Project Overview

For my project, I digitally created two book jacket covers with printed versions, photoshoots, and media graphics/campaigns to promote the novel. My mother, Judith Natelli McLaughlin, is a published author of children’s literature, middle-grade chapter books, and novels. While many of her books have been designed by outside artists depending on the publishing company she is contracted with, there are a few novels that have yet to be published. My goal was to take my mother’s writing and bring it to life using Procreate, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign with her visions and my graphic design skills. Pursuing my love for graphic design while simultaneously working on a project that has so much meaning to me was such a rewarding capstone project.

Impacts

The impact I hope to make with this project is for the designs to live up to their expectations. That is, I truly want my mother’s stories to come alive through images on the front and back covers so an audience can truly get a feel for their love story messages. So often a book can fall flat if the design has nothing to do with the message it is trying to convey. I hope fans from different reading styles or genres are able to appreciate the classic love story novel and amplify my mother’s writing. 

Solutions

Previous Experience

For a previous Advanced Design class with Dr. Sullivan, my final project was a design for my mother, Judith Natelli McLaughlin’s latest novel. Her novel titled Summer on Butterfly Bay captures a real, sweet, funny, and quirky romance story. Overall, I think this project really tested my design limits and is a great reflection of my abilities and style as a designer. I spent a very long time working out the details of this project because my mom is the most important client I have had this far. She was very satisfied with the outcome and hopefully, I get to design one of her book covers in real life one day!

Sketches and Drafts

 

 

Color Palette

D6EEF1

1D4B56

9BD3B6

CA3B28

9E846C

Typography

Champagne & Limousines: Body Text

Header font

Project Challenges

My design process was the most tedious for this project. I created many sketches and drafts for the perfect beach house on a bay. The first one, as you can see, was too much of a log cabin feel. I felt the colors of the house were too dark, and the background was too neon. After receiving feedback from peers and my professor, I decided to scrap the first design and stick with a lighter, brighter, and more modern beach house. I carefully crafted and selected colors for each shape until I was satisfied. Then for the details like the sky, water, and dock, I wanted to utilize the same sharp geometric shapes. I chose light blue, deep blue, and lighter browns to all complement each other. I think the final outline of the house has the perfect romantic yet beachy vibe to it. 

The last design choices I made that were difficult were the font choices. I had trouble selecting a font that was not too childish but also spoke to a more adult reading crowd. The “beach house” font I chose received great feedback from peers. I wanted to utilize cranberry red to really stand out against the neutral colors from the house. 

Preparation Work

Inspiration

This project course challenged my vision as a designer yet solidified my appreciation for my favorite designers like Jade Purple Brown and Malika Favre. Using their techniques of minimal, two-dimensional designs and pop art meets op-art I was able to create my own style of geometric meets neutral. When creating my sketches for both novels, I was heavily influenced by Favre’s magazines she creates for The New Yorker and Brown’s campaigns for Sephora. These designers really honed in on the target audience I was designing for.

Research

Research for this project included studying the covers, both e-book and paperback of romance novels with a twist of reality, like Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, Beach Read by Emily Henry, and Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner.

Research also included the examination of designers’ published books such as Alina Wheeler’s “Designing Brand Identity: An essential guide for the entire branding team” and Ellen Lupton’s “Thinking With Type: A critical guide for designers, writers, editors and students.” Wheeler highlighted the importance of a brand identity which must be a unique personality consistent with its mission and values. As a designer, it is crucial to have the same ideals of a brand identity because a designer is their own brand. Wheeler argues that this message begins with ideals such as authenticity, differentiation, and coherence. She discusses why these ideals are important for a designer to find their own identity and bring a brand to life. Wheeler uses examples of brands like Coca-Cola, Apple, and Target to demonstrate how they use these ideas for their strong brand identity. 

Sketching

Primary Technologies

PROCREATE

Procreate is an app intended for illustrations on the iPad. This is the best software for an amateur graphic designer because the use of a pen on the iPad is so easy and there are many tutorials.

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR

Illustrator is the best software for working with paths and manipulating text. This was the most useful for creating the book heading designs and formatting each design into proper book dimensions

Project Considerations

Taking into account diversity and inclusive design

Creation Process

Gathering Inspiration

Bringing Sketches to Life

Incorporating Designs and Text Into the Book Jacket Template

Final Deliverables