Evaluation

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How my book would look in your hands.....

THE FINISHED DESIGN!....

And here is the final completed book cover!

I decided to pick out the shade of purple on the wings of the butterfly by using this colour shade as the background colour for the other sides to the cover. The paler, more textured surface used for the background on the front image I felt would not create as much depth to the book.

To help hint further that the book relates to cosmetic surgery, I added the line.. "no incisions made" deliberaely near to the blood resembling ink lines, as I am hoping the word "incision" will make the viewer think of surgery incision lines......

If you look closely at the back cover and the far right panel (which will be the inside panel) you will noticed the repeated silhouette of the "stitched arm" shape taken from the front cover. This was again to help subtely hint at the idea of surgery. I wanted the them to continue both onto the back cover and the inside panels.

As the author has written this book using her knowledge from working within the beauty industry then I felt that the reviews for the book needed to be selected appropriately. I therefore opted for the cover to show 2 positive reviews.- The first review is a brief sentence by Channel 4's stylist Nicky Hambledon-Jones, as I feel that a lot of women know of her and what her programmes are aimed at (..the idea of her "10 years younger" programme). The second review, which is displayed on the inside front panel, is written by the Life & style Editor at the Guardian paper.- I chose the Guardian as this is quite a respected paper and while visiting the guardian.co.uk I came across a whole "Life and Style" section with several interesting features on fashion,health, make-up & lifestyle etc....

Deciding where to display the authors name took some time to finalise. In the end I chose the top right corner to display the name for two main reasons. Firstly, there was conveniently an are of empty space and secondly I wanted to position the name near to the two yellow wheels to try and create the idea the these wheels were "turning" out the name....(looking back, maybe I should have included a few motion lines or something to suggest movement from the wheels to help stress this point more).

I chose the publishers "Apple" simply because while looking at a few different publishers ( Apple, Universe, Trotman) I read on the Apple-press website that Apple- "is a leading publisher of highly illustrated lifestyle books with particular emphasis on food and drink, home decoration and craft, beauty and fashion, sports and leisure, and gardening." ....therefore as my book relates to the beauty industry, and also the fashion industry to some extent, that this publishers would be the most appropriate. (see http://www.apple-press.com/about.asp for the full description).

Alison Carmichael Typography

The style of Alison Carmichael's typography shows an exact style I would like my book to reflect.- The idea of the title being quickly "scribbled" or written down by the author themself.- I think this "handwritten" style adds a personal touch to the cover and creates the idea of a more personally written book.

My book needs to look like the contents within are written from the knowledge and experience of the author after spending part of her career working in the beauty industry. The book itself is to try and suggest alternative little hints and tips to women about other ways to look and feel good rather then opting for cosmetic surgery....i.e its written from the heart of the author.

Typography styles 3 & 4

I actually really like both of these examples.-
I think I am slightly prefering the first example as there may be too much black on the second example.- I don't know if this is making it look too "Photoshopped" and tacky? It's the areas of grey, where the white type meets the black areas of type that I don't think are working.

The first example seems to fit inbetween the two brightness shown on the previous post.- It works against the image and the effect of the repeated word in the background helps make the title stand out more against the yellow paint strip.

Typography styles 1 & 2

I originally experimented using a black outlined typography until I placed this onto the composition and realised that the dark outline blended in too much with the ink lines on the front cover.
To over come this, I added a strip of yellow paint across the image to help create a lighter colour in which to place the typography onto. I have continued this yellow paint strip right along the back panel and over into the inside panels to help maintain the style on all 4 faces of the book.

I settled for the colour white for the typography as this looked clean and bright against the yellow paint and the darker shades within the composition of purple and black.

I have opted for almost a handwritten and "scribbled" effect type, nothing too formal looking. I intend the book to be written from the knowledge and point of view of the editor (who works within the beauty industry). Therefore a more personalised typography style, or one which gives the impression that it has been "handwritten" will work best with the genre of my book.

The first example of the typeface looks too bright against the composition. It almost "glows" out against the image which I don't really like. I think that the shadowing of the repeated word perhaps makes this look too much.- The brightness needs toning down.

The second example of the typeface does not stand out enough against the image. I therefore need to find a balance between the brightness of these two examples.

Selecting a typography style........

As the composition of my final design has quite a lot of individual images overlapping, then I feel that the typography needs to be clearly readable and not too fancy as otherwise the front cover will be too detailed. Having said this however, the typography does need to reflect the style of the overall book too.
I feel that placing the title across the middle of the book, and therefore over the main composition will create the right balance.