Penguin Books Evaluation - Competition Brief

The three penguin book designs I have made for this brief show a consistent style throughout. They all use Futura as a mark of consistency and they all use one prominent block colour - yellow, blue and red, with white accents. These three primary colours have been used to have high impact when the three designs are placed together and when they are alone. That being said, through research, each design has been tailored to the specific genre well - thinking about themes, colour, hierarchy - building on research about previous Penguin winners and previous professional cover designs. Each designs has subtle differences which have been considered carefully in accordance to the genre.

Wonder Final Design and Evaluation - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

The design is bold, bright and playful. It will likely attract children because its striking colours, cartoon style and bold text. The hand drawn aesthetic is something which is commonly used for children's design and should be appealing. The design is still contemporary and should attract adults buying for children. It should also appeal to the Penguin judges as it uses an interesting use of typography, which is something they often look for in their winning designs.

The cover alone is bold and works well without the rest of the composition. It is simple but striking and would stand out well on an online bookstore such as Amazon. The yellow would work particularly well in print and would be smooth, strong and vibrant. The ears of the O in 'Wonder' are also uneven, similar to the previous Wonder cover - this pays homage to Tad Carpenter's design which painting August with similar uneven ears. I felt it important to reference this design as Tad Carpenter's design has been the face of Wonder for so long and deserves to be remembered.

For the authors name and the tagline Futura has been used to as per my initial brief, setting myself the task of unifying each Penguin design with the use of the same typeface. This has worked well and offsets the handwritten style of the Wonder typeface well.

Wonder Mock-up

Wonder Full Spread Developments - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

I chose to do the developed designs with pink detail, as these appeared to stand out best against the yellow. Working together to create a bright and intriguing design. It also challenges gender stereotypes, since pink has commonly been associated with girls but the book is aimed at both genders. The pink is subtle enough so that it won't put off a male audience, but it also adds something slightly different and intriguing.

I wanted to carry across the hand drawn effect on the back of the cover too, so several of the developments show circles, doodles and scribbles - giving the back added interest and emphasis.

I also wanted to carry over the marker pen typeface on the back for consistency. I began by writing the author's initials 'R.G.P' but this felt too random in the composition. I then added them to the beginning of 'International Bestseller' which seemed to work a little better. However, the words were eventually edited to rest on top of each other - making better use of the space and slotting the two larger letters together better. I also drew the doodled faces over these letters too, adding consistency and also something which would pop from the blurb. I thought the two letters could represent August's parents, so they are drawn with the older faces of a man and a woman.

I decided to make the blurb simple as the concept is typography based and I didn't want to overshadow this by overworking the back. It also means the information is immediate and impactful which is even more important for a child audience. The yellow will most likely stand out on book shelves and the details within the typography will then capture further attention and imagination.

I decided to make the spine of the book black so that it would be in stark contrast with the yellow. I have carried the yellow and pink colour scheme across to this and also included the O in 'Wonder' as a symbol to represent August and the typographic concept.

Wonder Cover Experiments - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

Out of all of my sketches I thought the typographic cover had the most legs, the concept was clear and it considers how the Penguin judges often favour strong typographic approaches. It links to the playful, 'workbook' feel of starting school, and allows August to have a point of different but in an abstract way, so the readers will make no prior assumptions about him. It also links to my point that the novel is told from several different perspectives - not just August's, so the other characters can also be represented in the faces of the other letters.

I initially began looking at adding a full stick figure frames on the characters - however, this looked messy - the bodies bunched together and were difficult to differentiate. I also considered having the O of Wonder completely separate to the others - emphasising his position as the main character and marking his difference - however this also looked out of place and didn't flow with the design. By placing the O on its side does work interestingly for the design, this again shows that August is exactly the same as the other children, but with a slight difference in appearance.

I then moved the words a little below the centre of the cover, this placement worked a lot better - especially with the additional text placed underneath. I began by experimenting with having the O illustrations in different colours to highlight the difference. The dark purple and blue did not stand out well on the cover.

I then began experimenting with adding  doodles and illustrations, as if drawn by August himself, the 'cool beans' is a phrase used by lots of characters in the book. I also added an additional texture to the writing, making it look more like a pencil illustration and thus more authentic as a workbook doodled over.

Because the doodles appeared a bit out of place, distracting from the title - I decided to replace them with general scribbles, achieving the same effect but with less distraction. I then trialed further colours, I found that the darker red and purple seemed too serious whereas the blue and pink worked a lot better to have an aesthetic children would be interested in. The blue however, seemed too light against the background and didn't strand out so well against the white of the type.

Wonder Initial Sketches - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

I began by sketching initial ideas for the book cover, considering particular scenes, themes and quotes. Ideas:

• To create faces out of the type for 'Wonder', adding hand drawn elements over the top to link to the 'school work' aspects of the book. August's face could be highlighted with a different colour over the top but it would also mean that other characters could also be included too. Which was something I set out to communicate.
• Another idea was to create 3 rows of shapes, to make up the 12 people in Auggie's class, and have them each different colours but all the same shape apart from one. This would be to indicate Auggie's slight difference from the others, but to also highlight how he is also the same. In some ways this felt like he was being painted as more different than he actually is and so the idea may need further development.
• The use of paper chains was also considered, to indicate kindness, naivety, connection and equality. Each person cut be cut slightly differently to again reference the other characters in the story. 
• Additionally, referencing a quote from the story, I thought it might be interesting to play with imagery involving masks - to suggest each character is wearing a mask of some kind and its what's underneath that counts. However, the few sketches I did of this came out quite sinister so it didn't seem appropriate for a children's book.
• Finally, considering another scene in the book where the children lead their parents around an exhibit in the school hall in the dark, I thought it might be interesting to have just the eyes of each child and parent visible - in a classic cartoon style. This would show everyone being viewed the same, which is what the book is all about. It would also mean that other characters would also be acknowledged - unlike the previous cover by Tad Carpenter.

 

Wonder Previous Children's Award Winners - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

1st Place 2018 Winner - Naughts and Crosses

Explanation of Work

'Noughts & Crosses (Malorie Blackman) provides an experience through the two main characters, Sephy and Callum. The novel tells us about their relationship, and how it grows, it is so personal, I felt it was important to include them as key elements in my design.
Monochrome colour was chosen to show the contrasted personalities, alongside adding sophistication to the look. Introducing red as an accent was an afterthought, taking Anna Bilson’s advice on board.
The simple aesthetic, inspired by the cover of Varoom magazine (6/2/18), dictated to not break the clean look, so I hand-lettered the title and blurb within the characters.'

The key thing that stands out here is the strong use of typography, which the Penguin judges often go for. It is illustrative, which is a style often chosen by the Penguin judges for the Children's award. The back cover is part of the overall composition but the cover can also stand alone. There is an incredible amount of detail

Fruzsina Czech, Ulster University,

 1st Place Winner 2017 - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

This cover also shows a highly illustrative approach, reflecting the main characters transition between being a child and a teenager. The Noddy illustrations are scribbled over in black marker and there are stains and edits all of the book to suggest an upheaval. Something illustrative like this could be a successful approach, yet as the original Wonder cover design has shown - sometimes something simple can have very large impact.

Beth Ewens, Leeds College of Art

1st Place 2016 Winner - Carrie's War

This cover design shows the importance of colour and texture, with the yellow highly likely to stand out on book shelves. The composition is incredibly consistent, with texture, arrangement, typeface all working together to communicate a clear message. I hope to create something similarly bold and striking.

Lucie Williams, University of Wolverhampton

Wonder Past Cover Designs - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

Wonder's original book cover by Tad Carpenter has become a beckon for the story and has carried it far, so it is interesting that Penguin have chosen this particular cover. It is probably because the story has a lot of scope that can be explored visually.

'From the get-go we knew we wanted to have Auggie on the cover of the jacket in some way, but the challenge was how much of Auggie do we show? We believe that the book itself should be what paints the picture of this captivating character and so we approached the Wonder jacket in more abstract terms. With Auggie’s appearance being such an integral part of the Wonder story, our choice was to abstract the character as to not influence the readers’ perception of who Auggie is, while also creating a metaphor for his facial abnormality.' - Tad Carpenter https://carpentercollective.com/2017/11/21/wonder/ I find this to be a really interesting concept and it works well for the story. Although the illustration is so simple it has legs and carries the story's concept well.

The simple use of colour also works in the books favour to be gender neutral and soothing, as the book itself emits a strong feeling of kindness and acceptance.

Something I want to consider for my own interpretation of the cover is that the book is narrated by several different characters and it deals with their personal problems too, not just August's. So I would liked to create a cover that also acknowledges the side characters too.

Wonder Reading Research - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

From reading Wonder I was able to get a sense of the story and particular age group the book was aimed at. I took some quotes from the story and began thinking about visuals:

'I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.'

'Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness'

'The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they've died. They're like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made of stone, they're made out of the memories people have of you.'

'I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.'

One of the main themes of the story is that August is different from the other characters and how he deals with that. But by the end its about how he accepts his difference and sees himself as ordinary. It would be interesting to do a cover design that illustrates August as both different and ordinary.

Wonder Brief - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

I then began working on the Children's Fiction cover competition - for 'Wonder' by R.J.Palacio. The brief stipulates how the design should look:

'We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. The cover should encourage children to pick the book up and buy it for themselves and should also engage adults to want to buy it for them.'

'While all elements of the cover (front, back and spine) need to work together, remember that the front cover has to be able to work on its own, and to be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting as well as on screen at a reduced size for digital retailers.'

'With the nature of friendship, tenacity, fear and, most importantly, kindness at its heart Wonder explores fundamental truths about how people behave and how they should behave.' - The cover should reflect this.

The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept
  
• be an original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from other books that it will be competing
  against in the market
• be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

The Establishment Evaluation - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

Overall the design has met the brief specification well, it is fresh and youthful and advertises the book to a 'new audience'. It is not overtly segregating the audience and could be picked up by anyone, regardless of their political party. The blue tone might indicate something against the conservatives, however they are part of the establishment and are typically who Owen Jones is talking about. It is subtle enough that it would not create disturbance, particularly as conservatives aren't the target market for this book. The cover itself is striking, as the brief suggests it should be, with a clear concept which also makes a statement. The idea is imaginative and is enhanced by the simple and consistent design - the ballot paper lifts from the page and confronts the viewer. One of the main components of the design is the typography, which is the judges often say they look for. The use of Futura is striking and indicates the serious and direct nature of the book. I plan to use Futura for each book in this series and with added context and editing it is interesting to see how it works for each genre. Finally, the colours and layout used will fit well within the market however the illustrative and 'full' approach will give it a point of difference. The back cover especially appears more playful than many other political books on the shelf, and some feedback suggested this was too noticeable - however, I believe it is exactly what the Penguin judges may go for considering previous entries; it also attracts perhaps a more youthful and new audience just as the brief suggests.

The Establishment Final Design - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

Overall, the final book design has come out well. By having the ballot paper diagonal it allows more of the design to be seen, it also makes the composition appear more authentic, as if the viewer has actually turned the paper to write on it. Having only one of 'The Establishment' titles highlighted has also worked well, it means that the design is not too chaotic but the concept is still able to shine through. Not including 'The Phenomenal Bestseller' within the ballot paper has also worked better than the original experiments - it means the paper isn't crowded and allows the statement to stand out but also be read separately from the core information. The pencil illustration also works well to offset the block shape aspects of the design, creating more of a detailed, stylised composition.

The back of the design shows a simplistic but considered approach. Having the text on an angle offers a slightly unusual take on the blurb, which could stand out in a marketplace. The ballot box has been designed to follow the line illustration was has been used for the pencil, this creates consistency. The white face of the box also balances the white used for the ballot paper on the cover.

The Establishment Full Spread Developments - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

Once I developed a cover I was confident with, I began developing a design for the back cover which would relate to the content and aesthetic of the front. I wanted to develop a ballot box which I explored briefly in my initial sketches. This style I designed was informed by the shapes and illustrations used on the front cover, with quite an angular ballot box giving it a stylised effect. I thought this worked quite well, especially after having looked at the stylised designs that the Penguin judges usually select. I struggled with how to arrange the blurb on the back, thinking that it should follow the angle of the ballot box but still be legible. Eventually I edited the text so that it would follow the direct angle of the ballot box, almost so it looked like the words were being placed inside the box itself. This followed the flow the design much better and took a slightly more experimental approach which the Penguin judges usually tend to look for.

Then, something which made the design stand out far better was having the three unticked titles faded into a lighter grey. This meant that the main title was emphasised and the others didn't detract away from it.

I also tried the design in red considering that by having the whole design in a darker blue may give Owen Jones conservative connotations rather than the idea of him trying to remark that the conservatives are The Establishment. By using a red it might indicate more clearly his left and liberal views because of its links to Labour. However, I found the red less effective and meant there was less contrast with the white elements of the design. I decided that the blue would work far better, and most will understand the reasoning for using the blue colour.

The Establishment 'Phenomenal Bestseller' Tag-lines - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

I then began experimenting with how 'The Phenomenal Bestseller' line could be written on the design, without feeling out of place or obstructing the hierarchy of text. I thought it may work well at the top of the page, either aligned with 'Owen Jones' written on the right or the start of 'The Establishment' written on the right - yet both of these stuck out oddly within the design. I felt that it actually worked best underneath the ballot paper on a diagonal as it was almost tucked away, but still prominent and important at the centre of the design.

The Establishment Developments - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

I then began doing some more developed versions of the designs, thinking about finer details to make them appear stronger and more considered. The pen was change to a pencil for more authenticity and the typeface was changed to Futura so that it was stronger and bolder - giving more political connotations. I was still struggling with where to place 'The phenomenal bestseller' and 'And how they get away with it' within the composition, so these experiments are mainly experimenting with these. Having the ballot paper on an angle seemed to work best tho, as it feels more natural and it allows more of the design to be seen.

The typeface used in red didn't work well at all, it felt quite 'star of the week', especially when bent into a curve. It still needed to be strong and mature which I felt this wasn't conveying.

Placing a line of text underneath each of the titles appeared to work far better, as the additional line no longer felt like a 'tag along', it felt necessary and part of the composition. It almost creates more emphasis on what it is saying than if it was alone on the page.