OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (The Establishment) - Evaluation

Judging Criteria:

- Have an imaginative concept.
- Be an original interpretation of the brief.
- Be competently executed with strong use of typography.
- Appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book.
- Show a good understanding of the marketplace.
- Have a point of difference from other books that it will be competing against in the market.
- Be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops.

Evaluation:

The final design shows a strong use of typography in that design is mainly typographic, placing information into a newspaper format that effectively creates a hierarchy of information, utilising bold, headline typefaces which would typically be seen on a physical newspaper in order to make specific information stand out to the audience. The use of additional text to fill up negative space and enhance the design's reflection of an actual newspaper was also thought to give the audience an instant feel of what the book is about, engaging with the design like they would with an actual newspaper, giving the design some form of experience which the readers can relate to, which would then potentially make them more likely to pick up the book, and therefore also showing a good understanding of the marketplace through this imaginative design concept.

However, although effective in its concept and design, these smaller additional passages of text could have been more considered in what information was presented. The final design presents a passage of text from the introductory paragraph of chapter one in the book, which works effectively, however the other pieces of information could have potentially instead utilised pieces of information on the book which were featured on the Penguin's website looking at the brief, which may have shown better engagement with this information and what they were asking - "One day, this Establishment will fall. It will not do so on its own terms or of its own accord, but because it has been removed by a movement with credible alternative that inspires. For those of us who want a different sort of society, it is surely time to get our act together".

Despite this, the use of negative space around the front cover design was thought to work strongly in making the design and typographic information stand out and not get too overcrowded with information, which would potentially limit the effectiveness of the typographic design concept.