Sinead Kruis: Ranking Project: Paperback Bookcover design

Using the body of research compiled to date, design a book cover which expresses and communicates what you understand to be the essence of your novel. The solution can be typographical or illustrative.

Concept: Identity

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Development of Concepts and Layouts

This concept is about the main character breaking out of his shell. His parents keep their past hidden- containing themselves in their shell. Also the mother tries to cover up the bad vibes in the house by baking cakes. The idea of the breaking shell and the egg interior coming out relate to the boys identity and him breaking free from structure.

The boys father says that the boy is a blank piece of paper where he can create himself. however this is not true as his father tells him what he can and cannot do, and who he can and cannot be. So i have taken a piece of paper with the boy writing and drawing on it and experimented folded over different areas. On the folded areas is clean paper with strong black type which represent the fathers rules and domination.

The main character is being bullied for being german and begins to call himself eichmann. So I began looking at the idea of Sleeve faces which has become a popular trend. The boy is wearing his aran jumper and lederhosen to show his confused identity.

This concept is based on the language barriers in the family. The boy is influenced by his fathers rules and draws a white line over the threshold of the kitchen and says you can only speak irish when you cross the line, However his mother can only speck german. I played around with placing the on either side of a line and i then incorporated an Irish and German style font to strengthen the concept. The english of the outside world is confined within the line- title in english.

Chosen Concepts to bring forward in photoshop

The boy is confined within the two folds in the paper. His writing is within the folds and the father outside dominating his. The bee is flying onto the fathers page to represent the Karma at the end of the book. I included a sketch at the back and the spine of the book to show how the boy is gradually rebelling against the rules.

I took the sleeve face concept and chose to remove the body completely and instead just have 3 sleeve faces to create him. The head as Hitler, the aran jumper on top, and the lederhosen on bottom. Type made of hands as he is handed these identities.