OUP Very Short Introduction series book jackets

OUP Very Short Introduction series
book jackets

This project involved working with Oxford University Press (OUP) and re-designing the jackets for three selected books from their Very Short Introduction (VSI) series. This project allowed the creative freedom of either going towards an illustration route, a hand lettering route or creating our own photographic images/montage of photographic images. The aim of the project was to visually make the book jackets look more appealing and adhere to the topic of the book itself. The selected book topics were ‘The Gothic,’ ‘Witchcraft’ and ‘Superstition’.

The book jackets feature flaps that allow extra information to be included regarding the series and also about the book topic, such as the synopsis, author information etc. These information allow readers to have context on what they are about to read and also check out related things.

In my own design, I took an illustrative approach to design the book jackets. The concept of the illustrations involved the motif of windows, with each cover reflecting the book topic. Furthermore, the titles on the book jackets were enhanced by adding a white foil finish along with embossing to elevate the title and make it stand out when displayed.

Details for the full process can be found in the workfile as well.

Mood board

The mood board created for this project helped with developing my concept ideas throughout the whole process.

As the chosen titles were ‘The Gothic,’ ‘Witchcraft’ and ‘Superstition’, the mood board consisted of images and references that looked sinister and dark and hinted on what the books’ topics will cover, so therefore, using iconography or symbols that are significant to the titles.

Using the mood board as inspiration helped keep the concepts consistent across all three jacket covers and something I could refer to as I continued working on the project.

Mood board used for inspiration

Typography

The typeface Alverata was used for the blurbs on both the back of the jackets and the flaps. This typeface was more suitable to the theme of the titles and according to Adobe Font’s website about Alverata, it mentions the typeface as being ‘a contemporary, eclectic font family drawn from roots in Romanesque Europe’, which contributed even further to my concept for the book jackets. Alverata is clear and legible even when used in smaller typesizes and the serifs is distinguishable and unique and stood out nicely against the book cover designs.

Alverata typeface (taken from Adobe Fonts)

Hand lettering

For the titles on the book jackets, I challenged myself by attempting to draw the titles by hand. The hand lettering was influenced by the style of black letters and ornamented serifs. After receiving feedback both from tutors and peers, the stems of each letters and the strokes were changed to be made more visible when printed and placed against the illustrated cover. The typeface Alverata was used as template to determine the thickness of the stems.

Final designs for the titles

Marketing publicity

A part of the project included creating materials for marketing publicity. Therefore, I designed an acrylic book mark that not only promoted the book but also reflected the contents of the book. The acrylic book mark was made using the typography department’s laser cutter. The design for this book mark was for the ‘Superstition’ title and therefore it was designed to replicate a glass shard as the back cover of the ‘Superstition’ cover includes broken mirrors, and in terms of design, some vines were added to reflect the front cover, with supporting text and the title and the Oxford imprint at the bottom.