Choosing a book Penguin

It is the time of year again when the Penguin competition books are released. This year the three categories include. George Orwell's Animal Farm, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman and  brief history of time by Stephan Hawkins. After doing some research into each book I decided I want to design the non-fiction cover 'A brief history of time'. I came to this decision as I thought that would be most interesting to design and research and also I designed a fiction cover last year. I want to do Penguin competitions as I love book cover design and this is the last year I can enter as a student and get myself noticed by the company.

The judges are looking for a cover design that breaks boundaries and does not look like a school text book. They want it to appeal to a new generation of readers since it was first published in 1988. The book is on the subject of Cosmology which induces theories such a black holes and the Big Bang.

I initial thoughts on the design is to create something that relates to science and theory or that celebrates Stephan Hawkins as a person. He is a important historical figure that should be known by all.

Past Covers

Past covers have all followed a similar theme either including photography with bold square type or historical serifed type. I find the covers not very appealing to younger audiences and they need to be modernised. I also feel like the colours are very dull and not very eye catching.

Penguin state that a winning entry will

• 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

therefore I will keep these points in consideration while designing for this cover.