A few of my favourite book covers and why they are successful.
THIS IS MY FAVOURITE BOOK IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
Simplicity. The above image is Levente Szabo's version of the classic 'The Catcher in The Rye'. The story itself is complex and notoriously confusing; this cover provides a glimpse of the narrative in a simplistic visual style.
Using only three colours, the artist comments on scale, environment and mental state. I think this book jacket is beautiful because it parallels Salinger's novel without overwhelming it.
Holden's hat (main character in the book and his iconic red hunting hat) is highlighted in red, yet stands smaller than most details on the page. It's an important fragment, but it's not the focal point.
Dark, solid black houses and cliff are ominous and looming. This cover certainly tempts me.
However, I am hugely biased in that I love this book.
Did I mention I love this book?
This one is a movie poster by Pheobe Morriss, a different context to that of my brief, but the graphic design and composition of this image is so subtle and clever that it blew me away. I would love to attempt something similar by creating an illusion of sorts, constructing two images through the use of negative space.
There are some parts of this poster that I think need improvement, or that are unnecessary (sorry):
the duck. Why? What does it represent? Why is it sat there?
I think it'd be much better if we only saw the wolf & Peter in the negative space.
The wolf's tail is a weird shape and the wolf itself is very long, perhaps a close up shot would eliminate this.
Gorgeous use of type. Lovely texture applied to these too, gives a handmade and 'human', printed feel, but doesn't distract from the rest of the image. Nautical colour palette suits the genre.
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