Hello, blog, world, and fellow design lovers!
I'm a student studying publishing and I love design. I’m an avid reader and keen to move into working in design or production.
I'm working hard to improve my skills, and I wanted to document my journey as I produce a portfolio of work.
Me outside a lovely bookshop in Bologna, Italy.
I recently read Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin which is beautifully written. At first, I thought the slightly abstract cover did the book no justice, however, the further I read the more the cover made perfect sense.
It shares the journey of one woman through grief and the stories of those around her. Perrin touches on so many moments within one lifetime that the covers’ typographical focus and dream-like flower allow the reader to fully immerse into the story without the visual expectations and restrictions a more descriptive cover would provide.
My slightly battered copy of the book by Europa Editions.
Inspired by this and determined to learn more about this form of design I decided to make my own cover for an imagined translated text.
Inspired by stories in my family history and looking at the idea of mother and daughter relationships (a theme within Fresh Water for Flowers) I painted a potential piece of work for the cover. I didn’t want to create something overly abstract. I also looked at some of this year’s booker international short list, especially Boulder by Eva Baltasar which has a slightly abstract face on the cover.
My initial art work.
I took this painting into photoshop to simplify it slightly and bring the colour somewhere more harmonious. Then I got to work adding a bit of typography, I played around with a few ideas but ultimately settled on a design that felt closer to my inspiration.
The middle design is my final idea.
On my final design you may notice a strip going up the right side, I’ve noticed this is an increasingly popular design choice to advertise authors achievements. I included one here to elevate the design from an image to something you could imagine in a bookshop.
I’m excited to explore cover design further, especially for existing books as this would provide a greater challenge.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day,
Marth