penguin / brief

Brief

The penguin briefs for 2017 include 3 books; To Kill a Mocking Bird, In Cold Blood and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged: 13 3/4.

Students may enter a maximum of one design in each of the categories.

We would like you to design a new and classic cover for this book. The trick here will be to come at it from a fresh perspective and to avoid repeating the obvious iconography from the many previous editions in print. If you can get your hands on a copy of the book in order to get a sense of the beautiful writing, this will only help to inspire your design. The cover should feel timeless and confident, and appeal to a whole new generation of readers.

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.

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

Analysis

A good response to this brief is something that brings a fresh new perspective to the cover, as there have been many redesigns over the years. The design needs to have a good concept, be well thought out and designed to a high standard. 

The book that stands out to be the most is In Cold Blood - the adult non-fiction book. Although I'm interested in children's design, at this point I don't feel like I would be able to design something suitable for this genre of book. I would like to push my design practice and style to something I wouldn't normally create, and this brief is a great opportunity to do that.

The timescale for this brief will be 2-3 weeks.