OUGD406 - Book Cover Initial Ideas

OUGD406

Book Cover Initial Ideas

These sketches try to show the key topics covered within To Kill a Mockingbird. 

These designs use a horizontal grid and a repetitive pattern of a mockingbird. The image of the mockingbird has been used on several previous covers successfully. This design has a classic feel to it which reflects the heritage of the book. 

The above designs use children hand writing. The book is narrated by scout who is 6 at the beginning of the book, the design reflects this. I have played around with positioning. The most successful layout is the on inspired by Aino-Maija Mestola's grid, where the title sits to the bottom right of the cover.

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5                                                6

These covers focus on the topic of race. the top 4 covers simply use black and white to demonstrate this. The 4th cover shows bullet holes, as Tom Robinson was shot dead in the book. The cover has 7 bullet holes in them to show this. cover 5 shows an abstract version of the court room scene in the book where black people have to stand in the top gallery, separate for the white people bellow. The cover would show the black people closer together and the clothes the characters wear will demonstrate the class difference. Cover 6 shows Atticus and Tom as the same person to demonstrate Atticus' perception of  equality.

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5    

Cover 1 shows a bullet to show the part of the story where Tom Robinson was killed when he tried to escape jail after being prosecuted for a crime he didn't commit. This would be a very simple design with a lot of white space for impact. Cover 2 is purely typographic, the background type would be a very similar colour to the cover with a slight gloss to differentiate. cover 3 shows the narrative of the children finding gifts in the tree. Cover 4 shows scout and the scales that are associated with the justice system, it represents scouts loss of trust in the justice system after the false imprisonment of Tom Robinson. Cover 5 shows the scene where the children sneak up to the Radley house, the front cover will show the children looking into the window, where as the back cover will show Boo Radley looking out of the window. 

I will choose 5 designs to develop further.