OUGD503 Studio Brief 01 Individual Practice Research into The Penguin Competition

The major competition that has really caught my eye is the Pengiun book cover design. I think I would like to do the adult fiction, simply because this lines up with my own reading interests.
Penguin Book Cover Brief

The Brief

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

‘A story of self-liberation for a secular age’ Guardian

This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by her mother as one of God’s elect. Zealous and passionate, she seems destined for life as a missionary, but then she falls for one of her converts.

At sixteen, Jeanette decides to leave the church, her home and her family, for the young woman she loves. Innovative, punchy and tender,Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a few days’ ride into the bizarre outposts of religious excess and human obsession.

‘Many consider her to be the best living writer in this language... In her hands, words are fluid, radiant, humming’ Evening Standard

The Brief

Jeanette Winterson’s writing is vivid, experimental and imaginative and your cover design should reflect this.

It should appeal to a contemporary, enquiring and literary readership.

This book has been chosen because there are many themes and layers within. Try and reflect this in your design.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine 14.5mm wide).

Tip

The author name and the title are both immediately recognizable to the target market and as such are crucial elements in the design.

The front-cover quote should help position and place the book for the market.

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. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective 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 a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

I thought looking into the judges would be productive because in the end I am designing for them as well as all the customers that might by the book. Although the guest judges have not yet been announced the main judges are all from the publishing companies. This suggests a love of the literature behind the designs. I think this means I will have to read the book and analyse it, get the real essence of the story from a readers perspective. Because they most definitely would have read it and are looking for something that really represents that experience in a positive light of course.

They also provided a template which helps no end because it allows me to understand not only the scale at which I am designing but also the spine width and the space taken up by the sales information as shown above.

As well as reading up on the details behind this brief I have been putting together a list of areas to research.

-Book shop context

-Online book stores and displays

-covers of the same genre

-read the book

-Limitations of book production