Book cover series

For our digital image techniques class, we needed to create 4 book covers of our choice from a list of 6 authors. I chose Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Constructivism/Suprematism

Russian art movements in the early 20th century

In 1919 the popular avant-garde style of art was widely critisized by officials in Russia.  At the time Russia was emerging from its agricultural heritage to become an industrial nation. Artists such as Tatlin and Rodchenko were rejecting self-expression and their work changed to illustrate their commitment to industrial materials.  El Lissitzky moved towards Suprematism with his propaganda work in support of the Russian revolution.  Constructivists renounced fine art and worked for the communist movement.  As you can see from the last image, both Constructivism and Suprematism originate from Cubism and went on to evolve into Bauhaus and abstract art.

A Google search for Suprematism displays the following images:

I particularly like this image by Kazimir Malevich - the colours, the irregular but strong shapes, and the slightly dirty primary colours. The layout looks perfectly imbalanced.

Idea generation for book cover series

Themes and style

After researching the genre of the books, book cover series that appealed to me, art of the period, and current interpretations of Constructivism, I created another mind map to think of ideas for the book covers themselves. I concluded that I wanted to use a style very loosely influenced by the Russian design of the early half of he 20th century, including:

Soviet style fonts, but with a distressed texture

Duotone with different colours for each book

Black and white images, either converted to outlines or silhouettes, or grayscale photo montage.

More research

Book covers

More books covers with inspiration for my work:

I really like the colours and dynamic layout of this version of Solzhenitsyn's book.

Constructivist inspired poster design making using of a strong diagonal design element which I want to incorporate:

A Penguin book cover design with lots of Russian design styling, below.  I like the typography and the yellowed background.

El Lissitzky's work characterised by very strong directional typography and red and black colour scheme which has influenced my designs.

Two pieces of work from current designers based on Constructivist principles, below.  I would like to use the diagonal element and colours, with a more distressed feel to it, but make use of the silhoutte element.

 


A Paul Rand piece with photomontage, below.  I will try to use this technique in my work.

Russian style typography which I would like to use is shown below.

http://www.paratype.com/pstore/fonts/Rodchenko.htm

Book cover series

Common themes

I looked at the covers of more book sets that I liked.  It was interesting to find that many sets only had one or two design features in common.  I like this set, but it is only the binding, sans serif font and size that are common, along with the flat bright colours, however they still have the feel of a set.

This set is also quite diverse, but with a common typeface throughout.

http://lilrobin.com/work/publishing/books/bn-book-cover-series/

Research for book cover series

Penguin book covers

Moving on from constructivist graphic design which makes use of photo montage, I am inspired by these classic 1960s Penguin book covers.  I would like to develop my ideas by using duotone for the design as these book covers have done, and create a retro feel by using a similar layout and photography, but with a Russian style typeface. The imagery of each cover is treated differently - photography, silhouette, flat images - I will experiment with these styles. The typeface on all these designs is sans serif, which is a design feature I will use.

The covers below are another simple but powerful series of Penguin designs.

Mindmap

Idea generation

I used the mind map technique to consider the research carried out so far for the book cover series project. I reviewed and updated the mind map periodically throughout my research.

Research - Soviet imagery

El Lissitzky

Lissitzky was a Russian graphic designer influenced by the Constructivist movement. Some of his work is shown below.

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (1919):

http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/

A book cover design:

http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/el/pix/dg1.jpg

The very strong shapes, the red and black palette, the dynamic feel and text set on a diagonal appeals to me.  I would like to incorporate some of this into my designs.

Research for Book Covers

Solzhenitsyn research

Screen shots from Google image searches for Soviet graphic design:

Another screen shot, of Constructivist graphic design:

I particularly like Constructivism.  It was a design movement that started in the 20's and went on until the 1950s in Russia.  It was used extensively for propaganda for the Communist party who led the oppressive regime in power at this time. I like the strong typography and type on a diagonal.  Red, black and off white are the dominant colours which I would like to use.  The typefaces are strictly sans serif, which I will use.

Research

Book cover assignment

For the book cover series assignment for Digital Image Techniques, I selected the work of the author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  The Soviet design aspect appealed to me, coupled with the oppressive subject matter. Firstly I researched the book covers of the titles that were available from this author. There is very limited material available and no series have been published.  I read the online synopsis of each book as there was no time to read them as some are in excess of 1000 pages.  The common themes of the books are the Soviet Union, incarceration and oppression (physical or mental - cancer).  I looked at other book covers on the themes of the Soviet Union, communism and constructivism. The 4 works selected were - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The Gulag Archipelago, Cancer Ward and The First Circle.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Denisovich-Penguin-Modern-Classics/dp/0141184744/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1417709441

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gulag-Archipelago-1918-1956-Experiment-Investigation/dp/000262253X/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417709696&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cancer-Ward-Aleksandr-Solzhenitsyn/dp/0099575515/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417709810&sr=1-10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FIRST-CIRCLE-Alexander-Solzhenitsyn/dp/B000O5NHG0/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417800980&sr=1-3&keywords=the+first+circle+alexander+solzhenitsyn

The author's name features very prominently on these covers, and the obvious colours of black (fear, oppression), and red (power, communism, Soviet Union) are evident. I would like to use these colours in my designs.