Penguin Student Design Awards 2017

To Kill a Mockingbird Submission

As part of Studio Practice one of the briefs was to design a book cover for one of the three categories, adult fiction, adult non - fiction or children's award for the Penguin Book Awards. My submission was for the adult fiction cover as this I thought this could allow the work to be more conceptual and abstract.

Submission and Rationale

The book design is based around the themes of oppression and protection which were defined as key themes within the story. The oppression of the black community by the white is shown through the use of differing sized circles, with the white being larger. Atticus’s protection of Tom is visualised through the integration of the grey circle within the white, reflecting how Atticus took much of the pressure from the rest of the community. Taking reference from the films opening sequence, Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk was used to create a feeling of dominance over the rest of the title. From research it was found that Harper Lee identified with Scout and was a tomboy herself, however became reclusive after the publication of her book. To reflect this the authors name uses Franklin Gothic Book, a sans serif typeface which is strong in structure to reflect her boisterous nature, but thinner and less dominant than the other typeface used. 

Submitting to a live brief

Entering the competition has allowed me to better understand the process of submitting work, especially in terms of following submission guidelines which can be complicated sometimes. It will also be interesting to see what work is chosen and how what I have done compares to others and to see how I can improve. It has also allowed me to better understand the book design industry. Book Covers are exciting to work on because you can be quite abstract in the interpretation of the story, whether this takes inspiration from themes or a particular scene in the book.