OUGD503 - Studio Brief 01 - Penguin

The Penguin Random House Student Design Awards is an annual competition. Each year design students can submit a cover design for a book picked by the publishers. This year, I chose to design a cover for To Kill a Mockingbird as it appealed to me most.

For this novel, I wanted to create a cover that was reminiscent of the well known penguin crime covers and so decided to keep a simple design. Two initial concepts were brought together, one using the tree that is an important part of the story, and the second, of the picket fence that is a motive throughout.

It was decided that to create a new design, it would have to be engaging. Something considered quite original compared to designs other students were designing was to print white onto black stock. To make the design even more engaging, it would be more successful to foil white instead of print white.

The cover design followed the Penguin grid that it is known for. The picket fence design has the fence running along the bottom of the book in white. The type used on the cover is Helvetica again following the Penguin grid. The tree design has the tree on both the front and the back.