OUGD503 - Brief 01 - Individual Practice - Penguin Random House - Visual Research

I have chosen to design a book cover for Cailtin Moran's 'How To Be A Woman' for the Penguin Random House Design Awards. The brief is simple:

We would like you to design a new, classic cover for Caitlin Moran's book, How to Be a Woman.

The design needs to feel timeless and classic, whilst at the same time making it clear to the reader that it is very entertaining and often very funny. The book should feel very accessible, immediately ‘pickupable’ and something that exists within the world of Popular Culture. You are welcome to use an image of the author, but do not feel that you need to take that approach. The ideal design will make us smile, make us want to own a copy of the book, and keep it proudly on our shelves for a long time.

What the judges are looking for:
The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief

• be competently executed with strong use of typography

• appeal to a contemporary readership

• show a good understanding of the marketplace

• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

• be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 126mm wide, spine width 20mm).

Copyright must be cleared for all images used in your cover design.

My design process: 

The first thing I did for this brief was research imagery associated with modern day feminism. I came across a lot of collage art which combined stereotypically beautiful images of women and pop culture and typography. Aesthetically, this type of feminist art is intriguing, but doesn't represent classic, timeless qualities that the brief is asking to see. They look very armature, something that I don't want my designs to reflect. They were good initial points of reference. I came across a couple of other collages tackling feminist themes, which seemed slightly more sophisticated, but they didn't really inspire me terribly. 

 

I looked at some of Andy Warhol's early women's fashion illustrations and screen prints, because I thought it would be nice to give my cover design an illustrative touch. They provided me some nice visual references but again, I didn't really feel that they gave me enough inspiration to answer the brief in a sophisticated, well informed way.