E-reader layout

I made both of my designs to fit on to the size of an ipad and a kindle fire. This is how the book cover would look if it was sold as an e-book and to do this I had to resize the cover because the e-readers are longer than my book cover. I think they worked quite well on the e-readers because with just the front cover you can still see links between that and the book with the objects and keyhole shape and I think it would stand out on the screen because of the bold background and contrast of white against it. I also think that the typeface worked well because it is still very legible.

Further Developments and Final Outcome

First I tried out one of the typefaces that I had designed and I made it up using the paint brush tool. I did like how the typeface turned out but I dont think it worked very well on the cover because the strokes had to be quite thin to get the detail to show so they did title did not stand out very much and was over powered by the rest of the cover. I also think that the handwritten style typography that I designed before became more a part of the design because it joined with the background whereas this one looks a lot more separated and like it is not supposed to be there.

Next I began experimenting with the designs for the back cover. I tried using elements from the front cover (the keys and pocket watches) to make a border around the text. I like the look of the first design but didnt end up using it because I think the whole book cover ties in a lot better together when the white keyhole shape is also used on the back. I also ended up changing the font of the text because this font didnt have the best legibility when made smaller and the size I did it in initially was too large to fit in the keyhole that I added in later on.

I wasnt happy with the colour scheme of a black background because I felt it didnt really relate to the book in anyway so the next thing I did was experiment with different colour schemes. I ended up choosing the medium blue colour because this worked well with the contrast of the white keyhole and allowed the pocket watch and keys to stand out and it also relates to the book as it is the colour of Alice's dress and is a colour that most people would immediately associate with the book. The book is also generally aimed at children and children respond better to bright colours so I think it makes it appeal more to them. I also experimented with a black keyhole but I think this was too much of a contrast against lighter colour and got lost against darker colours.

 



I then began to build the cover on to the template to help me begin to get an idea of how it will all look like put together. I added a drop shadow to the keys and pocket watches and I think it gives the cover more dimension so it doesnt look flat and also gave the effect of them floating around the keyhole which gives it a more magical and fantasy look to meet the theme of the book.
I chose a simpler font for the blurb to help with legibility and so that it would fit in to the key hole space easily and be easy to read.

Next I designed the spine of the book by using the typeface I created earlier and a script style font for the authors name because I think this is the most suitable for a fantasy book. I also added in the publisher logo which I developed later to remove the white background.

I then developed the typeface for the main title by creating a script style font using the paint brush tool that was based on the first font I created. I think this looks better than the one I had before because it blends well with the rest of the design and looks part of it which makes the type the main focus point. I think this font still works well with the style of the book because it is a script font so reminds me of something you would see in a fairytale fantasy book.

Next I added in the price, ISBN, barcode and publisher logo on the back cover. I simplified the existing logo by using the pen tool to go over the symbol and doing this meant I could get rid of the white background so that it looked better on the spine of the book and I also got rid of the text because the symbol is recognisable enough without it.

Lastly I filled in the gate folds with review quotes. I did this by hand using the paintbrush tool for the main quotes and I used a script font for the website names. I did the website names in a ready made font because when I used my script font and made it smaller it was not very legible so I used a script font that was legible at a smaller size. I decided to put the quotes across both gate folds because I did them in the same style as the main title with the lines leading off the edge of the page and this makes them look like they could be connected so makes the gatefolds match in with each other and look like continuous writing when placed next to each other.

This is my final design put into in design. Overall I am happy with the way it looks because it all matches and blends in well together as I used similar designs for the front and back and for the two gatefolds. Because of this I think it works as a wrap around cover as the keyhole looks like it goes right through the book. I think it meets the brief because the type is the main focus as this is where your eye goes first and I also think it represents the book well as I did it in a fantasy style with the script font and floating objects and the colour and objects relate to the book.

Developing Final Idea Further

 First I experimented with different key hole shapes and tried various fonts within them. I decided to keep my initial shape as it worked best with the title in it. I also developed the new objects to go on to my poster and tried a few out on a basic outline of my poster.

I tried developing my script font inside the keyhole shape and seeing how it would fit into the other shaped key holes. Doing this made me realise that the original shape I was using for the key hole worked best because it gave the largest amount of space and most even proportion of space so that the typography could be all of a similar size and legible. I did like the font with the curls off the end of the letters but it meant that the type had to be squashed up tighter together so the letters had to be smaller and closer together making it less legible.

Here at the top of the page I was experimenting with different shaped keyholes. After putting the type in as shown above I found my original shape worked best because although the other shape is more widely recognised as a keyhole shape I still think the other one will be seen as a keyhole and it works much better with the title in it.

Next I did some further work on my font and created two fonts of my own. The fonts I had used before were simple script fonts that I had designed so I tried designing some more decorative fonts to draw more attention to the title other than what is going on around it. I ended up really liking the first font that I designed on this page (the upper case style) and I did incorporate it within my design but I ended up going back to a font based off the original one I made because this font lost legibility and elements of the detail in the design when the stroke was made thicker and with the stroke thin it got lost behind the other bold elements of the design and make it so the type was no longer the main focus.



Initial Making of Ideas

Next I chose my three strongest ideas to make on illustrator. I did this to see which would work best on screen and this then helped me to narrow it down to one final idea which I will develop further. In the end I chose the first idea with the keyhole shape after deciding that it was the most effective when made on screen and also form the feedback I got. I think it works the best because the type is legible and has good readability, which the middle one has issues with as the type looks squashed and legibility is lost for the word 'wonderland' and although the last one is legible, I found it was awkward to read and didnt have very good readability because you have to concentrate on each individual part of the title before you could read the whole thing whereas the first one takes one quick glance to see what it says.

Next I developed this idea based on the feedback I received by adding in more objects from the film and improving my font. After looking at this I  decided to experiment further with the font to make it match in better with the background and to simplify the objects so it doesn't look too busy.
I found that the design worked better with the two original objects because it kept the colour scheme down to just yellow, white and black (and eventually blue in the final design) making it a lot simpler so that the focus stays on the type and not what is going on around it. I also developed the type face because unlike the one in my final design, this typeface looks separated from the rest of the design.

Developed Ideas

Next I developed my 4 favourite ideas and I added colour to start experimenting with colour schemes and to see which colours would work best. Doing these in colour helped me to see which ones still work in colour and which colour schemes worked best as I did two different versions of three of the designs. I used by colour mood board as a guideline for most of the colours used and by developing these ideas to make them clearer and larger I was then able to choose two ideas to take forward and do larger and more detailed.

I chose to develop these two designs further because they worked the best when done in colour because of the bold contrast between the white space and the background colours. They also have the strongest link with the book and I think people can instantly make a connection between the cover and the content of the book if they know the story.

Initial Ideas

Once I had finished my research I started coming up with some rough thumbnail sketches for my initial ideas. I used my research to help me when designing by looking at the sketches on my mind map to help when designing objects and I also looked at my moodboards for help with backgrounds inspired by the setting and the typography and also the style I wanted to do the covers in.

From these initial ideas the main inspiration for my final idea was the keyhole idea (top left). The style of script font and the keyhole shape using negative space against the background still featured in my final design and some of these other ideas also helped influence my final design such as the pocket watch which was included on my final design.