Final Critique - Book Cover Designs

Great job designing book covers! Check out the work from our third critique of the semester. There has been so much improvement already.

Class Exercise #4: Mockups

Due: Wednesday, October 26
A mockup is a scaled or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup is called a prototype if it provides at least part of the functionality of a system and enables testing of a design.

For homework, you must
1. Finish designing your book cover to scale in Photoshop and/or Illustrator. Set up your digital file to look like this...

2. After your design is in Photoshop or Illustrator, place the flat file in a new file. Resize to a half scale mockup, like this...

3. Print, trim to size, and fold along seems to create half scale mockup. You can print this landscape on an 8.5''x11'' piece of paper. make sure to use a quality paper to give color and design justice. Craftsmanship and aesthetic will be considered in critiquing mockups.

4. In class on Wednesday, we will swap designs with another student. You will critique each others work on Overall composition / hierarchy/ alignment, color, typography, of of course... concept/meaning.

Only those who complete their mockups in entirety will be able to participate in exercise. Come to class prepared!

Schedule Changes

If you are behind on concept development, get caught up on all your sketching this weekend. By Monday, October 24, you should be finalizing your cover designs in Photoshop / Illustrator.

On Monday, we will start our mockup exercise.

Reminder of design process needs. When you turn in your final board and mockup for final critique, you must include process. Below is a list of my expectation of design process.

1. at least 25 sketches of initial idea generation - these are thumbnail sketching / fast thinking / sketches meant to convey ideas... 
2. Additional materials that demonstrate thinking and concept development like photos, collage, type, color, etc. related to your projects. 
3. Three Refined concepts (different directions) of the book cover in its entirety including how the design will layout on back, spine, and cover.
4. Final Design refinement (computer variations, mockup, etc.) - Any refinement steps conducted after concept has been finalized.

Schedule Changes:
Monday, October 24: Finalize book cover designs on computer, Introduce exercise 4 - mockups
Wednesday, October 26: Exercise 4 continued. workday.
Monday, October 31: Final critique Book Cover Design. Turn in (1) Board + (1) full-scale Mockup + (1) Design Process packet.

Expectation for In-Progress Critique 10/19

Hey folks,

Great job kicking off this project last week with research and presentations. I strongly encourage you to continue your research / learning on an individual basis as you move into idea generating + brainstorming and conceptualizing phases.

Next week we will begin with one on one meetings and finish up the week with a group in-progress critique of design phases. For the critique, you are expected to have
1. sketches of initial idea generation as well as any other materials that demonstrate thinking like photos, collage, type, color, etc.
2. In addition, you should have 3 refined concepts (with different directions) of the book cover in its entirety. This means by Wednesday, you should already be thinking about how concepts will layout on back, spine, and cover.

I look forward to seeing how each of you move forward individually on your projects. 
Have a great weekend!

Class Exercise #3

Prepare a presentation that discusses your book in detail. This presentation should be about 10 minutes and include information about the plot, characters, theme, tone, and genre. The presentation should also include analysis of past book cover designs. Each group will have another 10 minutes for Q & A.

Your presentations must include:
1.    Information regarding plot + characters
2.    Information regarding theme / tone / genre
3.    Previous book cover analysis
4.    Book designs of Inspiration (Your group should look at books with similarities of book assigned. For example, choose inspiration cover designs that work with similar themes, plots, etc.)

Note: Your presentation should be designed well and consider layout, type, etc. All presentations should be in digital format either using powerpoint or keynote. Turn in one digital file per group.

This will be a group project that earns a group grade. However, you will also have the opportunity to grade each other regarding participation, effort, etc. Each member of the group must fill out an evaluation form and grade each student (including yourself). You must add comments to justify grade given.

Click here to download evaluation form.

Online Resources for Project 3

Archive of book cover designs - lots of stuff here: http://bookcoverarchive.com/
http://blog.bookcoverarchive.com/2009/11/1504/ 

http://www.bookcoverdesign.tumblr.com

Blog examples: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/beautiful-book-cover-design/
http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-favorites-of-2008.html
http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/
http://wellmedicated.com/lists/45-beautifully-designed-book-covers/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/04/14/excellent-book-covers-and-paperbacks/
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/judging-the-book-50-most-captivating-covers-of-all-time/

Some company sights that design book covers:
http://www.bookcreatives.com/
http://1106design.com/
http://www.dotdesign.net/

Previous student work: http://gsuexamples.blogspot.com/2009/08/grd3000-book-cover-designs.html

Project 3: Design a Book Cover

For this project you will design a cover, spine and back panel for a novel. The cover of a book is the essential tool designed to engage, intrigue, and communicate overall concept. This can be achieved through the use of photography, mixed media, illustration, typography or a combination of these.

It is imperative that you do the research to understand the nuances of the book you select. Some thoughts as you conduct research:

• Make descriptive notes and sketch as you go through the book, and think outside the obvious.
• Try to understand the point of view or what the author is trying to communicate. Be aware of the plot, subplot, characters, environments, tone and genre.
• Do not allow yourself to be persuaded by style directions of other versions of the cover you may come across during your research. You should discover what designs have been created in previous covers but your idea should be unique. 
• Be inspired... look at many things for inspiration - theatrical posters, CDs, event promotions etc... Design influences are all around so be open to everything.

Your book cover must include:
1.    Front cover, back cover and spine
2.    Title, author
3.    publisher, publisher’s logo
4.    ISBN, price, bar code

Schedule
Mon     Oct 10    Introduce Project / Class Exercise 3
Wed     Oct 12    Group Presentations / Work Day - Sketching + 1on1’s
Mon     Oct 17    Work Day – Sketching + 1on1’s
Wed     Oct 19    In-progress Critique – Pinup sketches, photos, type, illustration, etc. related to concept development. You should have at least 3 design directions.
Mon     Oct 24    Class Exercise 4 – ½ mockup book cover due.
Wed    Oct 26     Final Project Due

See full project brief here: http://www.catnormoyle.com/classdocuments/03_Book_Cover.pdf

Critique #2 Event Posters