work experience

 

WORK EXPERIENCE

Conventions of Book Covers

Front Cover

The front cover typically has the title of the book and the author's name. A relatively large font size is used for both the title and the author's name to make the text conspicuous. An artistic depiction with subtle hints about the plot is usually applied to the cover background. This is most especially characteristic of story-based books.

Back Cover

The back cover typically has the book's title, motto, a portrait photo of the author, the bar code, and the blurb. The blurb is a summary of the book's plot.

Spine

The spine mainly has the title, the author's name, and sometimes the motto or the trademark of the book publishing company. They are sometimes featured on the front cover as well.

Examples

ANIMAL FARM

Front Cover

The cover closely resembles a flyer poster from the 1900s. The visual style of the cover seems to portray animals as supreme and powerful dictators. Red is the chief colour displayed. Red, universally symbolises wickedness and rage. This may imply that things may soon take a turn for the worse.

Back Cover

Similar visuals from the front are also applied to the back. A quote from the book's scripture goes as follows: "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS." This suggests their domain is potentially fascist or dystopian.  

EVALUATION

I wanted to use elements and colours to imply vengeance and malice which correlates to the book's plot. In this case, I used colours that symbolise evil and darkness (red and black). I also constructed a pig's face that is heavily scarred using distorted shapes and included a quote from the book's scripture, and a motto that I came up with on my own: "WOE TO THOSE WHO WALK ON TWO LEGS!" Further experiments with the shape tool have led me to design an emblem for their domain as seen below the blurb and on the spine. 

Below is the official, final design of the cover. Minor updates were made including the addition of a barcode and my name on the back cover. These updates were based on the feedback of the initial design.