Our last design context brief was based upon the penguin book cover award 2020. This is where designers get the opportunity to design a book cover for one of the 3 categories.
We were given the category of Adult Non-fiction which this year is a book called ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson.
To begin the design process and generating ideas for creating this new cover design, I needed to research the book itself. I tried not to focus to much on previous covers as the judges are after something new and original.
The book was described as being not just another science book, its much more fun and interesting and wouldn’t just interest a science fan. I read multiple chapters from the book to help develop ideas and concepts I could take forward.
While reading Chapter 2 about the solar system I thought about the idea of telescopes and how they’re used to discover things. I thought this would link well with the whole idea of the book. Below are some of my initial responses to the brief:
Here’s my final book cover. I used illustrator to create the majority of the design. I think it helps to show that the book is fun and its purpose is not just to inform but entertain the reader. I allowed the illustration on the front to flow through onto the back to guide the viewers eyes and link the whole thing together.
I played with the use of typography on the front section and turned the ‘A’ of the title into the stand of the telescope which I think gives the design a clever twist.
During this process of designing the cover I discovered my love for illustration.
