Agatha Christie's - 'Endless Night' 1.0

Agatha Christie has sold over 2 million copies of her books. She was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her work consists of 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections and a plethora of these have been made into a TV series/film. The Guardian are celebrating 125 years of Agatha Christie novels and have set up a brief to redesign a book cover for any of her books. The book that I'm going to redesign the cover for is titled 'Endless Night'. Christie's most famous characters include Poirote and Miss Marple. 'Endless Night' was randomly chosen so I am yet to read/watch it, however I have seen some of the TV episodes. It was written towards the end of Christie's career, touching on a ghost story interwoven in the crime. 

Useful source: https://knowingchristie.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/notes-on-endless-night/

Previous Book Covers:

1967

2007

Immediate Response:

Both covers use red in their colour palette to portray death. I personally prefer the cover from 1967 because the large bold text and contrasting colour is simple and doesn't distract the audience. It's interesting to see how the more recent cover has more imagery and the title of the book and author has swapped places. It seems that now she's become a best selling novelist, her name is just as important as the title. 

Influential Concepts From Book:

• ‘The Towers,’ a non-inhabitant old ruin, which the villagers call 'Gypsy’s Acre'. 
• Book based around folklores and superstition - Curse on Gypsies
• A lovers’ tale: Ellie and Michael settle down in their dream house.
• Families don't want them to marry.
• Accidents begin to occur and eventually, Ellie goes missing.
• Motive for Murder: Wealth
• 'A sweet girl who is in love. An orphan with a lot of money. A sensible business woman who needs a friend.'
• Poison
• 'Praised as one of Agatha Christie's most unusual forays into gothic, psychological suspense, this novel of fate, chance, and the nature of evil was a personal favourite of the author's as well.' - Quote from Christies Fan Blog which is a really useful source as it summarises the plot, twists and clues in the books. This was a trustworthy source to use because it isn't opinionated and states fact. 

Initial Ideas:

Instead of experimenting with type to begin with, I sketched out some concepts that were inspired by the information I found out about the book. I want to concentrate more on the layout of the book, making sure I associate text, image and colour harmoniously. 

'The Towers' are an important feature in the book, the opening chapter puts them into context as a formidable place that is cursed. I thought I could use the sides of buildings and focus on the angles to create an abstract representation of a building. 

Poison is a prominent theme throughout the book so I thought I could use that as a symbol in the centre of the cover. I thought I could use a potion bottle as it's an aesthetically pleasing shape and I could even add the title of the book onto the bottle. 

Started thinking about layout of the cover in order so that I could establish if the type needs to be able to work on a large or small scale. 

Josef Müeller-Brockmann 

Müeller-Brockmann was a Swiss graphic designer who is renowned for his simple designs and clean use of typography. I read part of his book so that I could see what his theories and techniques are for a successful layout:

The relationship between margins and their proportions 'can have a marked influence on the impression created by a page of print. If they are too small, the reader feels the page is overfull'. I really like how Mueller-Brockmann thinks about how the book will look and feel in a persons hand. If the margins are too big, the information will be a lot smaller and could be harder to read. However, I think it could create a focal point to an image or certain word. If the margin is too small, the text/image can go too close to the sides which risks the audience covering up the text with their hands when they hold the book. Mueller-Brockmann uses grids to sort work from:

This is a useful technique because he can reuse his templates to create more consistent work and also make his time more efficient. When I was reading the book it was really interesting to see where the grid should go on the page and for what purpose. 

Penguin

Renowned publisher Penguin have created iconic book covers in design. Edward Young was a young British graphic designer when he created the first penguin book cover. 

Young created the first template for the penguin book covers. I like how it is divided into three sections which breaks the composition up and makes the information easier to read. The clarity and simplicity doesn't distract the audience from the information about the book but is still appealing.

Jan Tschichold took over from Young but didn't change much of the original layout:

1950 edition created by Tschichold. He made the grid layout more consistent and introduced the Gill Sans typeface which are very subtle changes but I like how the original concept was kept because it's successful and made the cover more iconic. The colour scheme of the book is dependant on the genre of book, this objective colour palette was taken forward in 1962, by Romek Marber as he used a monochromatic image: 

I prefer the previous layout and colour scheme because Marber has changed the divide using colour and used line instead. I like the concept but I think it could represent the brand more effectively if it was subtle. The new grid allows more room for imagery and I like how the cover is more visual. 

I used Photoshop/Illustrator to see if I could create some rough drafts of my ideas because I could work from my drawings and create accurate representations:

This year, The Guardian is celebrating 125 years of Agatha Christie so I decided to use the serif typeface; Athelas for her name because it's a classic, traditional styled font. I used a deep shade of red to connotate the murder and passion in the book. Used Helvetica Bold in upper case because I felt the structure was solid and helped to draw the eye diagonally from the circle to the bottom corner. I chose to use a matt black because it's a lexis in the title and the white circle represents the moon. I didn't want to centre the shape because I didn't want to immediately go with a safer option. I aligned the text to the right so that it was balanced. 

I want my book cover to be suggestive of a figure because of the 'paranormal' theme of the book. I thought I could use the cropped figures and and layer them to create a ghostly, disjointed figure.

I used Photoshop to manipulate the image because I am more experienced with the software:

Endless Night was one of Christie's favourite books and was themed on superstition and almost paranormal activity. I wanted to use layered figures, all with different opacities to signify a ghostly figure. I added some geometric lines to suggest 'The Tower'. I really like the tones of grey layered over each other. The soft tones make an interesting composition that subtly suggests a figure. This would intrigue the reader and would start to make sense once they start to read the book. I chose to use Bodoni bold because it's a very old type face.This minimalist cover is similar to Michael Morris' cover for 'Dying' in 1979: 

I decided to use the same layout as Morris because I like the simplicity. It's predominantly image based which focuses the attention to the intriguing, graduated figure. The type is confined to the top right hand corner which is simple but I like the bold title and regular author because it makes it balanced and also reflects the graduated tone of the image.

I decided to change the serif typeface to Helvetica because I think it balances well with the curved and layered shapes from the image. I think this will make it easier to read. Like Morris, I decided to make the title bold so that it was more of a focal point. I decided to make 'Agatha Christie' smaller and tighter because although this celebrates Christie as an author, the purpose of a book cover is to state the title of the book. Penguin covers influenced me to separate the image and text with a simple line. This simple grid system divides the composition. I do think this is relevant because the typography and imagery have been floating on the page and this give the type a sense of place. 

Experimented further with layering the shapes because I felt the bottom left section was empty. I removed the line on the top right because I wanted to see what the image would look like if it was curvaceous and no straight line. I asked which figurative image people preferred and I got very balanced feedback as their was a 50/50 split between the two. I like this composition because the imagery takes up more room and I like the gap between on the bottom left hand side as it creates a bit of negative space. 

As an informed decision, I wanted to create a ghostly effect to reflect the themes in the story. I decided to use both designs and layer them over each other, this gave the sense of the figure walking as the blur suggests movement. I then multiplied the layers to make the tones darker and increased the opacity subtly which created even more tones and hints of figures. 

I aimed to keep the composition as simple as I could. I didn't move away from monochromatic colour scheme but considering the few hours I had to complete the brief, I didn't want to overcomplicate the designs. If I was going to put this design into context, I would really like to have it printed on thick, textured, maybe off white paper. It would be interesting to see if the design would work as a screen print. 

Uploaded my book cover to The Guardian website:

This was a good opportunity to experience the process of uploading my designs online and to see my design on the internet: 

Michael Morris was a huge influence to me on this project because it gave me confidence to keep the type simple and have most of the focus on the figure.

Design Principles - Colour Theory 1.1

Dimensions of Colour

COLOUR RELATIVITY

Choosing a colour palette can change the perception of the composition. Josef Albers unites two colours together using basic geometric shapes. When the colours are then separated the association is changed and the tone of colour looks completely different. 

'There are no ugly colours' there are only ugly colour combinations' - Josef Albers

'When I put a green, it it not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.' - Henri Matisse

Brown is my least favourite colour as I find it really hard to find colours that would compliment it. I decided to see which colours work well with brown so that I feel more comfortable using it in the future. I have choose an objective colour scheme to work on a children's book cover. This is the colour (Pantone 732 C) that I don't particularly like to work with, mainly because I find it difficult to find a colour that compliments it. It's a very earthy, dull colour and this particular shade isn't used a lot in design unless it's to resemble an object, rather than typography or shape. 

Used Pantone 2716 C as the brown is a complimentary colour to blue on the colour wheel. I decided to go for a lighter tone of blue, that almost has a hint of purple. 

It's interesting to compare the two colours with text. The blue makes the brown text look darker and stand forward where as the brown looks a lot darker with the blue on top of it. This is due to the contrast. 

I was surprised at how much I liked this colour palette as they were both natural colours and the toned down green helps the brown stand out. 

I couldn't find any other colour schemes that worked with the brown so I decided to change the shade/tone of it to see if I could make better outcomes:

A very mutual palette that I believe to be very balanced. The brown is very dull and flat but the blue makes it look a lot friendlier.

Josef Albers 

Logo Type 1.6 - HMV

Evaluation

The purpose of the rebrand was to create an objective logotype that represents HMV’s traditional music history but still keeps it up to date with current trends. From researching into the company, they are losing money so I thought this was a good company to attempt to rebrand. Vignette’s Canon’s ‘Equity’ influenced me to think more about what the company represents and wants from the rebrand. I immediately used Photoshop to begin experimentation with typography because I could quickly get an idea of what it would look like and if I made a mistake it was easily adjustable. I regret this decision as I think I should explore more mediums and processes to get a range of concepts to initially work from. The feedback I received about my outcome was consistent as many people had the same opinions so I can use these to benefit me in future projects. The stylus concept was influenced by the work of Stuoka because I liked the way he subtly manipulated the structure of the create a simple but effective outcome. I had positive reviews because of the subtlety and relation to the company, however it was too ambiguous due to people only noticing it once it had been explained. I feel that I went on a tangent by using a conceptual objective and trying too hard to make it attractive and subjective as well. As a result of this, my designs became very complicated, this was picked up in my feedback due to people preferring my initial designs because they were simpler. People felt the lines in the type weren’t consistent enough in each letter which hurt their eyes. This may also be down to the harshness of the line because it’s sharp and bold against the complicated negative space. I need to stop going into too much depth with a concept and explore more. I was tempted to change the colour scheme to be less overwhelming and reflect the culture behind the business but on the other hand I am pleased I maintained the same colour scheme from HMV’s current brand as I’d risk losing an iconic palette. The vibrant pink helps the stylus concept stand out which will be objective to the new direction of the business. I would have liked to have used a serif font because it’s more traditional, however I took an informed decision to keep it sans-serif because people preferred it. My final design doesn’t represent what I intended to do and the main reason for that was just sticking to one medium and not exploring others. Once again I got caught up in one concept when I should have explored more but I was beginning to run out of time. I think the biggest lesson I’ve learnt from this is to keep things simple and not be afraid to go back on myself. The stylus concept was good but I struggled to make it work because I had so many concepts going into one piece. Stuoka keeps his logo designs very simple which I should have realised earlier. I don’t believe I have improved the brand from the original but I have learnt a lot about typography, such as kerning which I can transfer into new briefs. 

Logo Type 1.5 - HMV

Into Context:

Putting the design into context is important because it allows me to see if the design works on different scales. Examples of this could be on tote bags:

To help me decide whether to use the original pink or just the monochromatic palette, I used both to see if it would help me be more concise. Personally, I prefer the softer monochromatic palette because it's not as bold/striking and more versatile. However, after asking for feedback, we thought it would be a shame to lose the iconic pink and black colour scheme. 

A problem that occurred when I was putting my design into the website was my colour scheme. Although I'd stuck to the original palette, the website was predominantly black which meant my logo wouldn't be visible so I decided to put my logo into negative:

Unfortunately, the image quality on blogger is not capable of having the same as Photoshop which causes images to blur. However this is a good way of testing the logo on different media. I think it would be hard for this to be a step forward for the company because my design would only work if the rest of the type on the page was also upper case. It doesn't work with the simple, modern and functional type and layout.

My logo seems to works better on a larger scale because the lines aren't as crammed together which makes it legible. Once again I used a negative of my design so it has more impact on the audience.

Evaluation of Whitney Museum Rebrand

Experimental Jetset - Whitney Museum Identity

The rebrand of the Whitney Museum was done by a design agency called Experimental Jetset. It was influenced by a quote by Donna De Salvo, who worked for Whitney Museum; “It would be much easier to present the history of art as a simplistic line – but that’s not the Whitney”. This zig-zagged line concept was influenced by this and I think the semantics of the indirect line questions how the Whitney thinks and how they want people to perceive them. Looking through old archives of the museum is a good idea as it allows the designers to learn about the history and context around them. In past experiences of design, I’ve used the dictionary to see meanings of words from the brief which helped me grasp new concepts. This is a similar technique as it allows you to see the brief from another angle.

I admire how the line can be manipulated to work alongside text and image because the same concept will work in other areas around the museum, such as signage. It is a cohesive concept, however, I think the fine line along with the bold text isn’t very balanced as the type is too heavy and rotated to follow the line. Without the text, it may be misinterpreted, especially on their mobile site. This could be confusing for the diverse backgrounds and ages of visitors because older people may struggle to read it. I like the idea of changing the proportions of the angles and line to produce a symbol that could be recognised by different cultures, even without any type. The simplicity of the line is versatile enough to work in a range of media. The line and type will be easily transferrable between a range of digital print media and different scales. 

A museum houses lots of different mediums, opinions and concepts which I think the branding achieves with the angular line. It shows the different views on design and reverts back to how they want The Whitney to be perceived. Galleries and museums such as the Tate use their branding to attract people and it's become more fashionable to wear the tote bags which diverts the attention of the work in the gallery, purely to the branding of it. The new Whitney Museum rebrand is very subtle and doesn't overwhelm the concept of a gallery. The new logo symbolises a place to interact, engage and connect.

Design Principles - Colour Theory 1.0

Systematic Colour (Part 1) - An Introduction to Colour Theory

The eye can see many spectrums of colour but it can be manipulated by putting two tones of colour together. An example of this is when you stare at a red dot for a prolonged period of time and remove it, a pale blue is replaced.

This is an interesting concept to look into because people portray colour differently and in design I like people to experience a visual change that influences them. Using colour theory can be a good way to convey this concept.

An example of how colour can be used comes from Guy Featherstone and Peiter Hergert. They used colour and typography to communicate through the songs technological and insomniatic tone:

The video is intense to watch and listen to but I like the aggressive style. The vibrant green background with the white type cheat the eye because of the consistent use of flashing colour. When the green changes to white, there is a subtle hint of pink left from where the eye has become fatigued which results in deception. I like how two colours can be so simple but impactful. I am really interested in using simple 2D animation because it can be very bold or subtle, depending on how colour is used. 

The lecture introduced me to RGB and CMYK which was really useful when thinking about where my designs will be displayed. RGB stands for 'red', 'green', and 'blue' and should be used when designing digital outcomes such as web design and phone screens, etc. CMYK is used for printing and uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black):

CMYK is used for printing, it is often found used in newspapers, books and bill-boards. The image is printed out as small dots which are visible the closer you look. I will need to think about which type of print colour I need when designing and printing my outcomes otherwise the colours won't match. 

Further terminology to remember: 

• Hue - One colour
• Colour - One or several hues

(These terms are often interchangeable and mean the same thing)

• Chroma - Refers to all colour including shades, tints and tones   
• Shades = Hues + Black
• Tints = Hues + White
• Tones = Hues + Grey

Task

Publishers such as Penguin use systematic colour palettes to represent a certain theme:

Penguin has taken advantage of the power of colour and used it to represent the genre of the book. This systematic use of colour can be found in everyday symbols/signs, for example black and yellow warning signs take advantage of the high contrasting colours to make the message clear and give a sense of urgency. Yellow is used all around the world to suggest caution, specifically traffic lights. 

Using Pantone to replicate the systematic tones, I was intrigued as to how much difference the colour would give the impression of the theme. Using the pantone's, I could easily find the colour of choice in my swatch palette on Photoshop by simply typing in the CMYK and then finding the library code. 

Crime 

For a crime book cover, we decided to use the connotations of colour to help us choose: 

We chose the deep tone of red (Pantone 186 C) because it represented blood, anger, desire and strength. The deep shade of red isn't too vibrant and 'in your face' because we made it a duller shade. A crime book is known for it's mix of danger and anger which are deep emotions and we wanted to represent that. An alternative would be the grey hue (Pantone 22303 C) as it has an emotionless, depressing connotation. This covers the morbid side of crime and captures why people do it. I think the deep red would work better but it definitely depends on the context and semantics of the book. Red is an emotional colour in any context so I think it would suit the crime genre better than grey because grey is a softer hue. 

                                                                        

Young Adult

The brief didn't specify a gender so I thought we should choose a colour that would work for males and females. To begin with we chose a very pale blue but we decided to use a deeper tone so that it had a matt finish (Pantone 2203C). The light, pastel blue didn't seem as functional due to its soft, understanding connotations. We felt that the blue suggest tranquility, freedom and calmness but the added tone makes it mysterious yet serious. The green (Pantone 2292C) suggests a lively, natural and adventurous book, however, I do think there is too much tone and it could do with a tint to make it vibrant. This would better reflect the natural connotations of life. I feel that young adults are mature enough to be open to deeper concepts and stories so I think the blue would be better suited. suggests freedom.

Chick Lit

Chick Lit's are predominantly read by females so we used two tones of pink that we thought would be reflect the tone of the genre. We used pink because we researched into chick lit books and found that they all use a soft tone of pink. 

The lighter tone of pink (Pantone 218 C) has a matt finish that is more feminine than the deeper tint (Pantone 2415 C) because it's a lot friendlier. Pink is known for being romantic, feminine and suggests empathy and kindness. For a chick lit, these are perfect connotations for the female audience and genre. The deeper tone is a lot stronger which suggests a more aggressive, powerful and intense conflict. Depending on what context the chick lit is set in, either of these colours would work because they both portray the genre in and friendly or powerful way. If I was to choose one, I would choose the lighter tone purely because it's friendlier.

Western

The context of Western books, as well as film, is very gritty and we found it a challenge to portray the genre as a colour. Western films are often set in America, using cowboys and outlaws as their main focus. A sandy tone (Pantone 726 C) would remind the audience of the landscape; very dry and pale due to the lack of water. The darker tone of brown (Pantone 469 C) portrays the wooden houses and leather. In my opinion, the dark could be too overwhelming for a book cover but white type would balance it out. On the other hand, the pale tone could get lost and the prominent brown would become more impactful. 


It is important to have a systematic approach to colour, which I will find easier in the future after learning more about colour swatches and tone/tint. Using the colour wheel and Pantone will give me a better approach to choosing harmonious and cohesive colour schemes. It's also important to think about the context for the genre which is a transferrable skill that I can use in future projects. 

David Marsh

Marsh is a British artist that used pantone swatches to recreate famous and iconic album artwork. 

Marsh uses the pantones like a CMYK print but each dot is a lot bigger and their is limited visual information to read apart from the colour. 

Logo Type 1.4 - HMV

Mid-Project Summary

Reaching the half way point of the project has allowed me to think about my progress and pick things that I need to push further. The body of work that I have made has developed a lot, especially the concept. The crit gave me the confidence to talk about my ideas and the feedback I got made me push it further. Adapting the text to resemble the vinyl/needle summarises the brands music culture roots yet still represents the modern brand it is today. My research into the company and visiting the store was very influential on my concepts, I am thinking more about the brand identity to create a bespoke outcome. 

Logo Type 1.3 - HMV

Further Experimentation

Experimented with sans-serif:

Used helvetica bold because it's very simple and easy to read. This would be good for the high street as it'll draw more interest. I increased the kerning so that it was balanced which I think it's because a sans-serif font is bolder and more geometric, however the type is still floating in the middle. 

I even tried using the same concept with the 'hmv' but in this composition I felt that the type was too big as it crosses over the middle. I actually prefer using Helvetica bold, it gives the composition an almost 60s style edge because of the rings around it. I could put a line under the type to give it a sense of place and it could also represent the record players arm.

I wanted the line to begin where the 'h' does so that the composition was tight. I felt that if I put the line all the way across the circle it would bisect it causing two new shapes. There are still a lot of negative space which makes the type feel lost still.

During the crit, it was suggested that I use the ring effect with my typography. I thought this would be easier to do with a sans-serif font because the serif's wont get in the way:

I dont think the stroke is big enough as it might be hard to see if it's printed on a small scale or from far away. It's a shame that the top of the 'm' and the 'h' aren't filled with the line. I tried the same technique with a serif font:

Used Bodoni again to see if the concept would work with serif but it's hard to work out what they type says because of the constant negative space and repeated line. The 'v' is a tricky letter to use as it can look like a 'w' when layered. 

I decided to go back to a sans-serif font because I found it clearer to read and balanced when I was layering the type, especially when I increased the kerning to -200.  I also increased the stroke to make the line easier to see on different scales. I think the 'v' still resembled a 'w' because of how the angled lines cross over each other. I need to find a way of overcoming this, possibly putting a line down the middle:

I put the line down the middle because I still wanted the composition to be balanced and I think it successfully stops the 'v' from looking like a 'w'. 

I tried the design in a negative:

Created a bolder, hard hitting logo than I previously expected. This has a lot to do with the colour scheme as there is a high contrast. I like how the negative space creates pattern but I still don't think the concept is functional due to the negative space getting lost, especially at the top of the 'm'. 

I even tried it using the iconic HMV colour palette:

HMV's colour scheme is pink, white and black which work to create a very bold outcome. The flat back is usually in the background to create a main focus on the type or imagery, specifically on their website and in store. The vibrant pink is used to separate the white and black, almost like a mid-tone. It is prominent on the website because the when you hover over a menu, the text turns pink which is a good concept as it is always reminding the audience of the colour subconsciously. I tried to transfer these colours into my design but found the black was too strong against the pink and white and made the logo look very cheap.

The concept behind this was to turn the shape of the 'v' into the needle on a record player. I am pleased because the addition of the 'needle' still makes sure the 'v' doesn't look like a 'w'. Again, I like the concept but I am struggling to find a way of making the type look formal. The line that's just touching the needle resembles a record but the rest of the type is too high up and is lost again. 

I wanted to play with the colour palette in order to see if a softer, monochromatic tone would replace the vibrant pink.

I didn't systematically add the two tones of grey, the shape in the letters was too complex to work out. I think the previous image is more functional as it is bold and striking where as the two tones makes it more confusing to the eye because it's hard to find where to look.

Using a darker shade of grey meant it was consistent. I thought it was a shame to lose the iconic pink so I subtly added it to the needle and vinyl. I think this highlights the concept because it stands out in front of the grey text. I like how the 'needle' is blended into the 'm' and the vinyl continues across the rest of the letters. 

To emphasise the needle concept, I tried to make it more dynamic by adding the vibrant pink. I didn't want the composition to be imbalanced due to too much colour on one side so I kept it minimalist. I prefer the last image because the added colour enhances the needle which will ultimately draw more attention to it. 

Now that I've created a concept to work with, I thought I'd experiment with using upper case again:

The capitalised Helvetica Bold is a lot more balanced due to it's straight edges. I think this resembles my initial concept of using the lines in the circle to create the vinyl/retro effect but with a modern feel because of the diagonal and vertical lines crossing over. 

I think the same design in monochrome is a lot more versatile and easier to look at because of the two shades of grey. I will ask people for feedback on whether they still think I should keep the original colour palette. 

I like how my concept is developing deeper and I am beginning to come up with a concept that suits the rebrand. I feel that I should keep the original colour scheme because HMV are renowned for it's expressive pink and I would risk the audience miss reading it. 

I need to think about where the logo will be displayed and how it will suit the different medias. At the moment it's very bold due to the contrasting colours which will work on a large and small scale. My only worry is that the line wont be cohesive with the type when it's printed smaller. I could also think about where the logo is placed inside the store. Oh the bags, sticker, receipt, etc.