The highest stone in the kingdom

Music Video Collaging

'4. Find a piece of music that relates to your book in some way (film soundtrack, related to the period the book is based in, period, etc.). Draw this piece of music in Illustrator. Repeat the exercise 5 times'

I have experimented with the task of creating illustrations from music, but using a collage approach, however I will still also complete the task in the Illustrator technique too. I decided to listen to my favourite song from each film for my chosen books, the songs I chose were; The Lion King 'I just can't wait to be king, Aladdin 'A whole new world' and Cinderella 'A dream is a wish your heart makes'. When watching the animated song videos, I made notes of interesting imagery that I saw throughout each video. I wanted my collages to look ambiguous, different to what the typical books covers for them look like as they all mainly use the same type of imagery; e.g. illustrations of the main characters with the title of the movie/book. I really enjoyed creating these collages and finding interesting language to go with them.

List of imagery notes from The Lion King 'I just cant wait to be king'; trees, birds, soil, lions, tigers, giraffes, leaves/flowers, elephants, water/rivers, family, feathers, green zebras, red rhinos, monkeys

List of imagery notes from Aladdin 'A whole new world'; magic carpet, skyline, starts/starry skies, night time, moon, jewellery/gold, temples, flowers, clouds, fireworks, birds, rivers, pyramids, statues, horses, lights

 

List of imagery notes from Cinderella 'A dream is a wish your heart makes'; bed head, the little blue birdies, hair brush, shoes, the mice, window, wand/needle, old clothes/rags, sewing materials, clock, apron, bed

 

These are my favourite collages for each book.

Research into the evolutions of the books

I have started to research further into the history of the 3 books I that I am designing the covers for; Aladdin, The Lion King and Cinderella. The three stories have evolved and changed extremely throughly throughout the years, transitioning from stories based on tragedies, slavery, fortunes, responsibilities, wealth etc to fairytales and love stories.

The original film Aladdin is a folk tale, said to have been from the Middle Eastern origin. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ("The Arabian Nights"), and one of the best known—but it was not part of the original Arabic text, it was in the 18th century by a man named Antoine Galland from France.

The original story follows how Aladdin went from being a poor young no-good, dwelling in one of the cities of China to how he finds himself trapped in a cave after the sorcerer successfully attempts to betray him; the sorcerers motive was to persuade young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from the booby-trapped magic cave. However, Aladdin still has on a magic ring that the sorcerer has lent him. When he rubs his hands in despair, he coincidently rubs the ring which makes the genie appear; the genie releases him from the cave so that he can return to his mother...however the genie and lamp comes with evil; a second far more powerful genie appears. This leads to Aladdin becoming rich and powerful and marrying Princess Badroulbadour, however Aladdin manages to summon the lesser genie when the sorcerer tricks his wife and takes the lamp.

The story line still remains similar but it is now more of a dramatic love story based fairytale. It follows the story line of how he frees a genie from a lamp, and finds his wishes granted, along with evil within the lamp he still finds his real wish to be with Princess Jasmine granted. The book/film follows the story of how Aladdin and Princess Jasmine cannot be together as he is street-rat and she is a princess, he finds himself having to change who he is (pretending to be a prince) in the end the truth comes out about his real identity.

The story of The Lion King hasn't changed much throughout the years as it is not as old as Aladdin and Cinderella. The Lion King is a 1994 American animated epic musical film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, and original scores were written by Hans Zimmer. 

The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a lion cub who is to aim for his fathers role within the kingdom, Mufasa, as King of the Pride Lands; however, after Simba's uncle Scar (Mufasa's jealous younger brother), murders Mufasa, Simba is manipulated into thinking he was responsible for his fathers death and flees into exile. When Simba flees into the desert he meets two friends; Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and warthog, who are fellow outcasts, they become his new family through maturation. 

Simba is then given some valuable perspective when his childhood friend Nala manages to find him, as well as his shaman, Rafiki. In addition, when Nala and Simba reunite they fall in love, and she urges him to return home. Simba then returns to challenge Scar to end his tyranny and take his place in the Circle of Life as the rightful King, successfully following in his fathers foot steps.

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper, is a folk tale similar to Aladdin, symbolising a myth-element of cruel prejudice and successful reward; the story is about a young woman (Cinderella) living in unfortunate circumstances; being treated as a slave by her step mother and two step sisters, that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune; falling in love with the Prince.

The story of Cinderella has many variations and changes from when it was first told till now. The first story was the story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo way back in 7 BC, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt. The first literary European version of the story was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile in his Pentamerone in 1634; the most popular version was published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697, and later by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1812

Rhodopis is a story about a female Greek slave, this story is about how slave Rhodopis became Egyptian Pharaoh’s wife. It is the story of how an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was managing justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, and becomes the wife of the king. The story has now changed thoroughly to the tale of how Cinderella secretly goes to the ball with the help of her fairy god mother. The fairy godmother transforms her from a slave (she is kept as a slave by her evil step mother and step sisters after her mothers death her father re-marries) into a beautiful princess. At the ball, she catches the princes eye but unfortunately has to leave before midnight to avoid getting caught by her step family, however her glass slipper falls off as she is leaving. The prince then makes it his mission to find Cinderella by making every woman in town try the slipper on, and of course it only fits Cinderella.

Book Cover Initial Ideas

I have begun to gather some ideas on which books I could use to design the 3 covers for. I want to design the books covers for books that I am personally interested in to make the brief enjoyable as well as successful. However I am not a huge reader... which lead to my decision of designing book covers for books based on films that I enjoy, the 3 books/films must link through a theme.

My idea is to design book covers based on my favourite Disney films; Aladdin, The Lion King and Cinderlla. These are films/fairytales that I still watch and enjoy to this day. I am going to find the original book versions of these films, as well as reading more modern versions that are designed for children in order to gather a range of initial research to work from. I will also research into Disney and the original authors.

I also thought about other childhood authors and books that I could design the book covers for, such as the Jaqueline Wilson, Dr Suess and Roald Dahl. However, Disney was still my biggest interest. I also think that if I designed covers for example for 3 of Dr Suess' books, they'd be too restricted as the covers would all look too similar and not be imaginative/experimental enough.

Further ideas and tasks for designing covers of 3 Disney books;

• Research all of the classic Disney books/films that I like, don't restrict; Aladdin, Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Jungle Book
• Maybe narrow it to 3 fairytale/princess based books? Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast? instead of lion king etc...
• Read the blurbs and summaries
• Watch the movies! make notes throughout
• Listen to the sound tracks; Draw the music! (mark making, collage from imagery/items scenes in the movie using imagery found in magazines)
• A quote for each book? Aladdin: 'I can show you the world' The Lion King: 'Hakuna Matata' Cinderella: 'Have courage and be kind' generate imagery and typography using these
• Symbols/illustrations to create for each book; Cinderella: glass slipper, Aladdin: magic lamp, The lion King: a baby lion cub, Beauty and the Beast: a rose, Snow White: an apple, Goldilocks and the 3 bears: 3 bears

 

This week I also went into Waterstones to see what Disney books I could find, I mainly focused on reading the blurbs as well as the cover designs. However, there wasn't a huge range so I am going to visit more book stores over Christmas to see what else I can find, I might also plan a trip Birmingham so that I can visit the Disney store so I can take photographs to use for my designs/create illustrations from.

Brief 2- Book Cover Designing

The second brief for Module 2 is to design book covers. The brief will run from now till 2 weeks after Christmas. From my body of research from Studio Brief 1, I will be applying my knowledge in the design of a set of 3 book covers, the 3 book covers will work as a series that will be published simultaneously as a set.

The choice of books must derive from some curatorial decision (thematic, genre, author, etc.) and this consistency must be applied visually to the set.

Over Christmas I have been set a wide range of experimental design tasks to try out in order to have a good amount of design ideas to work from and to choose from when considering what the final designs will look like. Each initial idea will include: a different grid system, limited colour palette, choice of a limited range of typefaces (where each size, weight, italic counts as a separate typeface) and imagery (which must demonstrate a consistency in visual language across the set). Consistency, experimentation and aesthetic is extremely key throughout each design.

Things to remember and consider when designing over Christmas;

• Experiment as much as possible! use this time wisely
• Blog and work in sketchbook to show all my processes and ideas, even if they are unsucessful
• Explain my ideas, justify each reason (summarise in brief notes)
• Read reviews of the books to get different perspectives 
• Think of ideas for the designs that aren't obvious; think outside the box
• Is the book about film, culture, fashion?? what is the theme
• Watch appropriate videos and films for the books if there is any
• Don't spend hours on each set task; some will take longer than others, some will be quick experiments.

Tasks to do over Christmas:

• Make a series of 9 images/illustrations (3 for each book)
• Use a text editing programme e.g. Microsoft word, to make a visual image using just text; cut up, collage etc. Illustrate using type (for each book)
• Do the same task as the one above but this time using a spreadsheet programme e.g. Microsoft excel (for each book)
• Find a piece of music that relates to the book in some way and then draw the music. Repeat this 5 times using the same piece of music.
• Collection of objects based on my books, take 30 colour photographs for each book (90 in total) that relate to each book. Photograph in 3 different ways; line, tone, shape, form, symmetry, focus.
• Use your own choice of media to experiment with that I have used so far this year (mark-making, collage, etc.) to illustrate my covers
• Visit places that relate to my books, explore for inspiration!

Book Binding

Today, Pat showed us how to bind our two publications together, that we have been working on for the past 2 weeks; the Colour Theory publication and the Grid System publication. We learnt to bind our publications together in a cost effective way so that in the future we can do it easily and at home if we wanted to. The materials that we needed were PVA glue, a paintbrush, bulldog clips and heavy books in order to keep the publication still when glueing.

Firstly you need to line up all the pages; pinch the corners and aline the pages carefully, then lay it down slightly hanging off the edge of the table so it is easier to apply the glue.

You then need to put something heavy on top of the publication to prevent the pages from moving; any slight movement of the pages can ruin the outcome. I used heavy books. I then also used bulldog clips to clip the publication together to make it extra secure when glueing.

                                   
When the publication is secure, you can start to apply the glue using a thin paintbrush so it is all even and neat. Repeat this process 3-4 times once each layer of glue is dry.

This is what my two publications look like finished, however I still need to slightly trim the edges down to make them a tiny bit neater. I have now added the spines to the publications, for the Grid System publication, I chose a blue colour for the spine as it matched the collage on the first page well; which consists of shades of purple, pink and blue. For the Colour Theory publication I used the colour orange for the spine; this is because orange is the contrasting colour/vibrating boundary for Turquoise. I am happy with how they have turned out.

Chip Kidd: Offset

As a group, today we watched a 40 minute lecture video by Chip Kidd that he did for Offset Festival in 2009. Throughout the lecture he spoke about general problems and strategies when designing a book cover from his personal experiences; this was extremely useful to watch as this is what I will be designing in my next brief.
The lecture was also enjoyable to watch as Chip Kidd spoke about his past experiences in a humorous way, giving us an idea of what it is actually like sometimes working in the industry.

Key points he made;

• Sometimes the editor will love the piece, where as the author may hate it
• Augusten Burroughs- running with scissors (research this)
• You will have to design things that wont always interest you
• Don't always try to be too clever with your designs
• Typography can take your eyes on a journey
• "type is nice, you can read it" maybe suggesting a design can be purely type based? type is the most important part as you need to be able to read it?
• Extract the idea from the author
• Dissect and re-use design ideas
• A design can be purely typographic
• Adaptation of found objects, simplicity within this

Grids Research Publication Critique

This morning we had a group critique of our grids research publications in order to receive feedback on how to improve and to get opinions on what worked well throughout the publication. The publication was split into research, grid systems explanations and collages/photocopies which interpret each grid theory.

Feedback on the areas that worked well:

• The print out on acetate is effective
• The acetate collage is easy to see continued as a grid over the cover of the publication
• Acetate printouts work well as it they are bright, vibrant and funky
• Clear use of grid systems
• Colour choices work well throughout
• Really likes the overlaid look that I have gone for and how it translates throughout the whole publication
• More transparent paper uses as they work really nicely and the colours used within them work well
• Likes the different paper sizes used
• The use of highlighting key information throughout the research is effective as it shows that I have actually read it
• Really nice range of development work, research and summaries of grid systems
• Good amount of use of collage and practical approaches to interpret grids
• The research is well organised; you can clearly understand what is my own work and what is research
• The Grid system explanations are well written
• Loves the overlaid effects
• One of the collages that I created using modular grids works really well (the one where I created squares from zoomed in parts of a variety of different collages and then arranged them into a grid) this would work as a book cover
• The singular colour photocopies portray stability well
• Good use of colour
• Strong angles within the collages

Feedback on the areas to improve:

• Experiment more with paper stock to add more variety; This is a good idea, I will try this out with the collages that work best
• Maybe photocopy the layouts/collages to make it more professional instead of having the original ones in there; I agree with this, it will create a more sleek look.
• Some designs not eligible; It would be nice if the designs were stated so I could improve on them particular ones, I will look through my designs.
• Use more acetate as it works well; I agree, I enjoy the acetate photocopies as well so it will be a fun process.
• Might be nice to have a plain background behind the acetate photocopies to see them clearer; I kept photocopied paper collages behind purposely to show the combination of two grid systems overlaid.
• It would be good to see more digital work and digitally arranged images; I agree
• Larger text would be nice to see for headings; I wanted to generally keep the same size for the type so that it doesn't look over complicated as my collages are quite busy and vibrant already.

Grid Systems Explained

The Golden Ratio

In order to create a Golden Ratio, you must start off with a square, which is then divided in half to create two rectangles which allows you to draw a line in one of the rectangles from one corner to the opposite corner. You then need to rotate the line so that it appears horizontally adjacent to the first rectangle, you then simply create a rectangle using the new horizontal line and original rectangle as the guides. The Golden Ratio is the description of a perfectly symmetrical relationship between two sections; about the same as a 1:1.61 ratio. It is the idea that when you remove a square from a golden rectangle, you get another golden rectangle, this process can be repeated over and over again to create a spiral, it is limitless. The Golden Ratio wasn’t something that only came to light in the 20th and 21st century, the Golden Ratio has been in use for at least 4,000 years in human art and design. It is argued that the Ancient Egyptians used the principle when building the pyramids. It is also found in the proportional dimensions in nature; flowers, sea shells, pineapples, honeycombs etc, this suggests that 4000 years ago the Golden Ratio must have originated from nature and our surroundings. An example of where the Golden Ratio has been used is in Greek architecture

Multicolumn Grid

Multicolumn grids are there to provide adjustable formats for publications that have a complicated hierarchy or that combine the use of text and image. The more columns, the more flexible the grid, you use margins to split the grid. Within a multicolumn grid you can choose to either occupy a single column with text or image or it can be spread out in several ways. You don’t have to fill all the white space. Furthermore, you can have 2 different arrangements that meet in the same grid system. They are useful if you need to compromise with design layouts; there is a lot of freedom within this style of grid.

Designing with a hang line

When elements are lined up to the top of a flow line it’s called a hang line as the segments appear to hang from the line. Designing with a hang line creates clarity and precision within the design. In addition to creating vertical zones with the columns of the grid, you can also divide the page horizontally; it is the idea of stacking either horizontally or vertically. This makes the hang line grid very easy to create; simply arrange the grid lines either vertical or horizontal, as many or as little as you like.

Modular Grid

A modular grid is a technique that consists of horizontal divisions that run from top to bottom; where everything is built using block grids. Each of the elements of the design fit into the modules in rectangular patterns. Modular designs are often used in newspapers where there is a lot of context to pack into one. The 1950s and 1960s were the peak times of when devised modular grid systems began to develop, this was through the work of Swiss graphic designers including Gerstner, Ruder, and Müller Brockmann. Gerstner used the method of creating a square that is split into 58 horizontal and vertical sections, this design was a set of guides that allowed print designers to create a wide range of variations throughout the layouts of their designs than what was possible with the basic grid systems at the time. The result is a 'compound' grid, comprising a number of sets of columns and rows. The modular grid design created by Gerstner displays perfect symmetry which gives the design a sleek, structured look; it follows strict rules.

Baseline Grid

Modular grids are created by positioning horizontal guidelines where as a baseline grid is a grid that is there to govern document as a whole; the grid lines run all the way through. Baseline grids are there to secure all of the layout elements which follow a common rhythm
A baseline grid is most useful in terms of organizing the text. You start by creating a baseline grid by choosing the type size and leading of your text; to style headlines, captions, and other elements, choose line spacing that works with the baseline grid, such as 18/24 for headlines, 14/18 for subheads, and 8/12 for caption. You then need to alter the top or bottom page margins to take up the leftover space by the baseline grid. You then need to control the amount of horizontal page sections to relate to the amount of lines throughout the grid. Count how many lines fit in a full column of text, then choose a number that divides evenly into the line count to create horizontal page divisions. A column with forty-two lines of text divides neatly into seven horizontal modules with six lines each. If your line count is not separated neatly you’ll need to alter the top and/or bottom page margins to take up the leftover lines.

Tschichold Golden Canon

Canons; Principles of page layout design used to measure and describe proportions, margins and print area. Jan Tschichold refers to the grid structure as “Golden Canon of book page construction”, it was in founded by him in the mid to late twentieth century, based on the work of J. A. van de Graaf. Jan Tschicholds way of defining the key properties of the golden canon consist of many different elements; the quantity of the text in the area and the page are always kept the same, the outer margin next to the text is twice the width of the inner margin and the bottom margin in double the height of the top. The Golden Canon Grid system works best in context when used to develop book spreads and publications such as magazines, articles etc. Furthermore, this is why typographers and book designers still continue to apply these principles to their designs to this day, with variations related to the availability of standardized paper sizes, and the diverse types of printed books.

Van De Graaf

The Van de Graaf canon originates from a grid system that is also known as the "secret canon" used in several medieval manuscripts, before 1501. It is the historical reconstruction of a technique that may have been used in book design in order to split a page into a satisfying proportion. The Van De Graaf system is made from lines within a double page spread that connect to the corners symmetrically; creating triangle and star like shapes. The “secret canon” then appears within these grid lines. This method then developed when Tschichold began to use it, Tschichold wrote "For purposes of better comparison I have based his figure on a page proportion of 2:3, which Van de Graaf does not use”. The Van De Graaf is still used today for the layout of editorial design; double page spreads, magazines, books etc.

Muller Brockmann

Brockmann was an architecture, design and history of art student in Zurich and worked as a graphic designer and teacher. His work is recognized for its simple designs and his clean use of fonts, shapes and colors, his work still inspires many graphic designers to this day. Since the 1950s grid systems help the designer to organize the graphic elements and have become a world wide standard. “The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style.”

Favourite 3 Grid Experiments

This week I have begun to research and experiment with Grid systems using collage, I have found this extremely enjoyable as I love the art of collage which has made my interest in grids grow this week. These are my three favourite grid designs that I have created so far, I have used collage materials from a set of different magazines; to find imagery as well as type.

The first Grid system collage is inspired by Joseph Müller-Brockmann, the second collage explores Multicolumn Grid and the third collage explores Modular Grid.

Critiquing other layouts

As a group, we each selected the two grid designs that worked best to be displayed in order to have a quick critique, this allowed me to see what design decisions worked well in other peoples work that I could try out myself.

 I have selected a list of my favourite grid design experiments that were created by my peers today;

 

I loved these pieces as the use of a singular colour works extremely well; I also like how different shades of the same colour are created because of the different collage materials used. I particularly think the blue one would work well as a cover.

This piece is similar to the singular colour collages above, however this one uses two colours. The two contrasting colours work really well overlaid; I will try out this technique myself.

I love these two collage grid designs above as the idea of cutting up the images works extremely well. You can still see what the image is, just in a more playful and abstract way; creating shapes. I think the colour schemes work well too and are clear to see.

I think what works well in this design is the first page; the imagery on its own is strong but the hand drawn doodles/type ties it together and pushes it further; strong combination of digital and hand drawn methods.

The colour scheme works well in these pieces, the two colour schemes both have different aesthetics and the contrasts off the whites/creams work well with the reds/peaches. 

I love these two collages as cover designs as the contrast and proportions between the image and text work really well. In the second one, I love the idea of one block of simple text with a busy background dominating most of the page. In the first one, the ripped text aesthetic works well with the busy background, as well as the range of different typography used.