penguin / initial ideas

My initial idea for this project is to update the look of the cover to give it a more contemporary treatment. Many of the existing book covers are a representation of the time, but to appeal to a newer, wider audience I feel it is appropriate to modernise the cover to a more suitable design for the present.

These covers don't necessarily convey the brutal nature of the murders, nor the way Truman Capote spends many years unravelling the details and forming a rapport with the two criminals and their troubled past.

While looking for inspiration for the cover I came across a tutorial which uses the mesh tool on illustrator. I instantly knew I could adapt this technique to suit the book cover:

The tutorial shows how to create waves easily within a large amount of lines. I instantly thought that this could be adapted to represent the blood of the victims and also relate to the title of the novel.

The typeface for the display is bold and classical looking, but the outlines give it a more modern feel. The body copy on the cover is given a more traditional typeface to balance the design and still ensure it keeps the enduring, timeless look of some of the older cover designs.