Penguin Book Design Competition

The criteria for the brief requires:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

Include on Back cover:

'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

'Someone rare has written this very fine novel, a writer with the liveliest sense of life and the warmest, most authentic humour. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable.' Truman Capote

[Please include a copyright line if you have used an image in your cover design which was created by a third party. For example: ‘Cover photograph by Joe Bloggs’.] 

 [Info box containing barcode, price, website etc, – this can be repositioned, but the elements within the box must not be altered.]

To Kill a Mocking Bird Study


I chose To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee as I remember fondly studying this during my GCSE's and was fascinated by the multitude of moral issues uncovered. The story narrates stories surrounding mental health and racism, morals are challenged as Tom Robinson goes on trial, accused wrongly of rape. Through a child's perspective, Scout and her older brother Jem learn the harsh truths, as well as challenge them. Atticus Finch their father has high moral standards unlike it seems the rest of the town and is Tom Robinson's lawyer, the racist scum come out of the woodworks but they're forced to rethink their notions when questioned by children.

 I love this book as it delves into diversity which when the book was set, was a difficult thing to be discussed or excused.


Here are some existing book covers I found and love:

This one I found on Pinterest and unfortunately cannot find the original artist, however this book cover of To Kill a Mockingbird is my favourite thanks to it's subtle use of colour, and more ambiguous use of the mockingbird symbol by just using it's feathers. For one of my covers I plan to use the feathers as a symbol of innocence, I could perhaps make up the image of a man representative of Tom Robinson. 

Inky Mole's interpretation 

Kristiina Seppä

This cover is also the case of a tablet 

Lucy Eldridge

Edmund Zaloga's covers

I really like the simplicity of these designs and the more abstract utilisation of the traditional mockingbird imagery, by using collage this symbol is taken into a modernised era, I particularly love the use of typography on the last design as a mirror of the childlike innocence that the story is perceived through as we look through Scout and Jem's eyes. This naivety highlights the harsh reality of the moral issues discussed   

Here are also some previous Penguin Book cover winners:

2012 winner - A J Hately - Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Thumbnails 

 ^ The first, second and fourth image 

The fourth image ^

Elevator Pitch:

What, how and why?

Selecting the thumbnails which I feel I can most talk about / have an 'elevator pitch' about would be the ones highlighted above. 

Five Mock Up Book Covers 

k`peeeewn===================

A mock up of an idea, I would stitch into a pair of dungarees and photograph them in the photography studio. However I couldn't find a pair within my budget and actually stitching into denim this tough would prove difficult as well as finding a pair that had a large front pocket, preferably child's within my budget proved difficult within the time limit. 

Design Boards

1. Concept (50-100 words) front cover only 

2. research- book analysis- explain impact of research on your ideas/ include any relevant images that refer to relevance in text/ previous book cover analysis / analysis of penguin preferences - previous winners

3. initial idea- 30 thumbnails/ typographic treatments- reasons for choice of type/ 5 initial mockups/ brief 50 words max explanation of each idea

4. design development- modifications and developments of final designs / explain design decisions & responses to crit/ peer feedback

5. final design (front cover only) 

6. evaluation 

Submit PDF on weekend (front cover only on first page of PDF)