DESIGN 1

THE FIRST DESIGN

A BOOK COVER: YOUR WAY

            One of the first design experiments we really got to showcase our creative talents was that of re-designing an author’s book cover. An author close to my heart has always been that of James Patterson, especially my love goes for his Women’s Murder Club series. The first book follows Special Agent Lindsay Boxer as she investigates the murder of a married couple on their honeymoon. The first book cover re-design is on the left, while the second is on the right. What I wanted to do in the new re-design was pick darker and muted colors and go with font that wasn’t so “gimmicky.” I wanted to showcase dark and gothic romance, while also keeping the font nothing but white-colored, as I didn’t want to go too overboard and leave the audience distracted. Patterson is one of the most incomparable authors of all time in the Mystery genre, really solidifying his one-of-a-kind reputation with book series such as Women’s Murder Club and Alex Cross, so I really wanted to pay respect to him by showcasing my love for his stories. In the written piece of Hacking Aristotle, Liz Losh writes, “brand recognition, which is a measure of public familiarity with a given brand, and brand equity, or the set of related positive cognitive associations or fulfilling emotional responses, which may be tied to personal gratification, abstract social values, or both.” The reason I bring brand recognition into play is because with the Women’s Murder Club series, all 23 books have contained the big number of the series right on the cover. But with both designs, I wanted to play around with writing out the word, instead of just doing the number. I thought this would add great depth to the design, and really fill out the cover more.