Workshop content
Using ideas, quotes and words from the book - in the workshops - I had sketched a few ideas, symbols and imagery to possibly use in my book cover design.
Typography
The book is set in the 1930's and so for research I looked at typography and art styles from that specific time period to set the style of the book under this style.
Artist Research
Jim Sutherland
Agatha Christie Stamps
I was recommended to look at Jim Sutherland's work of the Agatha Christie stamps for inspiration. I really liked this work as it used simple colour schemes and illustrations while portray the story of each book. I also found adding tiny details that could only be viewed by using a magnifying glass to be able to see the details or 'clues' to be a really cool and interesting touch to the stamps. This added to the mystery and investigation theme the stamps and books are all about.
Murder Mystery Book Covers
I also looked at some murder-type mystery book covers to gather some further inspiration to my own design.
Book series iconography
The book "Murder Most Unladylike" is from a series of books and so I want to create a logo for the entire series. Inspired by the common objects and themes of murder mysteries - I decided to use a puzzle piece as the shape of the logo. This would tie in perfect in my opinion as a series means they all connect together like an actual puzzle. I also want to use a 1930s font to fit the theme of the books of the time period it is set in.
After making the shape, I then used a previously researched font from the 1930s to use for the typographic element.
After attempting to fit the type into the shape, I found it did not fit and so I change the shape of the puzzle piece slightly to make all the type fit in and look the best.
This is my outcome for the logo for the book series which I think fits very well with the theme of murder mysteries along with including the 1930s period of the books which is reflected in the typeface.
Book Cover ideas
My first concept was to use the imagery of Miss Bell's broken glasses that were described to fall off her head when Hazel found her and nudged her head. This is a simple concept however I felt like this did not portray the theme of the book too much and would not appeal to the right target audience too much.
This concept was a simple silhouette of Daisy Wells. The typography would be placed inside her sillhouette. This is another simple idea that would work well but I feel like it would need something else to make the book cover more interesting. I also added the metal sides on the left to add to the theme of Hazel Wongs casebook which Daisy gave her.
My third idea was the school building itself. The centre attention would be the building with typography placed around of the title, author and introduction. I would also use UV ink to add detail of the footprints and question marks that would only be visible if the book cover was warmed up with a bit of heat which would add to theme of murder mystery.
My final idea was the ground floor plan of the school to show each different room. The title and intro sentence would be below the plan. I also added the footsteps as described heading from the gym to the field. I also added the casebook idea as previous ideas as I liked this idea of making it like Hazel's casebook just like how the book is written in that perspective.
Development
I liked the idea of a simple book cover with the main characters Daisy and Hazel silhouettes being on the covers with the idea of using UV ink to portray the secrets (the school plan, the body of Miss Bells, footsteps and question marks). This would fit the theme of murder mystery I am aiming for.
I then began creating the digital version. Using a ready made template of the book cover with measurements - I applied the previously made book series logo onto the book cover.
Then I moved onto creating the silhouette for Daisy on the front of the cover.
After creating Daisy, I made another silhouette of Hazel on the back cover.
Once finishing the silhouettes - I moved to the typography of the title on the front of the cover. I tried out different fonts I had previously researched earlier - all of which are from the 1930s to fit the time period the book is set in. Each font is varied with Sans Serif and Serif fonts to try out which one suits it more.
I settled on the font "Interlude" which fit the front of the cover the most and worked well with the silhouette. After playing around with the placement (which I do later once again as I was still not happy with the placement seen below).
I then added the slogan to the book and the author title to the front of the cover.
I then worked on the back cover which would contain the barcode and blurb.
My final step was to create the overlay that would go on top of the entire book cover that would only be seen when in the dark as this would be printed with only glow in the dark ink. This would add to the murder mystery theme of the book and a cool detail to discover.
This is my final outcome of the design which has improved typography placement for the title and the blurb which I've made slightly thicker so that it would print well and be easier to read.
This would be the design on top of the book which would be created with the glow in the dark ink on top which would not be visible unless in the dark.
Mockups
To show off the final product in the correct setting - I created two mockups to show the final outcome I had designed on the actual book. These mockups made my work come to life and I am very happy with how it turned out as it looked really professional yet simple to look at and looks interesting enough to want to pick up and look more into the story of the book.