Responsive- Design Process 2: Penguin Books Awards 2014 'The Outsiders'

As part of the Responsive Module, we have to enter into competitions so I decided that I would enter into the Penguin Books competition where you get the chance to design a book cover for either a children's or adult's book of thier choice. The book for this year was the novel 'The Outsiders' by S.E. Hinton. The design had to be submitted as a 2 Page PDF showcasing the front page and then the full cover. 

Before I got started on the actual brief, I felt it would not be right if I didn't actually read the book itself.  This way, I would be completely informed through this primary research as to the source material.

Library Copy of the Book

I managed to get a copy of the book from the college library and, with it only being a short read, decided that it would be best for me to get the book fully read before I came up with any design concepts. It took me about a week to get the book read but the actual story itself was interesting, especially from the narrative point of view of the main character, Ponyboy, through his wizened yet naive approach to the world.

The next thing I did was produce a design sheet on some ideas I could do for the covers based on themes or main key scenes from the book.

The Outsiders Design Sheet

The main themes of the book are based around social divide and relationships so thats what I centred a lot of my design ideas on. Despite this, I felt that these ideas were very obvious and didn't really bring a new aspect to the book. The next thing I decided to think about was motifs and key scenes within the book, such as the fire at the church or the sharing of the same sunset but again i thought that this may be elements which are expected. Another concept I thought of was the depiction of the rings on the hand of the Soc who beats up the character Johnny traumatising him. I felt that this would be a subtle way of showing violence and the divide within the story which only becomes obvious to those who have read the novel. The rings are mentioned and referred back to several times so they are a reoccurring motif and I felt that by having the rings on the hand of the Soc, it would be a conceptual approach to the cover design, with having the fist facing downward, ready for a fight.

What happened after this was my laptop broke after the hard drive died so, having booked to get it looked at, and a lack of funds to make it into college, I had to produce what I could on a laptop which would make a two second decision a five/ten minute thought process. Even though it wasn't working, I really wanted to produce work for this brief, particularly as I had already come up with a concept that I was happy with so I wanted to persevere and try to make a design. 

Gridded PDF

We were provided with a PDF template of the layout of the book in regards to the size and the space of the design. I felt that it would be easier for me to produce a design for it if I gridded up the format using rulers so that I would be able to see for myself the space I had to work with.

Given body copy

Body Copy

We had also been given some body copy and specific information that had to be included within the boom cover as well on specific parts so I put them onto the book so that I was able to place them where I wanted when I had produced the design. I had the back cover in Myriad Pro and the spine and front cover information all in uppercase sans serif Myriad Pro with it being laid out in the style of a movie poster. 

Hand Development

Inclusion of Hand

The next thing I did was produce the main focal point of the book cover design which was the hand with the rings. I liked the idea of the hand coming across as quite powerful and full of emotion so I produced a lot of vein lines and skin creases to show the pure emotion involved. The hand also comes across as being similar to a revolutionary hand gesture which reflects another element to the book so this is all the more relevant. I kept the shape of the rings very simple, with the intention of them coming across as sovereign rings so that it would add to the value. 

In regards to the back page, I felt that, to reflect the scene that it is based on, I would produce a hand that was lying to the side so as to show the death of the Soc character.

Development of the Hand

I tried to show the clenched fist sideways to show the anger in death but it just looked silly so I tried to draw an open-palmed, relaxed fist that would be showing lifelessness but, again, it just didn't look convincing.

I felt that the hand I was trying to produce was overcomplicating the overall design so I felt that it might be an idea to focus on the main element, which would be the rings. 

Development of Back Cover

I developed the placement of the rings alongside the placement of the body copy text as well to see which would give the best layout. I felt that having the information in the middle of the back cover would automatically draw the eye to the information making it easier to see. Having the rings lined up along the top line of the body copy allows for a smart and sophisticated layout which allows for the front cover to make most of the impact.

Colouration of Cover

I knew I would have to consider a full colour cover but wanted to keep the amount of colours down so as to have more of a statement. I used red for the background as a statement for the violence with a skin tone and gold rings. I needed to change the colour of the text to white so that it was much clearer to read but I kept the title of the text in black for a strong visual identity. Originally the illustrations were done with a black outline but then I changed the outlines and made them thicker so that it comes across as more realistic.

Background Colour Development

I felt that the red background colour was too dark and overwhelming for the skin tone of the hand so I started experimenting with different shades of orange, looking for a mid-tone colour that would allow for a defined image. I added some colour to the rings so that it looks like gems and I changed the typeface of the title to Gill Sans so that it looks more definitive compared to the rest of the text as well as having the main title in the white instead of black so that it looks more sophisticated. 

Ring Development

I changed the coloration of the rings by having them defined by having them surrounded in a darker colour to the main ring gold colour so that it is much clearer to see the shape of the rings. This added definition makes it clearer and have much more of an impact.

Background Colour Choice

I was torn between whether to go with the darker orange or the lighter orange as the darker one makes a bigger impact but the lighter one is much more subtle and goes better with the colour tone of the overall chosen colours. 

Final Design

In the end, I decided on the lighter colour because it allowed for the overall design to be more subtle and unexpected. I tend to usually use a lot of brighter colours and a wide range of colours so it was nice for me to change my traditional design style for something more sophisticated in this manner. The colour scheme is reminiscent of the sunset theme that is mentioned throughout the novel which, in a way, puts a spin on the violent imagery as it highlights how both sets of teenagers are living under the same space. 

Contextualising Design

I photoshopped the cover onto a book so that it would be obvious when presenting it what the design was for and what it would look like in use.

Design Board for Penguin Books

I produced a design board from the design showing what the cover is like flat out for print like I will submit and then a contextualised image to highlight how the book will look like when in use. 

Submission:

In order to comply with the submission rules, I needed to submit my design as a PDF format, with 2 Artboards. One had to show just the front cover whereas the other page had to show the full cover spread. 

Producing PDF

I put them onto a new Illustrator document with the Downloaded Format PDF on there twice, copying and pasting the image.One had just the front cover whereas the other had the full cover and saved it as a PDF.

After producing the PDF, I then had to register on the Penguin Website before being able to submit my design. 

Submission of Design

The actual submission process was quite simple with an easy upload and just including some initial details about myself and my course tutor. 

Submission Confirmation Email

From the submission, I was sent a confirmation email regarding the fact that my submission was successful and therefore I was entered into the competition. 

Overall, I actually liked doing this competition as I have always liked reading but I have never had the chance to do a book cover design so this is something that very much interested me. The downside to this brief was the technical difficulties that I was up against because the work that I did for us was done over the course of a couple of days which would normally take me much quicker so it was really a labour of love. This made it difficult for me to experiment with different visuals but it gave me the experience of trying to handle a deadline when under the pressure of everything not going to plan. I would defiantly do this type of competition again and actually look forward to next years announcements in regards to the book choices.