Category: Live Briefs

After my 1-2-1 tutorial, I had to get thinking, I was stressed and anxious and my mind was at a completely block for a moment. But after a walk, and me picking up some lilies to experiment with, and the idea I should work with the techniques which worked so well for me in the project.

I changed from lotus to lily, even though I prefer the concept more of the lotus. Because it would be extremely hard for me to get my hands on a lotus, however I was easily able to order some lilies off the net for same day delivery, and I also was able to pick some up from tesco. So now my living room is full of lilies which haven’t bloomed yet. I choose the lilies, not just because of the practical reasons but they have similar connotations and symbolisms of fertility, rebirth and also of motherhood, with the meanings Greek mythology and many other religions.

At the moment, because the lilies haven’t bloomed, and I want to start experimenting with print tomorrow when the workshops reopen. I took one which was starting to open and broke the petals and the stamen off and then positioned them in a photo copier. So had the same idea of fracturing and not being whole like my last sketches, but more organic and simple. I scanned it a few different times to experiment with composition, before editing it in photoshop to get rid of the background but keeping some of the noise and getting and levels, brightness and contrast right. I think for this image, which I kind of love at the moment, I am going to photo-etch it onto zinc, to keep some of those pure whites and I am also thinking about how I could introduce some colour into this image.

I have been wanted to create a multi-plate image, something I haven’t truly done before, therefore as I was thinking about adding colour, I was looking at how it could be affective, but also how just one colour could impact the image. The next image is just with the colours split into a layer of black and a layer of pink.

And the next image is experimenting with the pink fading in and out like I did on my first experimentation ideas.

I decided to choose the brief, A case for her and refinery 29. This project is about menopause and looking at all ages and how it affects women, but also trans men. I picked this project due to the fact I suffer with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), and I have a personal experience of the hormone in balance, but also being told at the age of 19 that it would be incredibly difficult it would be to have children naturally. Also how this affects my relationship. How my boyfriend found it very difficult to come to terms with as biological children is very important to him, and the pressure I feel plus the fear of resentment if I can’t have children.

While researching the topic, I found there was a lot of information about the symptoms and what it is, there was not a lot on how difficult it may be and how it can feel. Therefore I decided to go down this emotional route instead. I found the quote ‘I didn’t want to have to tell them I was flawed, an insufficient woman’ by a young woman who experienced early menopause. I could relate to this, as my boyfriend knew of my diagnosis before we entered a relationship however it is a conversation I always avoid because I am scared he is going to resent me if I can’t have children, and how I don’t feel good enough just because of how my ovaries operate, not well.

I started researching symbols on fertility, and got down the route of flowers and mythology. I got the idea of using a lotus, as it is a symbol of fertility, but also birth and rebirth, and female sexuality. The goddess Isis in Egyptian mythology was born from a lotus flower. But also the idea of even though when they grow in the dirtiest water they still produce the most beautiful flowers, and I thought that was also a good metaphor that even though the circumstances may not be great, and being told you can’t have children is difficult on yourself and your partner, you are still a woman and beautiful.

I then started experimented with, for now, a photograph of a lotus, and breaking the image into shards like it has been broken apart, and with pink fading in and out of the image. I experimenting with different compositions, with the image having a darker background to fill in the shard shapes, and overlaying the shards. I am looking at printing these, using some different methodologies for some of the shards to create difference to texture especially if I overlay it. But also we are not all the same and we are multi-dimensional people. I want to create a plate for each shard, so the deboss affect is around each shape.

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I have made some subtle edits to my cover design, making sure the leading is on point, to make the spine more legible, I place the black part of the design in the centre, I have made the authors name bold. I didn’t touch the back cover, therefore haven’t included it in this post. In the first design all the text is black.

The next version is very similar however I have kept the pops of yellow in the text.

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I actually started the whole process of experimenting with Kaledeiscopes with using typography by using procreate and an isometric symmetry guide. I created several versions, however I wanted to experiment with my collage first when turning it into a book cover. I quickly took one of the the typographical versions, this one I believe says ‘life after warming’ which was the strap line on the version of the book I personally have, and I would want to change this for something which is going to be on this version/edition of the book. However this was a basic mock-up to see if I could create a successful book cover out of this rough sketches. Below is some more examples of this quick designs I created. I personally liked this one because it has good contrast between black and white, but also it had this round shape overall which mimicked the earth, but also gave some white blank space to be able to place text clearly.

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In the book The Uninhabitable Earth There is frequent mentions and even a whole section on the Climate Kaleidoscope. The explanation of this was ‘We can be mesmerised by the threat directly in front of us without ever perceiving it clearly’

This became the source of my inspiration when designing the covers. This was because I couldn’t go too literal, especially when the title is so literal, but also making a depressing cover won’t draw people in to read it. So I decided to go more abstract.

I started by taking old prints of mine of different techniques, lino, photopolymer and dry point, and cutting them up into triangles all of the same size. A lot of these prints were portraits, but not all. But I thought that was interesting because this is a human made problem, we try and be ignorant of that as a society. I then created a collage of these triangles to create a kaleidoscopic effect.

I then took the pattern, and then started to digitally manipulate it to make it into a repetitive mirrored pattern to make it look more kaleidoscopic.

This became the basis for my first cover design. I experimented with different typography designs but I didn’t find anything of use or good. Until I exported the background in the right dimesions and drew directly on it digitally in procreate.

I used handwritten text, due to the fact this is a human made problem, we are the ones who are making the world uninhabitable.

I was surprised when the book first arrived with how small it was, it 17.5 x 10.5 cm with a 2.7cm spine, meaning the piece of artwork I would have to create would be 17.5×23.7cm I have decided to keep the book in the same size format because it being small means it is easy to carry round and from what I read so far, and because of the nature of the topic I think ease of access to the book is important, and in relevance to the size being able to put it in your pocket or bag so you can read on the go makes it easier for more people read.

As this book was originally published in 2019 there hasn’t been any other cover designs apart from the one above, which is extremely simple and sensitive. I think this cover does work for the book however it doesn’t draw people in, it looks very informative, which people relate to being boring therefore people may avoid picking it up when in a shop. I want to make a more contemporary cover which draws people in who don’t already know about the book.

Dafi Kühne is an designer who has been a large part of my research for my dissertation which is about Letterpress. He is a Swiss designer who uses a mix of analogue and digital techniques to create graphic typographic posters. He approaches letterpress a little differently from most people and tries to avoid the ‘given’ aesthetic of letterpress, and instead uses the elaborate process to develop the designs of his work. I recently conducted an interview with him and this was a part we discussed and he stated ‘So for me letterpress isn’t a given aesthetic, so it is not like letterpress has to look like that, I’m really looking for semantic typography, and that’s all I want. So, I want to transport feelings through my poster layouts, and I used an old technology because it fits my process.’

As I conducted this interview around the time of the brief being given out, this has been stuck in my head, and because a book cover would nearly always involve some sort of typography, I thought this would be great inspiration for my project.

I have his book True Print and it is full to the brim of typographic contemporary posters, however for this project a couple stood out which I thought would be a good starting base for exploring typography in my book cover.

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These appealed in their simplicity, and also the use of texture, however not in the usual distressed wood type way. I love the textured backgrounds, with then low constrast black text over the top, but even though maybe low contrast, it is high impact in my opinion. I thought this may be an interesting mix with my idea of collaging recycled dry point prints.

When seeing the briefs for this project I was immediately drawn to the Penguin book project due to the fact I felt I didn’t have to be so literal and I would have more free reign to explore. When looking through the 3 book projects I knew straight away I didn’t want to tackle the children’s book as I knew that wouldn’t fit my style. To me both the fiction and non-fiction were of interest to me, however in the end I decided to go for ‘The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming’. Important part of this project was reading the book, but also I believed it was important to have a physical copy, because then I can see it’s size, and how the cover would need to be designed around a spine, and the fiction book was not available to order anywhere for a reasonably fast delivery. Also I also took into the account that The Uninhabitable Earth was about global warming and the impacts of climate change, and this wider topic meant I would have more free-reign to create a more abstract and more me outcome.

One because I am not able to access a print studio at the moment, but also because of the idea of recycling in relation to the topic, I have thought about repurposing old prints of mine from previous projects. At the moment I am looking at using specifically a dry point print from my first year, where I created mental health awareness posters.

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These are A2 in size and I have 5 of them, so they would give me a lot of material to play with. As the book gives a sort of apocalyptic view of the future, I thought the texture in these prints would give an interesting approach. My main idea at the moment is to create landscapes with no figures or animals, and specifically looking at seascapes. I am thinking about the emotion behind the imagery I create and the inspiration of Turner and his seascapes and the emotion they bring, I would like to be able to do that with my book cover. Because at the moment I am not able to go anywhere to take photography, I went through my archive of photos from my trip to the most remote parts of the Scottish Highlands 4 and a half years ago.

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I thought these images would be of use due the fact they are little untouched by humanity. But also being inspired by the printmaker and landscape artist Norman Ackroyd. Example below of his work. He creates the beautiful and impactful etchings from drawings he produces when on site at many remote and beautiful seascapes around the UK. There is a wonderful documentary on him on Episode 1 of What do Artist’s do all Day? Compared to his work my photographs are quite still, however I think once I have created a collage with the texture and mark making from dry point, I think the movement will show itself.