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!