Study Task 03 - Book Cover Typographic Treatment

American Typewriter

Ariel Rounded MT Bold

Layout 1

Layout 2

Layout 3

Studio Brief 01- Study Task 02- Book Cover Analysis

Cover 1

The illustration on this book cover was done by Joe Berger, an illustrator and cartoonist since 1991. This particular book cover was first published in 2002, one of the more earlier noted book designs Berger had illustrated. This is the most contemporary book cover I could find, I think this is reflected through the design itself based on the chosen colour scheme and typeface. The design on this cover reflects parts of the key narrative aspects by including an illustration of Adrian Mole and his diary but keeping the title of this book the main focal point. The ideas there are being communicated visually is that the book its about a boy who keeps a diary, the theme of the whole book is visually communicated through the cover design. The semiotics behind the covers message is nothing too complex because this cover has been designed for young adults, the illustrations used on the front clearly highlight what the book inside includes and what it is about. I think this cover has been designed successfully because the genre is considered young adults, it is important not to make the cover too childlike, as it would become condescending to the audience. The use of hand rendered typography fits well within the theme of the book itself as it is about a diary, however it also could be considered quite obvious to go for a hand-drawn joint up lettering, the typewriter style font on the back cover appeals to me more as it is a different approach compared to the obvious style lettering.

Cover 2

This second book cover I could not find the illustrator who designed it but it was published again in 2002. I chose to look at this cover in particular because I think it is the worst cover for this book I have come across while researching them. I do not consider this a good book cover firstly because the tone it sets is not reflective of the book itself, this cover looks as though it is designed for a female audience, this is not the case as the book should be read by either gender. The key aspects of the narrative and themes within the book are subtly communicated through its design, there are small illustrations that highlight some of the key factors to the story line, such as the dog, the heart and the house- but you do not get the diary feel as much as the previous cover. Having started to read the book myself, this particular cover does not reflect the character of Adrian Mole, it has a more child-like feel to it. The semiotics within this book cover design are very standard and simple, like the previous image it highlights only some of the key features within the book not making it very complex for the audience to grasp onto. I do not think the ideas of the books content are being communicated well visually at all through this design, the colour scheme follows no true pattern leaving it an eye-sore and the typography is almost too childlike for its genre therefore I think this begins to belittle the audience and does not reflect the attitudes and personality of a 13 year old boy.

Cover 3

This particular cover is part of the most recent set of books, they were designed in 2012, again I cannot find the designer of this book cover. Despite it being the most recent cover that has been designed, it looks the most old- this is due to the washed out colours that look like those of an old diary or book. There are not many semiotics on this cover, only the illustration of the broken pair of glasses, a repeated motif that relates to the story of Adrian Mole, I like how the cover has been kept plain with only a few colours because it is different to the typical design that looks almost too childlike- it adheres to the genre of the book and has no risk of it being condescending to its audience. These designs were created for the 30th anniversary edition of the first books release with a special foreword by David Walliams who admired Townsend greatly calling her his 'hero', it was her who inspired him to begin writing children's/young adults fiction. This front cover visually communicates small aspects of the story itself, it doesn't really show the fact that the novel is a diary, asides from the title, the motives are vague. 

My overall opinion on these book cover designs is that I need to carefully consider my audience when it comes to the typography, colour and imagery. The young adult genre is a tricky genre because the covers could appear too child-like or look too daunting to its audience therefore would put them off reading it. The last cover design is my favourite design, despite it being very minimalist and dull, it looks the less childlike of the 3 and I think this would appeal mostly to its targeted audience. This is something I must carefully consider when coming up with design ideas. 

Studio Brief 01 - Study Task 01 - Book Analysis

Live Brief: Penguin Random House Student Design Award

Chosen book: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend

About the author:

• Sue Townsend was born in Leicester in 1946, she sadly died of a stroke in 2014 at 68 years old.

• Despite leaving school at 15 years old, she became one of the most celebrated and loved comic writer, novelist playwright and journalist. 
• Her father worked in a jet-engine factory and became a postman when it closed. Her mother worked in the factory canteen.
• Townsend was terrorised by a teacher who, when children had failed to master their lessons, would slap their legs and make them do handstands.
• She could not read until she was 8 years old, her mother taught her with Richmal Crompton's William books (this was where she got her inspiration for Adrian Mole.
• As a chain-smoking teenager, dressed in black, she was fired from a job in a clothes shop for reading Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol in the changing rooms. 
• From the age of 14 she was also writing in secret.
• She married a sheet-metal worker at the age of 18, by the age of 22 she had 3 children under five years old.
• Her marriage lasted seven years, when it ended she began working in several part time jobs, she worked at a petrol station, as a receptionist and for Birds Eye foods.
• Colin Broadway, who was to become her second husband and father of her fourth child, Elizabeth. It was he who encouraged her, in 1975, to join a local writers’ group at the Phoenix arts theatre in Leicester.
• There she wrote her first play, Womberang, set in a gynaecology clinic, which won the 1979 Thames Television Playwright award.

What are the main idea(s) explored in the book?

The book is written in the form of a diary, it exudes with humour and leaves readers easily amused. The theme of this confessional novel are problems encountered by the young man in puberty and his transition from childhood to adulthood. Adrian Mole is faced with many dilemmas, feelings, enthusiasms and disappointments while he slowly creates his own identity. Adrian is neurotic, self-obsessed and takes himself far too seriously, yet he is also incredibly endearing and kind-hearted. The novel gained popularity mainly because the image of Adrian is something all of his peers can relate to. Readers will come across problems that they had growing up. But no one will be troubled by them because Adrian described everything in a very fun and humorous way.

What is the main thrust of the narrative? What are the key events and scenes?

• The thirteen years old boy Adrian Mole decided to write a journal and when he saw a TV show from the writer Malcolm Muggeridge he decided to send his poems to him. Adrian thought of himself as an intellectual because he understood every word on the show.
• Adrian was in puberty and had a slight problem with pimples and he was a bit chubby. His parents were always fighting. His family was thrilled when he got a response for his poems.
• Adrian joined a society and started taking care of Bert Baxter, an old 89 years old man. He used to work with horses, and he was a communist. Because of his work, Adrian was allowed to miss one class on Monday, and that was Math.
• A new student came into Adrian’s class, and he fell in love with her. Her name was Pandora Brithwaite. She came from a wealthy family and lived in a beautiful street. Her parents were intellectuals and gave her a horse. Despite everything she rather entertained herself with Adrian’s friend Nigel.
• Soon Adrian’s mum got a job, and at the same time, she started having an affair with their neighbor Lucas. His parents found a lawyer and decided to get a divorce. Adrian never mentioned that they got divorced, but we can believe they did since his mother moved to Sheffield with Lucas.
• Adrian got a job as a paper delivery boy to earn his allowance. Half of everything he earned went to a bully named Barry Kent who was his classmate. His father tried everything to protect him, but nothing worked. Adrian got beat up by Barry. In the end, his grandmother interferes, and she was successful at solving the problem. Barry had to give all of the money back.
• Pandora suggested to Adrian that they could start up a magazine. Adrian used it to write an article named “The truth about Barry Kent”. The magazine never became famous because Barry Kent bought the only copy of it.
• By the end of the year, his mother broke up with Lucas and came home. His father was thrilled. Adrian described it as a déjà-vu.
• Soon there was a meeting of a club where Pandora was with Barbara Boyer. She was very attractive women whose thoughts about disarming NATO were not in line with Pandora’s. Adrian couldn’t resist Barbara, and they got into a relationship. She didn’t want to hurt Pandora, so she ended it.
• Adrian confessed to Nigel that he was with Barbara and he spread it all around school. Pandora heard the news, so she decided to ignore the fact that Adrian’s birthday was coming.
• After that, he called Pandora, and she forgave him for cheating on her. He was hoping that she will arrive at the hospital any time now and as he was waiting, he realized that the only thing that could save him from going insane was love.
• While he was writing the journal he wasn’t only writing about his life and family. We can also lear a lot about the situation in England and the life of the migrants. He was describing the relation between the races and important events such as the weeding of Charles and Diana.

What is the context (socio-historical, cultural, established school of thought/paradigm) that the book was written in?

From Adrian’s writing, we can learn a lot about how a middle-class family lived in England, in the 1980s. He touched an unemployment, family disintegration, and economic uncertainty. Her satirical social commentary is dry and witty, revealing her incredibly sharp and perceptive eye for detail through Adrian’s acute observations. It also offers a revealing and compassionate picture of the way in which socio-political matters affect the lives and mindsets of the ordinary person and the ordinary family. The early books therefore combine the fairly timeless issues of adolescent ups and downs with a telling commentary on Thatcher’s Britain in the 1980s, while the later works apply the same sharp satirical eye to New Labour in the 1990s and early twenty-first century, intertwined with Adrian’s worries about marriage, divorce, parenthood and career.

What is the genre?

Considered Young Adult's Fiction

10 adjectives to describe the book:

• Protagonist
• Complex
• Working-class
• Chaotic 
• Reflective
• Honest
• Problematic
• Humorous 
• Contemporary 
• Contextual 

Final Evaluation Of OUGD405

Evaluation

While completing both studio brief 1 and 2, I have gained a good understanding on different aspects of design that I had not previously explored within my studies, I was aware of wayfinding systems but I had not given them much thought or thought about how they are put together. From early on in this module when we were set the first study task, it allowed me to explore going out within the public and witnessing how they react of various signs and symbols within Leeds city center, I now understand how great of importance they are within design and care for their functionality more know as prior to this brief I was ignorant to how carefully considered wayfinding systems were. It has also broadened my knowledge of other practicing designers like Adrian Fruitiger, Experimental Jetset and Oti Aicher whom I had not been familiar with at any other point within my studies, I am always eager to learn about other designers work and understand their techniques used when I am completing a brief similar to their work. Within studio brief 2, I have been able to use my own personal favourite style of work when designing my small, illustrated booklet, I have not yet merged illustration into any of my work while being at university but this brief has allowed me to do just that. I am pleased with the overall outcome of the second brief because it reflects my style of work as I prefer to create by hand and then manipulate digitally, instead of working primarily on a computer, this has encouraged me to work more in my own style and tailor the briefs to fit the work I am set as I have enjoyed this brief the most so far this year. I have also been able to learn knew techniques through completing various workshops that have benefited my final outcomes of this module, the bookbinding workshop has been the most beneficial to this module as I have used a technique for studio brief 2’s final outcome and I am sure it will help me within other projects to come as I am interested in bookbinding and designing books, therefore I can say it has inspired me to take advantage of this new technique and to incorporate it into other areas of my design work. Overall, I think my final outcome for brief 2 is stronger than brief 1, I found creating my own wayfinding system difficult because it is not the style of design I would particularly find interesting, however if I were to do something similar in the future I think I would take a more positive outlook on it and use the skills learnt on this module to make it interesting and creative.

Final Production and Design

Pages mocked-up within In Design

When I test printed this booklet, I did not realise that the front and back page would not be attached to anything therefore they wouldn't print as a spread and would be one individual page, I also found when I printed out each page then when they were folded they did not match up to the order I intended it to have. Therefore, in the image below I have refined and changed the page orders so that they follow the right order. It is important to have a bleed around the edge of each page as I am binding the book together using paddle stitch therefore I will need to use a craft knife to cut around the edges of it so it remains the same size. 

Final printed booklet stitched together

Final printed booklet binded together using paddle stitch. I am very pleased with my final outcome because it has turned out just as I intended it to, I think the booklet as a whole will certainly appeal to the target audience because it gives off a friendly vibe, it instantly becomes a relatable piece of writing that people will be inclined to read and be curious as to what is featured inside. The technique of using paddle stitch has also been effective because I have not lost any part of the page when cutting to size, it also allows each page of the book to be looked at with no constraints. The colour scheme is still effective when printed, I was concerned the colours would not print the way I intended them to but I am confident in saying the chosen colours work effectively. 

Page Designs- Studio Brief 02

Final page designs

These are the final designs for my booklet, I have the front and back cover and each page featuring the different albums and illustrations. I have chosen to stick to a consistent colour scheme, the background colour on each page is the same to remain consistent throughout the booklet and also when it comes to printing the booklet. 

I am pleased with these final outcomes and I think each page of the booklet has turned out successfully, being what I hoped they would look like. The style of the illustration book is something very current within design and something that would attract my targeted audience. The next step for this booklet is to put the pages together within InDesign so I can print them as spreads rather than separate pages.

Illustration designs- Studio brief 2

Illustrations for designs

These are the illustrations I will include on each page of my publication. I have tried to illustrate in response to the album title or a song within the album to create a connection between the text and images on each page. These small illustrations will be scanned in and edited using Photoshop so I can add appropriate colour to them.

Chosen albums for publication- Studio brief 2

Albums

First date: The Maccabees- Colour It In

Break up: The Smiths- Hatful of Hollow

Drunk: Abba- Greatest Hits

Motivation: The Killers- Hot Fuss

Reminisce: Oasis- What's The Story Morning Glory

Bookbinding workshop- Studio Brief 2

Bookbinding Workshops

During completing this brief, we had the opportunity to complete a bookbinding workshop completing techniques of hand stitching and putting together the booklets by hand. The timing of this workshop was useful doing completing this brief because it meant I could use one of these techniques to put together my booklet.

I have chosen to use the technique of saddle stitch (shown within the second and third image) to bind my booklet together because I like how the final booklet looks and there is no possibility of loosing any of the design on the pages whereas with the others there is a risk of that.

Contextual Research- Studio Brief 02

Existing illustration books that I find useful for this brief:

Gemma Correll, The Worrier's Guide To Life

I have referred to this illustration book for contextual research because the work of Gemma Correll has become very popular. I think this is due to her work being very relatable to a wide audience of females of ages around 16-30. She very cleverly takes everyday issues and tries to add humour to them to make them seem less daunting or stressful. This book in particular deals with how to handle being worried so much but to also accept it is a normal feeling experienced by so many people. This is what makes her work so popular, because it is so relatable.

My Name Is Girl, Nina Cosford

The second book is written by illustrator Nina Cosford, this book looks at how to be a girl and how to handle struggles in your life you may come across by being a girl. I have also referred to this book for contextual research because again the book is very relatable to the same audience. By creating something that can be considered to an audience because it means it will be well received and appreciated.  

Studio Brief 02 - Design Process - Object Lessons

Studio Brief 2: Swiss educational reformer, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, believed that thought began with sensation and that teaching should use the senses. Maintaining that children should study objects in their natural environment, Pestalozzi developed a so-called "object lesson" that involved exercises in learning form, number and language. Pupils determined and traced an object's form, counted objects and named them. Students progressed from these lessons to exercises in drawing, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and reading. Pestalozzi employed the following principles in teaching: (1) begin with the concrete object before introducing abstract concepts; (2) begin with the immediate environment before dealing with what is distant and remote; (3) begin with easy exercises before introducing complex ones; and (4) always proceed gradually, cumulatively, and slowly. This project asks you to begin with an object and to use Pestalozzi’s principles of observation, description, naming and classification to analyse your object, and in doing so, to develop your own personal project in response to this visual and conceptual research. Rationale: I intend to create a publication that explores vinyl listening depending on the mood of the person, the emotion they are feeling and maybe a life experience that are going through or have gone through. Each page of the publication will be illustrated, linking the image to the chosen album so there can be a connection within each illustration and the album. The purpose of this publication is to create something relatable for people to read and allow them to connect with the album through vinyl because their sales have increased so much over the past few years. It will be important to carefully consider the colours used and the aesthetic of how the booklet looks because I intend the booklet to appeal to an audience of around 18-25 because I am confident in knowing these ages will have experienced these events at some point within their life.

Study Task 03

BLACKLETTER EXPERIMENTS

Experimentations using the style of the gothic blackletter, the task we were set was to use this style of lettering and brush strokes to re design some simple hospital pictograms and each of the arrows. I experimented with black acrylic paint and various brush sizes to create these designs.

Final Designs

These designs I thought worked best because you can still pick out elements from the original hospital signs, the arrow design was versatile therefore I could just rotate and flip them within Photoshop to get every angle and way they were pointing. The first two are the female and male toilets, I have picked out the outline shape and added a triangle to the female toilet sign to emphasise the difference in each. The one underneath is the sign pointing towards the stairs, the telephone sign and finally the cross sign. I think these designs have been successful and beneficial for my work because I have taken blackletter, something that would not be associated normally with signs and symbols but made the technique work in a unique way.