Norwegian Wood Further Design Developments - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

I began changing the firefly design by experimenting with a red background. This felt like it would be more striking - immediately indicating themes of death, sex, romance and after a crit people suggested this worked a lot better. The white outline of the firefly felt necessary to add some simple detail to the illustration. I also experimented with elongating the circular bulb so that it is more like an oval - making the design look more like a firefly. I also experimented with making the firefly white, indicating Nako's innocence - however the illustration seemed to work better with the black design.

From feedback I decided to try adding the illustration of a hand reaching out for the firefly. I decided to make the line of the hand one continuous thickness in order to ensure consistency. However, because the hand is still a line drawing and the firefly is not, the two styles still clashed. I decided experimenting with a different addition to the design might work better (adding to the firefly rather than distracting from it).

I then began thinking about what the firefly represents and how I could convey this further. I considered how Nako is almost trapped in her own mind - and how a cage or prison might help convey this. I added bars over the design but left a gap in the centre in order to ensure the firefly aspect was still entirely visible. This seemed to work quite well and the general symbolism I felt was similar to previous winners of the Penguin design award - but unique enough so that it may act alone.

I varied the width of the cage and also the colours used, seeing which made the design stand out most. The black felt too serious and the white didn't seem to have enough impact. The red felt the most successful, conveying the themes of the story in an exciting way - without detracting from the cage itself. After feedback it became clear that the cages with equal thickness worked best, so I decided to take this forward - ensuring that nothing felt unbalanced about the design.