Book Cover Concept Design Marathon #1

January 1st, 2008

Book covers have always intrigued me. The ability to visually translate, identify, or tell a story in a single image is what interests me the most about designing them. I believe great covers are both thought provoking and beautiful. Being involved in a number of other types of design projects, I've been itching to design covers. When I asked a friend for advice on how to get cover gigs, he advised me to pick a few books I enjoy and redesign their covers. So I took his advice and decided to design a series of cover solutions for three books in one month. The following are the results posted after each round, designed purely for the love of it.

This first series is based on the book The Catcher in the Rye. The story is about a teenage boy who rebels against the prep schools he attended, adults, and responsibility, in an effort to hold onto his youth. The story is narrated by the boy, flashing back to his past through from the mental institution he was admitted to. The story depicts the boy's psychological breakdown due to his past experiences (losing his brother) and current situation.

The second round of concepts I designed was for another classic book called To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Interestingly enough it was the only book she had ever published. The books plot took place in the fictitious small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The title refers to the metaphor that to kill a mockingbird, is to kill innocence and beauty itself. This metaphor connects strongly to the characters in the book that were discriminated against, falsely accused of wrongdoing, and later unjustly killed.

The third round of concepts were for the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. This classic is based on a group of farm animals that represent a community or nation. The story depicts the rise of power of the pigs, who use manipulation and make false promises to control the majority of other animals. Its said to have been based on the rise of dictator Joseph Stalin of the USSR, but can represent any nation's conversion and corruption of socialist ideals to a communistic government. My designs represent the strange events on the farm, communist propaganda, and the inequality of the animals.