To kill a mockingbird brief

To Kill A Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece of modern literature and was voted the most loved book of the last sixty years by The Times readers in October 2009. It has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold over thirty million copies worldwide. So no pressure.

We would like you to design a new and classic cover for this book. The trick here will be to come at it from a fresh perspective and to avoid repeating the obvious iconography from the many previous editions in print. If you can get your hands on a copy of the book in order to get a sense of the beautiful writing, this will only help to inspire your design. The cover should feel timeless and confident, and appeal to a whole new generation of readers.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy supplied and be designed to the specified design template – B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 20 mm, incorporating the ARROW branding and all additional elements such as the barcode.

What the judges are looking for

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

The winning design will need to:
-have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
-be competently executed with strong use of typography
-appeal to a contemporary readership
-show a good understanding of the marketplace
-have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

Copyright must be cleared for all images used in your cover design and you must include a credit line on the back cover of your design for any third party images used. For example: ‘Cover photograph by Joe Bloggs’.

My thoughts 

From reading the outlined brief it is evident that the judges are looking for a new take on a book cover in which is completely unique to the generic book covers produced. The book must appeal both printed and online, and thus CMYK must be considered. Key iconography must not be copied, with birds and blood not being used. When thinking about my cover of in Cold Blood, the generic design was very stereotypical, with multiple book covers being explored beforehand, as a result of this research techniques must be considered when completing this brief.