OUGD406 - Penguin Grid Systems

OUGD406

Penguin Grid Systems

The Horizontal grid

The horizontal grid was a fresh approach to book design at the time, however it left little room for illustration. This leaves the interpretation of the book to just the typography and title of the book.

Great Journey's Collection

This grid system uses a centred style with all the information in a centre column. The covers are illustrated and limited to three or four colours. The illustrations show the location the book is set in. The title is bigger than the other text on the cover and the same typeface is used throughout the collection. The grid is hierarchical design. The authors name is at the top of the book (in caps), followed by the name of the book, then a quote from the book and finally the penguin logo and its collection (also in caps). 

Aino-Maija Metsola's Virginia Woolf Collection

Metsola's covers are for Penguin classic. Channelling the scenery and ambience of each novel’s title, Helsinki-based Aino-Maija makes use of the abstract, painterly style she has honed as part of her illustration and graphic design work. The grid concentrates the information in the bottom right corner. The illustration is the main focus point of the designs.

Coralie Bickford-Smith's F. Scott Fitzgerald Collection

The design uses patterns associated with the 20's and the art deco period. Most designs use a 6 column grid system. The colour scheme and typeface are consistent.

Great Loves Collection

The great loves collection focuses on the illustration which takes up the majority of the cover. The title of the book and the authors name are centred at the bottom of the book. The name of the collection is at the top and takes up less room than the title. 

The Marber Grid

Marber’s grid allows for different placements of title and author’s name depending on the length of the title and the needs of the design as a whole.

With the typographic structure in place, Marber could concentrate on producing images that reflected the atmosphere of the books, which he read from cover to cover. He was a graphic image-maker of great versatility, able to sum up the stories with motifs and ciphers that contrived to be both playful and threatening.

OUGD406 - Judges Analysis

OUGD406

Judges Analysis

Jason Smith - Art Director - Cornerstone

• University of Derby - Graphic Design
• specialised in packaging for CD’s and DVD’s. 
• passion for music and film

His work is photographic and concentrates on texture. The title is the main focal point. All of the books above use the same grid as the are part of a collection by the same author. 

Suzanne Dean – Art Director, Vintage.

• Graduated from Kingston University (graphic design)
• first job - packaging and brochure design
• art director for Penguin Books
• designed the cover for the Man Booker prize winner ‘The Sense of an Ending’. very typography (just words with water damage - ink)
• a book’s cover offers an interpretation of its contents – some inflection, if only by its typeface or colour.
• effect on the reader is mostly subliminal. Book designers are the ultimate hidden persuaders.
• if you want to own it, the book should be as beautiful as possible.
• making something extraordinary often pays off
• “How far can I take the disintegration? How much can I take away?”

Suzanne's designs are more illustrative. They have a strong colour palettes and they are designed in a way where the type compliments the illustration rather than the other way round. 

Richard Ogle - art director - Transworld

• university of central lancashire - graphic design
• your own interpretation
• important to read the book to be able to distill your own vision
• commercial book cover designer
• ‘Graphic designers are problem solvers, not fine artists, so need to work within the restrictions whilst enjoying more freedom when it becomes apparent.’

Richard's work is more commercial than the other judges. They show an interpretation of the story.

The judges all have very different styles. I personally prefer Suzanne Dean's style the most as she creates beautiful work. however, Richard Ogle's work is very functional and solves the problem at hand. Jason Smith's work creates a atmosphere rather than tells a story which is an interesting way of working. I will consider all of the designers approaches when designing my cover.

OUGD404 - InDesign Workshop

OUGD404

InDesign Workshop

Save images as photoshop or tiff, jpeg compresses

Books need multiple of 4 pages for saddle stitch

300 pixels per inch

2:3 ratio

Frame to put picture in

W to preview

Object – fitting – fit content to frame

Right click – edit with – edit with photoshop

Change size in photoshop

Image – image size – change from cm to percentage

When making bigger make sure resample is on

Look at percentage difference of image on links panel in indesign

Always keep an image with a master copy

Create grids by ‘create guides’

View – grids and guides – lock guides

Remove guides – layout – create guides – remove existing guides

For page numbers – draw text box on master – type – insert special character – markers – current page markers

Window – layer – create new layer – guides – double click layer – untick print layer