Graphic Design Project

[JamieRose]

Well, I am in my first term of Visual Design at Johnson & Wales University, and I am just about to complete my second project. For this project, we had to redesign a book cover of our choosing to modernize it, make a special edition, etc. Well I'm not much of a reader myself, so I chose a book in a topic that I knew about; Sports. I did a quick Barnes & Noble search and came across "The Red Sox Fanatic" which is mainly quotes, stats, and history of the Boston Red Sox. The original cover wasn't bad, but I wanted mine to reflect the "inside" of the Sox more than a picture of a random game from the nosebleed section showed. I also wanted to incorporate the Sox identity into the cover by using the replica MLB Tuscan font. As for the black/red scheme, that came in a suggestion by my professor to make the main image (Fenway Sign at the time) gray scale and concentrate on the colors black and red, as opposed to multiple colors to help make each element stand out more. I chose to use my photo of the "Red Seat" for the cover to fit the red/black scheme. Plus, the seat has been and always will be a part of Red Sox lore, so it seemed very fitting to place it on the cover. I wanted to use the Green Monster on the back cover, but I didn't have a single good image of it from the last game I went to, which was with a good camera.

Enough "talking", here's the original and then my design.

Original:

Mine:

I'm going to get it printed either tonight or tomorrow night, and any C&C would be greatly appreciated.

[Firefly]

I would suggest making the main title on the front bigger and having the photo bleed at the bottom.

I also feel that "edited by David Horne" should be in a different font than the main title. As it stands, it feels like it is part of the title and competes for the viewer's attention.

[BDiamond]

Agree with what Firefly said about the font size and edited by. I'm not a huge fan of of the big black bars at the top and bottom either. Also, it could just be me, but the seat appears to be a little darker then the rest of the red used on your cover.

[oddball]

I agree with them. Also on the spine you need to at least put the author's last name, and the logo of the publisher or you could put your own logo there. Good job though.

[STL FANATIC]

I'll agree with what others have said and also note that I personally think it seems weird to put 4 quotes about the Red Sox on the back.

I would either put one really, really great quote about the Red Sox or I would put quotes that are about the book itself (snippets of reviews). But maybe that's just me.

And then I just personally don't think the Red Sox Tuscan font looks real great anywhere other than on their baseball uniforms. I think it's appropriate to use it once for the title, but I'd consider trying a simpler font for the editor and perhaps for the whole spine.

[JamieRose]

Okay here's an update. I changed the "edited by" and spine font to something much simpler, added the editor to the spine, moved the photo to the bottom of the cover, and made the title bigger. As for the quotes on the back, those are just what was on the original and I decided to keep them (there are very few real quotes about the book).

Anyway, here it is.. Better? Worse? Sideways?

[STL FANATIC]

The front is at least better.

I can't decide if I was right or wrong about change the title font on the spine. I think you should go with your preference on the spine now that I've seen both. Definitely keep the the editor's name on the spine and in the simpler font. But if you prefer the Red Sox font for the title, I'd say either way is fine.

Everything else looks really good.

[oddball]

The font on the spine needs to be the same as on the front of the book for continuity. Also you need to line up "The Red Sox" and "Fanatic" better. It's not centered with each other. Also you need to kern better, there's too much space between Red and Sox and between the "A" and the "N" of fanatic. I'm thinking you need to completely ditch that font and just use what you have on the spine. The other thing you need to ask yourself is what are you trying to say? On the spine it reads, "The Red Sox Fanatic" all have the same emphasis. But on the cover you have Fanatic larger meaning that's what is more important. Is it? Is the book talking about psycho fans and how they are out of control or is it talking about a group of loyal fans. Making one thing larger than the rest emphasizes that point, so be careful on that. I think it should all be the same font size and just kern it to make it stretch more. Also the font is way too tight to the top. You need breathing room around the title. I'd drop it about 1/4 of an inch and add that same amount of space below the author's name, so you're going to have to drop the black some.

[JamieRose]

Okay, I just put the finishing touches on it, and I'll be printing it out after class. I just wanted to thank you guys for helping me out on this, and helping me make it less mediocre than when I started. Our critique is tomorrow morning and I hope it goes well (luckily my class is all really nice people).