Book Cover Design

The next assignment I was given was to produce a book cover design of a chosen book. Firstly I began to look on the Internet for interesting book covers and books. Here are a few I found to be particularly interesting in composition:

(X-Ray-Nick Veasey)

















(The Invention of World Religions- Tomoko Masuzawa)

(Things I Have Learned in My Life so Far- Stefan Sagmeister)

I then began to look at children's books because the colours and shapes used in the front covers tend to be mor interesting and colourful. I looked at books like:

(The Very Hungry Caterpillar-Eric Carle)

(The Gruffalo- Julia Donaldson)

I have made the decision to choose a children's book because the engaging colours used in the images and the way it doesn't have to be a serious image.

Photomontage Improvements

I wanted to improve the previous montage to make it look more visually impressive. I therefore look around for other impressive album covers. The one that stood out the most in my eyes was the album cover for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I really like this album cover because it uses many colours and is quite abstract. It also fits in perfectly with the montage I am making. I managed to blend it into the sky quite well. Here it is:

Improved A4 Photomontage

This is my favourite Photomontage I have made to fit the requirements asked. It is highest quality resolution and is A4 in size. I decided to blend all three I have shown you together. I like to think that the cat is having a dream or something.

An extra montage

After doing the Photomontage, I decided to make another one by merging two images together and editing the colours etc. in Photoshop. Here it is:

This one is also a good resolution for a computer desktop wallpaper.

Photomontage

 My next task was to create a Photomontage. This is what I came up with. It is a montage of my two favourite bands and their albums 'Deja Entandu' and 'Shudder'.

The reason I decided to do a montage of two bands is because the previous task inspired me to do so. I made two; one to fit A4 and one that can fit a widescreen desktop of  computer. I think it turned out quite well. The only problem I have with it is the way the Bayside cover is slightly too faded in the bottom montage.

My Interpretations of chosen album cover

Once I analysed the album cover, I had a go at improving the cover in Photoshop. I wanted to play on the fact that the word 'Shudder' is associated with hatred, therefore my attempts in Photoshop were focused on hatred and anything associated with the word 'Shudder'.

In my first attempt I wanted to create a darker feel to it. I therefore applied a textured layer and altered how it blended with the actual cover. I also added more red to the cover (mostly around the edges) I think it mixed well with the gold.

The next one I made is a lot more vivid in colour. However, it is also black and white in places. I believe this gave the image an interesting parallel of contrasting moods. It also looks like it is burnt.

In the last one I made, I wanted to create a more positive look to it using bright vivid blues. This also contributed to the cold you feel when you shudder. I think it is the most eye catching out of the three because of how bright the colours are.

                               
After completing these compositions, I did notice several aspects that could have been improved. I Should have moved some of the elements around to give them more effect, for example the Bayside logo might have had more effect in the middle of the cover. I could have highlighted the Bayside emblem (in the center of the cover) a bit more to make it stand out. Overall I believe these compositions generally improved the effectiveness of all these variations.

Deconstruction and Formal Analysis

The album cover I have chosen to analyse is called Shudder, An album by Bayside. I chose this album cover for many reasons. The main reason is it is very eye-catching because of the use of vivid colours. The colours used make it a lot more memorable for the viewer which in turn makes them think about the band and/or album more. The next thing I notice is the intricate pattern on the cover. It is almost like a montage of colours but the most effective part of the artwork is the hidden use of the band’s symbol in the pattern. It is not so hidden that you can’t even see it, but it is hidden enough not to see at a glance. It is effective because it almost plants subliminal imagery of the band’s symbol in the viewer’s mind.

The pattern interprets the name of the album very well; shudder by definition means to tremble, typically as a result of fear or hatred/dislike. Therefore, the colours used are perfect because the colour Red is associated with hate or passion and the colour Blue is associated with the cold feeling someone gets as a result of a shudder. Even the visual rhythm of the image as a whole looks like a shudder; the pattern looks like a tremble with the use of spontaneously drawn lines.

The typography used in this cover is also well thought out. The artist has used the contrasting colour Gold to emphasize the importance of the information: The name of the band and the name of the album. This makes viewers remember more and pass their information on easily, for example when someone has seen an advert of the album they might say to a friend “have you seen that the album being released by Bayside? It looks good!” If the text was not placed on the album art, this would not have occurred. The formation of the text also fits in well with the image as a whole, mostly because it contributes to the messy pattern of the main imagery. The border of the album cover helps the text blend in well with everything.