Chosen Book Cover Design Idea Exploration

I decided to go with my third book cover design and I now needed to develop it further. I decided on this design because it abstractly explores the forms of noughts and crosses. It also references the forest scene within the book, an important scene for the two main characters of the story, Callum and Sephy. 

I decided to experiment with using watercolour pencils to begin with. I think they are a good medium to use when you want to create visual mark making because of the pencil like quality that makes up the first layer of colour before water is added on top and used to blend tones together. I used a black ink pen for the text, the capital letters are written in a sans serif style. I think I will use digital text when I am creating my final book cover design because I don't feel that my handwritten typography is strong enough for something as popular as a book. 

Watercolour Pencils and Ink pen - Subtle colour palette

Watercolour Pencils and Ink pen - Rich colour palette

I made another practice book cover design, this time using the design template I downloaded from Penguin Design Awards website. I used watercolour pencils again, but a richer colour palette to reference a tree trunk more realistically. The base of the tree trunk is usually lighter than the rest of the trunk, I used a rich orangey brown to make the marks stand out more as engravings created by the wood. I used a dark brown for the background, combined with a lighter brown to create textured tonal variation. The title, author's name and blurb copy are written using a brown ink pen so they fit in with the rest of the colour palette.

I posted this design on my Instagram account and a follower commented,                    

'This is really good! Try playing around compositionally, maybe making the trunk slightly smaller so it doesn't quite touch the edges of the page!'

I think this is good advice because they think it is a good design but have advised me to consider the importance of composition, a very important element for a successful book cover design. I agree with the comment as I think it will help to separate the front and back cover from the spine better, giving the design more depth. 

Although I have decided I will probably use watercolour paint or drawing ink for my final cover design, I decided to experiment with a digital process to see how it would work created in a more contemporary medium. I used my Wacom drawing tablet to create the design on Adobe Illustrator. I struggled to add the text using Illustrator, it is easier to open the file in Adobe Photoshop to add the text. This would allow me to play around more with its positioning within the tree trunk base.

Digital Book Cover Design - with no Background Colour

I decided not to add a background colour to the design initially because I wanted to see how it would look on a white background. I don't think it works particularly well because it doesn't really reflect the dark themes present within the book and I think adding a coloured background would help to make the tree trunk bases stand out more. I also need to add the spine. I could experiment more with the positioning of the Penguin logo and barcode so that they fit in more with the scale of the design. 

Close up of Tree trunk base on front cover of design

If I decide to develop this digital design further, I should also make the text easier to read and understand. The letters don't stand out enough against the marks I have drawn within the wood. It might help if I change the colour of the text to a lighter colour such as white or yellow. I could choose a bolder typeface style, make the text larger or make the wood marks lighter. The text for the author's name is particularly difficult to read, it might help if it was written in capital letters or again in a lighter colour of bolder typeface style.

Digital Book Cover Design - with brown coloured background

Above is the book cover design with a brown coloured background. I matched it to some of the marks I created within the tree trunk bases. I think the text of the copy would work better if it was also written in the same brown ink colour as the background, creating a sense of fluidity. I like the richness of the colour palette of this design but I think some more white elements could work well to create a contrast as well as to reference the 'noughts' characters within the book. The brown could represent the 'cross' characters.

When comparing the digital cover design to the painted ones I created, I prefer the painted covers because I think they give the cover a more rustic look and perhaps make the cover design look a little more personal which might have a better effect on the reader.