Brief 8: Book Cover Development

I am finally getting round to getting my book covers printed, and having left my cover slightly unfinished, I decided to go back to it to prepare it properly for printing. However, when I went back to it, I realised that there was something off about the cover and I decided to develop it. I asked for other people's opinions on what they felt could improved, as well as taken into account my own opinions on what could be made better.

I liked the typeface I was using, and the image of Alfred Hitchcock digging the grave, but the way everything was laid out, as well as the blue coloured background were bothering me. Other people agreed, and looking again at the type I realised that it looked a lot like the type used in news publications, and so I began to work with the idea of creating a tabloid style front cover. This relates to the book as not only does Hilary write for a newspaper (a naff one, just like The Sun or The Daily Mail) but the entire story is something that if it really happened would be pored over in the newspapers.

Covers as they looked before

Inspiration

Covers created in a similar style to an older tabloid. 

I also experimented with creating an homage to Private Eye, as the story is exactly the kind of thing which would be satirised in their publication, plus they have a distinctive style which would appeal to the audience the book is aimed at. 

Inspiration

Covers

I was told by people I asked to give me feedback that I should get rid of the outside border, and so I removed it and then began to develop the back of the cover, another element of my original design which was bothering me because it kind of felt like an afterthought. 

With the back cover, I created a layout that felt like a piece of editorial in the Private Eye, which adds additional visual interest as well as relating to the story. 

Final cover