We were asked to design the cover (front, back and spine) for a new Penguin edition of James M. Cain’s 1934 novel The Postman Always Rings Twice.
We were also split in to groups of different countries which we would have to design the book for, I was in North Africa.
Before I could even start to think of ideas for the book I needed to do thorough research in to North Africa - the culture, the people, the religions there etc, these factors would all play a huge part in how the cover would look.
I found it really hard to get in to starting the cover, I had a few ideas but nothing I particularly liked. It was a long process getting all my research together and coming up with different designs, and also coming up with designs which I could justify being appropriate for the North African market.
First Cover. Bleeding Rose In Hands.
Cover 2 - Womans Lips With Lipstick.
Final design - Cats Eyes.
Brief Part 2: Referenced contextual studies essay
“Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine. For if you have no feelings about wine one way or the other, you will want the sensation of drinking the stuff out of a vessel that may have cost thousands of pounds; but if you are a member of that vanishing tribe, the amateurs of fine vintages, you will choose the crystal, because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain. There is nothing simple or dull in achieving the transparent page. Vulgar ostentation is twice as easy as discipline.” From The Crystal Goblet, or, Printing Should Be Invisible, by Beatrice Warde (1900-69), 1955.
“Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine. For if you have no feelings about wine one way or the other, you will want the sensation of drinking the stuff out of a vessel that may have cost thousands of pounds; but if you are a member of that vanishing tribe, the amateurs of fine vintages, you will choose the crystal, because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain. There is nothing simple or dull in achieving the transparent page. Vulgar ostentation is twice as easy as discipline.” From The Crystal Goblet, or, Printing Should Be Invisible, by Beatrice Warde (1900-69), 1955.
This is the piece of text we were given and asked What did we think Warde was trying to say, and told that it must be explained it in terms of design and illustration practice and also how relevant are her words in relation to my cover design to The Postman Always Rings Twice; The Doves Press Holy Bible of 1903-5; and The National Express website homepage of 2010.
I found it really hard to get my head around what I was being asked to do, I've found that I seem to make things harder for myself - instead of getting on with things straight away I tell myself that I can't do it and get myself all worried and put off doing it.
I didn't start my essay until 3 days before it was due to be handed in - nothing like leaving it until the last minute! Although i felt really stressed over the three days in a mad rush to get the essay together and set it out like a magazine article I feel that's what I needed to get me in the mind set to do it, I didn't have the time to tell myself I couldn't do it - I just had to get on with it, and I was actually really please with my final piece. Although obviously if I had given myself the weeks I had to do it properly I could have maybe produced something better, I was happy that I got something together to hand in - because at the beginning I didn't think I could have done anything!
I found it really hard to get my head around what I was being asked to do, I've found that I seem to make things harder for myself - instead of getting on with things straight away I tell myself that I can't do it and get myself all worried and put off doing it.
I didn't start my essay until 3 days before it was due to be handed in - nothing like leaving it until the last minute! Although i felt really stressed over the three days in a mad rush to get the essay together and set it out like a magazine article I feel that's what I needed to get me in the mind set to do it, I didn't have the time to tell myself I couldn't do it - I just had to get on with it, and I was actually really please with my final piece. Although obviously if I had given myself the weeks I had to do it properly I could have maybe produced something better, I was happy that I got something together to hand in - because at the beginning I didn't think I could have done anything!
