Exercise: H G Wells book cover design ideas

Exercise (p.40 OCA Graphic Design 1): Your brief is to design a stunning and contemporary cover for one of the 20^th Century’s most acclaimed authors, HG Wells.

I have probably spent more time on this exercise than I needed to but I have really enjoyed getting into the process and exploring the issues it raises. Having done lots of thinking, reading and drawing (noted in my Learning Log) I moved into Photoshop and started experimenting with one of the ideas that had stuck with me – the moth and the moon. This gave me scope to try different fonts and start bringing the design together. The above designs reflect the steps in my process:

• I decided I wanted to achieve something contemporary but that could also be timeless
• I used the typefaces to highlight the contemporary feel (both are in grey because white look too dominant)
• I wanted to keep the designs clear so limited myself to a maximum of two elements each
• I tried out a photographic approach first because I wanted to see how it would work and decided to carry on rather than do something more illustrative
• HG Wells’s writing is very descriptive and I was struck by the nature of the light in each of the short stories. This sense of light and dark along with the gothic feel made me decide to go with a dark cover and accentuate the dramatic effect
• That said I also tried each with a touch of colour to see what effect that had
• I was also mindful of what might appeal or intrigue a potential reader – what might make someone pick the book up even if they didn’t know the story
• I wanted to create a sense of coherence, to show them clearly as a set
• Overall, I think The Beautiful Suit works best but I am quite pleased with the set

What has struck me in conducting this exercise is the number of decisions and choices to be made during the process. This should probably not be a surprise but it was interesting to become more aware of the options at each point. The course materials talk about the need for designers to be problems solvers and this experience has reinforced that, but it also feels like more than problem solving. It’s about knowing when to open out your thinking and when to narrow it down. It’s also about being open to new ideas and where they might emerge from.

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