OUGD603 - Penguin Student Design Award (The Establishment) - Final Design (To Submission Guidelines)

The concept behind this final design was based on the idea of mediaocracy - "the system of maintaining control over a nation by utilising the media, usually perpetrated under the guise of "Freedom of Speech". A system of mediaocracy is not limited strictly to using the mass media or mainstream media to achieve its ends. It may often use "independent" and "underground" media outlets, such as blogs and podcasts, to achieve its ends" - which Jones touches on in the book, claiming that the wealthy people that control much of the press have interests closely aligned with the establishment, and therefore tend to promote the establishment's views, rather than the views of the readers. In visualising this the design features a series of stacked newspapers, which was thought to be one of the main ways in which people keep up-to-date with the latest press, as well as the main media which the establishment uses to promote their views.

The design places information within this newspaper format, creating a hierarchy of information, with the tagline 'The Phenomenal Bestseller' at the top of the front cover, as well as within the newspaper itself in order represent the newspaper, and therefore also the views of the establishment, being promoted. Smaller passages of additional text was also added to this newspaper in order to fill up the negative space, featuring a definition of the establishment, a brief summary of the book and the introductory passage to chapter one of the book so that instantly the audience can get a feel of what the book is about, mimicking the typical nature of a newspaper in being read.

This newspaper design also features a ripped, inky texture in order to mimic the physical type of textures you may get on a newspaper, with this particular texture being used to represent an old newspaper which may have been chucked away in the rain, giving it a worn feel, and representing the idea presented by Jones that the news is all essentially rubbish and does not promote the right views, being that of the readers.

The back cover design continues to reflect this concept of mediaocracy, featuring an illustration of a podium which a politician or person of importance may speak from, reflecting the quote from the first chapter of the book featured on the front cover in that onstage a person may be exposed for who they really are. The type used on this back cover also shows continuity in using a bold, headlined font to present the quotes as newspaper headlines, as well as statements that may be boldy stated by these people of power as if speaking at the podium.