Open College of the Arts
Tutor report
Student name Amano Tracy Student number 487 130
Course/Module Progressing with Digital Phot. Assignment number 2
Initial Book Design
OVERALL COMMENTS
I am impressed by the depth and breath of the research that you have done for this assignment. It shows commitment and excellent learning predisposition. Your learning log evidences the comprehensive research that you did on book cover designs and specifically on covers of The Woodlanders over a period that spans nearly a century and a half. In doing so you made your learning log a useful learning resource not just for you but also for other OCA students.
You considered the sociocultural elements in The Woodlanders narrative and reflected on how that could be included as part of the design of the cover. You touched on symbolism and reflected on the connotations of the cover design, which denotes awareness of visual communication. The following quote, which I copied from your learning log, says it all:
“The challenge here for me is really to make something visually appealing that also relates to the content. Having read the book more than once does help in such an approach. It is quite likely that many cover designers have only a cursory knowledge of what the book is about.”
You successfully identified the two distinct, but interconnected elements of book cover design:
visual appeal (layout & design) and visual narrative. Consequently, my feedback also revolves around these two main strands.
Assessment potential
I understand your aim is to go for the Photography/Creative Arts* Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, and providing you commit yourself to the course, I suggest that you are likely to be successful in the assessment.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
Within the framework of visual language and communication, it is obvious that you thought about the style, design and photographic elements of your book cover with considerable attention. The concept that underpins your design, the old-fashioned vignetted look, could easily –and erroneously – be dismissed as a facile solution for a book written in the 19th century.
However, such assessment would miss the subtle connotations of using vintage visual styles in today’s digitally-saturated environment. Think about the success of smartphone apps such as Instagram or Hipstamatic. The modern surplus of digital images has arguably denuded photographs from their relevance as objects of enduring value – e.g. a print of a family photograph, or a copy of a rare printed magazine. Vintage digital manipulations tap the nostalgic vein that is hard-wired in all of us. At a very subconscious level, these applications are trying to elicit emotional attachment to images; they are trying to restore in them some sort of emotional value.
I’m only elaborating on this because you opted for a vintage book design and I have the feeling that it wasn’t because it is a book written in the 1800’s. I would say that it is because the themes that the book is concerned with, which you identified in your learning log, are universal themes of enduring value – pride and love for example. You know that and the vintage look is a visual echo of those themes, in my opinion.
The visual elements in the photographs that you included in your front cover have clear connotative value, of which I presume you are fully aware. Trees have always had strong symbolism. They are revered in many societies and cultures, such as Paganism in the UK. The longevity and robustness of trees seem to stand in stark contrast to the fragile and ephemeral human condition. We associate enduring, quasi-human values to trees. In a way, the tree on your cover acts as a point of reference for ‘decent’ and ethical behavior. The roots of the tree on the back cover speak of a strong anchor to those values, and of the metaphorical roots that we all have as human beings – family, place, etc.
The two individuals on the cover have considerable connotative value too. I presume you are also aware of this. The man is taller than the woman. We can see the man’s face but not the woman’s. The man is looking down on the woman, both literally and metaphorically. The photograph of the man and the woman speak of gender and power relations. I haven’t read the book but according to the synopsis on your learning log it is a very pertinent and well-chosen cover image.
In terms of the formal visual qualities of your cover, and within the context of the PWDP syllabus, your work, while adequate, would have benefited from higher visual sophistication. By this I mean a more sophisticated use of digital manipulation, in particular layers.
The various layers of your cover, the tree, the man and the woman, and the green vignette, are all solid, opaque. Three layers can give you a wealth of visual possibilities with the many blending modes with which you can experiment in Photoshop. You can also use varying degrees of transparency, colour shifts and toning effects to add a more graphic effect to them. Something half-way between photograph and illustration always works well on book covers.
The book cover on the left only has three layers, as far I can see. One layer is the photograph of the old man and the children. The second one is the map on which they have been placed. The third one is a vector layer for the text itself. Have a look at other cover designs by the same graphic designer, Karen Horton. They are stylish, uncomplicated and at the same time visually sophisticated.
Typography is also important in book cover design. I invite you to do further research and look into the visual and communication possibilities that different type fonts offer. You can find more information on magazines such as Creative Arts
The overall design of your back cover works well as it is. The faded image allows for the text to be read easily, and the restrained digital manipulations applied to it avoids competition with the front cover,
Progressing With Digital Photography 