Lack of Organisation

Due to a lack of organisation and other problems to contend with, I have only just realised that the deadline for the Penguin book brief had already past (Apr 9th) instead of what I thought was (Apr 19th). As this was a brief I was planning to work on throughout the entire FMP as a substantial brief, I will now have to change it in order to create a brief that is effectively fulfilled.

As most of the practical work and research is still completely relevant to my own practice. I am going to use this to create a new brief, possibly looking back into an Album Artwork brief that I had wrote out at the beginning of the FMP.

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Penguin: Digital Type

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Digitally rendering one of my existing sketches to allow a further application across a range of potential book covers and products. As I have worked with vectored lines it has allowed stronger lines, with defined curves and straighter definition of lines. Moving on from this I am going to continue to develop this further applying imagery, content and colour.

Penguin: Hand Drawn Type

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Looking back over the brief, I noticed that they were looking for a strong sense of typography throughout the cover. As this is the most important aspect to understanding what the book contents entail. Anyway moving on I have began to experiment with script typography, as it fits directly with the theme of a classic tale. This is something I have aimed to capitalise within my FMP and it fit's directly within the context of a children's book. The next stage will be to incorporate imagery within the type, and also to think about colour and printing processes.

Penguin - Badger and Ratty

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Took a couple of my existing sketches and began to vector over them in order to create a visual that could possibly be applied across a range of products. The rendering is very basic, referencing to children as this is predominantly the direction of the brief. Going to continue to develop this further.

Penguin - Initial Ideas / Development

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Design direction and potential illustration ideas for the Penguin brief. As the content is already there through the story of the Wind in the Willows. I feel pretty comfortable to just start drawing characters straight away. As the brief is based around a book cover I am also going to included pieces of type to compliment the imagery.

Penguin Book Brief - Defined

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Penguin - Competition Brief

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Penguin -

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Spend a season on the river bank and take a walk on the wild side...

Spring is in the air and Mole has found a wonderful new world. There's boating with Ratty, a feast with Badger and high jinx on the open road with that reckless ruffian, Mr Toad of Toad Hall. The four become the firmest of friends, but after Toad's latest escapade, can they join together and beat the wretched weasels?

First published in 1908, and inhabited by anthropomorphic creatures with quintessential English charm, The Wind in the Willows possesses a wonderful fascination for children of all ages.

Students are invited to design a whole new cover look for The Wind in the Willows, in order to reinvent this classic for a new generation of readers, encouraging children (and adults) to revisit it time and time again, and ensuring that it remains an integral part of childhood.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (cut-down B format, 178mm high x 129mm wide, spine 20.6mm wide).

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market of both children (to pick up and buy for themselves) and adults (to buy for children). While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover needs to be able to work 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 the broadest possible audience for the book

·       show a good understanding of the marketplace

·       have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

·       be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops such as Waterstones