(B5) Penguin Book Cover: Working with Paper and Text

Working further on book cover, thinking:

1. How to incorporate text
2. Typeface
3. Colour
4. Layout

Experimenting with the paper scrunches, colour and type - this can become the motif used throughout the book, thinking about Templo and the repetition of elements that communicate the idea effectively. Don't need to add in a lot more visual elements. 
Wanting to convey this idea of thrown away or hidden data, hence the graph paper scrunch image.
- Feel as though this is the strongest idea to go with as it relates to the content of the book but also encapsulates the way Wallace-Wells talks about the book in interviews and commentary. It is one of the first things he mentions when talking about climate change and I think it's really important this is documented in the cover. 

- Using serif typeface, wanting to communicate a sense of professionalism and academia within the cover.

- Issue is this is too similar to the existing cover, wanting the design to be different and exciting so this might not be the best direction to carry on with.

- There is a lot of copy to go on the cover so sizing and hierarchy will be important to consider. Here D is the most successful in terms of visual hierarchy. 

- Playing with the type to see what works. 

- H presents a fun and more joyful tone as the type anatomy is very rounded it has a more youthful tone to it. This isn't what I'm wanting to communicate from this book as it is an adult fiction (of course can be read by a younger audience) but it should appeal to an older audience.

- I and J use a more contemporary typeface (termina), it has a seriousness to it but is less intense than most sans serif typefaces. The arrangements need more consideration as neither of these are strong. 

- With the layout in I and J it looks more like a data map than a piece of paper, this could be due to the colouring. 

- E is too similar in layout to the original cover, I'm wanting to try something new with the text layout.
- G works well, simialr to H but is in a different typeface that's more appropriate to the content of the book. 
- Feel as though the white grid with blue background looks too much like a blueprint or a tracking device, this is a different idea to what I'm wanting to communicate. 
- Should text the cover out with the inverse of these colours. 

For the following images the black innermost square is a guide marking and won't be there on the final cover: 

- The dark grid with light background is really successful in making the image look more like a piece of paper than a digital piece of work.

- Non of these layouts are particularly successful, but the hierarchy developing between points of text is helping the book look less flat.

- I think the hierarchy needs to be considered more, should the title have more focus than the author? On the original cover they are of the same size and weight, think this would be a better direction to go in. 

- The different layouts here are okay, they are variations on previous tests but with a new colour scheme so they work better in terms of the colours but not with the type.

- Testing with the blue but again not as successful, want to go with a different arrangement of colours (the inverse).

- Thinking about using the white space around the image to place the text, this creates a more visually dynamic cover and adds a layer of interest to the text.

- However, the type is much too small in these, the paper scrunch is taking up all the room and the type is very much in the background. Need to think about this. 

- Using a heavy weight condensed typeface, this communicates a sense of urgency on the cover and is very much dominating the page, it stands out and you can't ignore it. 

- Was struggling where to put all the copy text as the title and author text takes up most of the page, wan to rethink this layout and try alternate methods.

- Playing with different text arrangements, the type is very much the focal point, I think there needs to be more balance between the text and the paper scrunch.

- Could us a lighter weight of the font and see how this works. 

- Here using a lighter weight in 19 and 20, these seem more successful (particularly 19).

- The paper scrunch is too large on the page it's taking up so much room the cover becomes really busy and hard to look at.

Reflections:

•  Should experiment with different scrunch shapes to see how this affects the type.
  - Make the paper scrunches more even around the edges so there is not one side with more weight than the other. 
• Think about the balance between type and image, want to make sure they're both getting the audience's attention but aren't competing for it. 
  - This will come with choosing a good typeface, make sure this is well considered in terms of the tone it communicates to the audience.