Evaluation - The Door into Shadow - Live Brief

Overall, the design has come out well, it appears intriguing and well considered and indicates the 'dark fantasy' nature of the story. Since the story is traditionally written, the cover reflects this style of the 'classic novel' - and for readers the style of literature immediately becomes apparent. This is shown by the bold, contemporary typeface used and the sectional aspects to the design. The rigid black, white and yellow scheme is also something that indicates it is not your typical YA novel. In some ways the design may look too mature for a teenage audience, however the style of writing is very mature and the specification suggests it should equally attract an adult audience. If the book was to be placed in a teenage section of a bookshop, it would certainly stand out.

Something I had to consider whilst designing, was that the cover template will be used for a further five books within the series. So for each book this outline will need to be used with slight variations in colour and cover image. I have thought about this carefully and made sure there is a specific layout for all the title and blurb information. There are several aspects of the cover that have been designed to indicate there are further books in the series, such as the 'I' and the 'Shadowland Hexology' written throughout. The yellow colour used will also be different for each book in the series, with the black and white background remaining the same. This adds a 'collectable' feeling to the set of books and I will be careful to emphasise this in the additional copies I will be designing in future. The cover image will also be kept consistent by using the same collage invert technique.

The Laptop Cat logo has been well utilised on the cover, spine and back. It has been interesting to see a logo I designed used within context and has taught me a lot about logo design. I was particularly interested in experimenting with ways to include the logo, adding colour behind, placing it so that it stands out but does not clutter the design, etc. The logo suites the style of the cover well and shows a developing brand for the author.