Exercise: Judging a book by its cover

Exercise: Judging a book by its cover

Choose a book by an author you are familiar with. You are going to design two different covers for it, one using illustrations or photography and the other using just type. Design the whole cover including the spine and back page.

---

The hardest part of this exercise was choosing which book to work with! After a couple of false starts I decided to use ‘The Third Plate’ a book by Dan Barber. It has been published by Little Brown Book and Penguin in different editions.

The book that, perhaps more than any other in recent times, laid out the urgent imperative that to look after the land we grow our food on is to eat as best we can and vice-versa. It redefined nutrition, agriculture and flavour, and established Barber as the preeminent voice in food that is as ethical as it is excellent (The Guardian)

The book documents the research of Chef Barber as he explores the state of food production and the options we have going forward. He had been a proponent of the Field to Fork food movement (the second plate) but realised this was not a fundamental enough shift as it replaced high meat based diets with better meat rather than a more balanced diet which in turn creates more sustainable production methods. The third plate refers to the need to completely rethink our diets and move towards a more plant based focus. It is a fascinating and at times funny read, laying out the issues but doing so in a gentle tone. The book is divided into four sections – soil, land, sea and seed.

In terms of the brief I worked on the following parameters:

• Non-fiction title
• Paperback version
• Based on the dimensions of the existing book
• House styles of the published editions vary
• The readership could be quiet varied – young people with an interest in environmental sustainability and food (probably 18-25yrs), chefs with an interest in the future of food, vegetarians/vegans, generalists with an interest in the future of food (probably 35yrs+ and female)
• Sold online and in major bookshop chains

As usual I did a few sketches to start the design process.

Based on the above assumptions and sketches I created six designs:

1. Literal representation of three plates against a wheat field (wheat is covered in detail in the book). Contemporary font against a photographic background. I decided to colour the title “Third’ green to reflect one of the premises of the book about moving towards a more plant-based diet. I took the colour of the sky and used that across the spine and back. (n.b. the black lines either side of the spine are just place markers and are not part of the design concept). I took the three plates and echoed them under the title on the back cover. Typeface: Myriad Pro (12,24,18,36,120 pt.).
2. Same basic concept as version one but I wanted to make the ‘Third’ more prominent. I changed the typeface and extended it across the page. I shifted the plates down so more of the wheat is shown and added some drop shadow under the top plate (I suspect this might be a design crime from comments I have read online but I wasn’t sure how else to bring the plate forward!). I also used a lighter tone of blue. Typeface: Modern No 20 (150, 28 pt.) and Myriad Pro Regular (36, 18, 15, 12pt), Myriad Pro Regular semi bold (24pt)
3. One of my sketches suggested a layered text approach to signify the three plates. I struggled to get the effect I wanted in Illustrator so ended up with a tiered version of different size characters in a chunky typeface to catch attention. They are red (meat based), white (farm to fork, to me a more neutral approach), and green (plant based diets). I used a lighter grey colour for the typeface on the back so it is a bit gentler. Typeface: TW Cent MT (12,18 pt.), TW Cent Condensed (48, 24 pt.), Rockwell Extra Bold (117pt)
4. Another tiered typeface version, this time they are stacked like plates and I have added some drop shadow. I changed the cover to green and reversed out the rest of the text. I also added a large ‘Third’ on the back cover which might attract attention if the cover were face down on a table or shelf. Typeface: Rockwell Extra Bold (130pt), TW Cent MT Condensed (48, 30,15 pt.), TW Cent MT (24, 18, 12)
5. This version was taken directly from one of my sketches. I wanted to make it quite loose so added watercolour effects in Photoshop to give the impression of falling soil and water. I initially used a san serif typeface in dark grey but wasn’t sure it worked very well so I went back to a serif font for the main title. The illustration is repeated on the spine. Typeface: Modern No 20 (24, 80 pt.), Source San Pro (12,15, 18, 24, 36 pt.)
6. I changed the typeface for a more contemporary feel and ran the type in a circle as a metaphor for the plate. This was then set against an orange background to make it stand out. I took the circle as a motif and added it on the spine and on the back page. Typeface: TW Cent MT (12, 18, 24, 28, 75), TW Cent MT Condensed (28)

This was a great exercise for thinking about how design elements work together. Although I have noticed it elsewhere in the course working on this exercise really highlighted a need for attention to detail, which I am not always good at! It also showed me that small changes, different point sizes, adding tints etc, can have a big impact.

While I am still building my Illustrator and InDesign skills I am pleased to recognise that I am getting more comfortable with the programmes and have a better sense of what I can achieve with them.

For me versions 5 and 6 are probably the most successful because of their simplicity. Feedback suggested others preferred version 2 on the basis it was more likely to make them pick it up. I feel this one is a bit too ‘busy’ but could be wrong!

After some initial feedback I approached the Visual Communications Facebook Group. Their preferences were for both the image versions, and as ever they gave me some useful improvements. Suggestions included:

• Reducing the size of the plates
• Changing the plates
• Lining the text up on the spine with the plates
• Changing the font size of the sub heading on the illustration version
• Making the green text slightly darker over the illustration
• Rotating the spine text so it is more in keeping with convention!

These are the amended versions:

Rework

After the feedback from my tutor I have looked again at the relationship between the text and the images. Looking back I’m not entirely sure why I chose to centre everything, I think it was about the title being part of the plate but I don’t think it has been as successful as I had hoped. So I worked on several versions using the type in different ways.

I definitely prefer rework 4 because it gives the illustration room to breath and to attract readers. This has reinforced my learning about the value of feedback and creating different iterations. It has also shown the value of leaving something for a while and coming back to it. I found in doing this I was no longer so committed to the original versions and could more easily make changes. On a more challenging note it has also reconfirmed what seem like almost infinite choices (layout, colours, typefaces) and this can only be addressed by creating some boundaries (which I guess is usually fulfilled by the brief).