OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (Norwegian Wood) - 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 an original interpretation of the brief and has a point of difference from the others it will be competing against in that the design aesthetics itself were informed by an art movement (pop art) which was present in the 1960's, the same time in which the story was set, which provides an interesting link between the way in which the imagery has been designed and the time/narrative of the story, meaning that the audience can probably get a good sense of the story through its design and so potentially causes more engagement with the book. The concept of this design also shows these criteria in that key scenes within the story have been interpreted and visualised in interesting ways that reflect and are symbolic of the main themes of mental illness within the story, for instance in the use of the jar which Naoko places money in when she requests to play Norwegian Wood being used to represent her feelings of being trapped by her mental illness, and the idea of birds flying out of the jar to then also symbolise her freedom from this after her death, whilst also showing links with a scene at the start of the story which foreshadows this ending.

The bold, but simple nature of the design also means that the design would be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops in that the book is able to stand out better from further afar and at a smaller scale, particularly important for use in ebook stores on various online and digital platforms.

The use of typography has been utilised in continuing to present styles which fit with the pop art aesthetic which informed the design. Although not as playful as this could have been, original type experiments were found to make the design look slightly gimmicky which was thought did not convey the right message in terms of the serious themes present in the book. For this reason, the type was kept bold and simple to match the imagery. In the way that the imagery has been composed with the typography, it was thought this created a natural flow from looking at the imagery with the birds then guiding the audience to the title of the book.