Book Cover Brief

The Brief

In this project you will be designing the cover for a book. You will be expected to complete this work in one day.

Design covers for a penguin-type paperback books.

This should include front cover, spine and back cover.

The Natural History of Britain and Ireland

By Virginia Graham

Back Cover Blurb:

The natural history of Britain and Ireland is both well-loved and fascinating. Each biological grouping is introduced and explained in an engaging and highly informative way, making it the perfect addition to every family bookshelf, as well as an ideal gift for every nature lover.

Packed with stunning, specially commissioned photographs and a wealth of information The Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland updates what is known of the wildlife and landscape of our islands.

Audience

Penguin is a well know publisher, typically I knew them for children’s novels such as The secret garden however they also publish non-fiction books for an older audience, the cover I am creating would fit into this category targeting adults looking to add to their collection of books, I must also bear in mind that this may be in a family’s book collection  so the best design would be one that engages the young and old.

Book Cover Research

Book Cover Development

Taking inspiration from a fashion trend book I wanted to create a montage/collage of flowers on the front cover, my first course of action was to find some good quality images of flowers that I could blend together quickly.

When looking for flower images I came across a book I was given by GFSmith featuring different types of paper each with a flower printed on, the flowers where in an array of different shades. I scanned these into my computer for the best quality.

I then took these individually into Photoshop to remove the background so that just the flower remained.

I then setup my document on inDesign, to create the front, spine and back I used three pages and changed the width of the middle one – the dimensions i’m using are from the book above which I aim to cover with my design.

I added the flowers to cover the whole front and back, I wanted to keep the front and back bare with the exception of the title and penguin logo to I added two more page to either side creating a sleeve, on these pages I added the blurb and a picture of a female author.

I am going to make a few changes before I include this piece in my portfolio, firstly I will print it on a thin glossy paper and foil over the writing and logos.

Book Cover Finished Piece