It was suggested that the concept is interesting and that the overall design effectively communicates this, in particular the spine and back cover in separating the prisoners' numbers from their heads to portray their split personalities. From this feedback, it was shown that the spine is one of the strongest parts of the design, conveying mystery and an element which would make it stand out on a shelf amongst many other books. However, one alteration I could make in terms of this would be to increase the size of the eyes, as there is perhaps too much of Hickock and Smith's faces showing. This would increase the idea of mystery, in drawing you further towards the book.
The design uses a white border around the spine, used initially to further highlight their eyes and separate them slightly from the front and back covers. Feedback suggested that this border may not be necessary and if I were to keep it, give both the front and back covers the same border to keep consistency in the whole design.
Be competently executed with a strong use of typography?
The use of Bodoni works well in the design and has clear links to the first edition of In Cold Blood which also used this typeface. However, it was suggested that this should be altered slightly in reducing the weight and size of the authors name on the spine so that the differentiation between the authors name and the title of the book is clearer as currently they are too close in size. Originally this decision was made because I wanted to keep the type consistent with that on the front cover, however in reducing the size too much I felt this would have made it slightly illegible in the typeface I had used. Instead, I will alter this by changing its weight rather than it's size, as suggested in feedback.
It was also suggested that the title would perhaps look better if it was not all in capitals to keep it consistent with the authors' name. This then needs to be positioned more accurately so that the title and authors name are in-line. Likewise with the body text on the back cover, this needs to be more centred so that there are equally-sized gaps on either side of the text.
Appeal to a contemporary readership?
In terms of it's appeal to a contemporary readership, the overall book cover design can be seen to do this due to its minimalistic design. Research into existing book covers for In Cold Blood showed that many designs purely make used of strong typography. The front cover of my design mainly uses type alongside the tips of Hickock and Perry's heads.
With many adult fiction and non-fiction books it is important to not give away too much about the book in the design of the covers in order to get the reader intrigued as to what the book is about and make them actually want to read it, rather than being able to work out what the book is about without even reading it. I feel my design does this effectively, as you want to know who these people are on the front and how they are relevant to the story.
With many adult fiction and non-fiction books it is important to not give away too much about the book in the design of the covers in order to get the reader intrigued as to what the book is about and make them actually want to read it, rather than being able to work out what the book is about without even reading it. I feel my design does this effectively, as you want to know who these people are on the front and how they are relevant to the story.
Show a good understanding of the marketplace?
As well as being an adult non-fiction book, In Cold Blood can also be considered in the genre of crime thrillers. Readers of this genre want to be immediately spooked by the book cover design which will make them pick up the book to read. This means that cover must have elements of mystery, which can be seen communicated in my book cover design. This relates back to the idea that it is important to not give away too much about the book in the design of the covers in order to get the reader intrigued as to what the book is about and make them actually want to read it. For this reason, a minimalistic design can be seen to work for this genre of book and specific marketplace.
Have a point of difference from many other book covers it is competing against?
The design for spine gives my cover a point of difference from many other books, as typically not as much consideration is taken into the design of the spine of a book compared to the front cover, even though the spine is normally what you would see first on a bookshelf. However, for this reason the front cover may have been compromised. Specifically, for this competition, the front cover is what the judges will see first. Although the front cover keeps the element of mystery used throughout the whole book cover spread, the design may be what lets down the overall design.
As a refinement, it was suggested during feedback that perhaps stacking the images on top of each other with one eye of each person on the spine and then half of their faces on the front cover could liven up the front cover whilst still remaining true to the idea. Another idea was to add a small element of colour to the front cover, such as a stripe of red at the top of the page to represent the crime and blood of the victims when found.
To make the design more playful it was also suggested to play around with the positioning of the barcode, for instance, placing it over the prisoner numbers of Hickock and Perry. This would further play on the idea of their split personalities and their number acting as another part of this, with the barcode representing their belonging to a personal number, such as the book belongs to a specific and unique barcode.
As a refinement, it was suggested during feedback that perhaps stacking the images on top of each other with one eye of each person on the spine and then half of their faces on the front cover could liven up the front cover whilst still remaining true to the idea. Another idea was to add a small element of colour to the front cover, such as a stripe of red at the top of the page to represent the crime and blood of the victims when found.
To make the design more playful it was also suggested to play around with the positioning of the barcode, for instance, placing it over the prisoner numbers of Hickock and Perry. This would further play on the idea of their split personalities and their number acting as another part of this, with the barcode representing their belonging to a personal number, such as the book belongs to a specific and unique barcode.
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