Thumbnail sketches

The ideas explored in the thumbnail sketches heavily resemble the idea of childhood innocence, rural life and racism, with some focusing fully on typography. The typographic designs stem from a focus on branches and leaves in nature, with swirls and linkages to mirror their characteristics. 

I particularly like the idea of using simple children's drawings, particularly using the medium of crayons, to represent innocence and youth. The mockingbird depiction is too expected and obvious, and thus if I was to incorporate it, the design would seek to distort the depiction - for example using collage of stills from the movie (which has been merited by Lee herself). Moreover. simplicity is definitely key with this cover, due to Penguins history of cover art publications and thus style sought after. I wanted to capture this with maybe just the glasses of Atticus, which represent knowledge and age. The faces at the top, are meant to be experimental designs relating to racism, a theme that is extremely purposeful within the book. Most existing book covers do not touch on this, which is why I thought it would be unique and relevant to explore this side of the book. Nearly 60 years later, most people buying this cover would've already read the book, and thus this part of the story is already known. 

Book Cover Analysis

1)

The key ideas this design attempts to emit are that of innocence and childhood, prominent themes within the book. The mockingbird depicted, not only ties in with the books title, but also symbolises these themes that are brought up throughout the book. It represents the idea of innocence and the characters who are destroyed by coming into contact with evil, exemplified when Miss Maudie explains to Scout: “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but…sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sun to kill a Mockingbird”.  As such, the childlike line drawing epitomises the core of the message of childhood innocence which is be damaged by the harsh realities of the world. The contrast of this image on a block black background plays on the psychology of the shade black – that which connotes death (mourning), evil and mystery; ‘a mysterious colour associated with fear and the unknown (black holes)’. Thus, it is a colour that carries negative connotations, supporting the book’s content appropriately.

The use of typography aids the intended impression the book gives. The capitalised bold serif font, ties in with the authenticity and period of the story itself, whilst taking up the majority of space of the design, dominating it. The carrying over of the work mocking-bird places emphasis on the ‘bird’ which is in direct eye line under ‘kill’, highlighting the message to contrast with the innocence of the lone childish drawing below. The size of the type carries great weight, and the choice of white font against the black background mirrors the racial focus of the plot and creates great contrast for the viewer. Consequently, the cover is successful in presenting a minimalistic representation of the key themes and feel of the book itself.

2)

Designed in April 2010 for the 50th anniversary by Grand Central Publishing (Hachette Book Group), this cover offers a more illustrative interpretation of a book cover, and you can tell it was for mass marketing purposes. Being quite a literal translation of the book into image, the design depicts a girl (presumably Scout) standing under a tree looking up at the little mockingbird on the very top branch, the scene is lit up by a moon in the background, aiding the gothic themes within the book. The overall silhouette very much sets the scene of a rural countryside town, nicely aiding the composition of the storyline. Additionally, the bird perched on the barren tree, and Scout’s upward glance allows the viewer to notice it as well. The decision to use silhouettes presents a certain mystery with this style of design, making us curious and highlighting the detail. As such, this works to the designs advantage as the mystery of the plot is a vital factor to its success.

The use of typography here is inconsistent yet strong. The way the title is incorporated into the design, contrasts in style to Harper Lee’s name, distinguishing the variation in scenes from the image to the informative content, yet flowing nicely. The simplicity in colour once more accentuates the monochromatic associations with this time period, as well as creating a moonlit scene that is dark and mysterious.

This cover design differs from the simplicity of its formers, enabling more of a scene. In this way, it is less successful in portraying the books deeper themes. Rather, it conveys the setting and literality of the novel, which somewhat subtracts from the authority the book withholds, presenting it as more of a fictional story (which it is) however subtracting its deeper messages. 

3)

The first edition book art, by publisher J.B. Lippincott & Co and designed by Shirley Smith. was released in 1960 and was the original representation of the book by Harper Lee. With a strong typography, the cover is bold and mysterious, within minimalist depiction to accentuate this notion. The design decision to make 'mockingbird' in lowercase, draws attention to it in a non aggressive way. As such, the idea of the mockingbird being the innocence around all evil is portrayed through this simplistic approach to typographic decisions. 

The cover features none of more iconic images associated with "Mockingbird" but does include the tree where gifts were left mysteriously for the Finch children. The jacket includes a quote from Truman Capote and a photo of Lee by the "In Cold Blood" author, as they were close friends. 

The use of green and red as complimentary colours, aided by the neutrality of a black silhouette, allows for an intended less comfortable design on the eye. The darkness of the shade of red adds to the idea that the bloodshed is stained - the retelling of an old story, or blood that has dried - the passing of time. As the plot is somewhat inspired by Lee's earlier life, this could be a relevant interpretation. Moreover, the light bursts of green, and the representation of nature, notes the rural setting of the story, and the fact that the tree is in full bloom could represent the passing of time, and growth (of a child into adulthood?). 

Existing Book Covers

The variation in existing book covers, over 50 years and across multiple countries. It is interesting to see how they vary based on the culture of the country, and how they have become a lot more digitally rendered over the years due to technological advances in aesthetic and production. Orange and black are definitely thematic across the designs, as well as the prominence of depicting the mockingbird itself, and nature (tree, leaves, branches).  The typography varies across the spectrum, but tends to stick with a serif, lowercase type, with harper lee in capitals - I find these to be the most successful layout designs, holding great authority. 

I also found it interesting and relevant to acknowledge the covers designed for other cultures. The Persian edition has an effective rustic look to its print-like design, which is simplistic yet bold and capturing the sense of destruction within the book. Additionally, the Chinese edition merits great simplicity in a formal and delicate way, representing the delicacy of the children's stories. 



1. First US edition published in 1960 by J.B. Lippincott Company
2. First British edition, published in 1960 by Heinemann 
3. Folio Society Edition (UK), published 1996 



4. 50th Anniversary Edition, published June 2010 by William Heinemann
5. 50th Anniversary Edition, published June 2010 by Arrow Books Ltd.

6. 50th Anniversary Edition, published May 2006 by Harper Perennial Modern Classic

 

7. 50th Anniversary Edition, published April 2010 by Grand Central Publishing (Hachette Book Group)

8. Published February 2004 by Vintage Classics

9. 50th Anniversary Edition, published April 2010 by Grand Central Publishing (Hachette Book Group)

10. Italian edition by Feltrinelli

11. Chinese edition

12. Persian edition

13. French edition by Livre de Poche

14. Spanish edition by Zeta Bosillo

15. Norwegian edition by Aschehoug

To Kill A Mockingbird: Analysis and Context

Author:

Harper Lee 

• April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016
• American 
• TKAM published 1960
• Won 1961 Pulitzer Prize and has become a classic of modern American literature.
• Her mother was a homemaker
• Her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, practiced law - before he became a title lawyer, he once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper
• Youngest of 4 children
• In 2007 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature
• The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family and neighbours
• irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s
• depicted through the eyes of two children
• inspired by racist attitudes in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.
• From the time of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird until her death in 2016, Lee granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances and, with the exception of a few short essays, published nothing further, until 2015. She did work on a follow-up novel—The Long Goodbye—but eventually filed it away unfinished.
• In 1966 Richmond, Virginia area school board attempted to ban To Kill a Mockingbird as "immoral literature". The editor of 'The Richmond Newsletter', started the Beadle Bumble fund to pay fines for victims of what he termed "despots on the bench". He built the fund using contributions from readers, and later used it to defend books as well as people. After the board in Richmond ordered schools to dispose of all copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, Kilpatrick wrote, "A more moral novel scarcely could be imagined." In the name of the Beadle Bumble fund, he then offered free copies to children who wrote in, and by the end of the first week, he had given away 81 copies.
• THE FILM INTERPRETATION: Lee said of the 1962 Academy Award–winning screenplay adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird by Horton Foote: "I think it is one of the best translations of a book to film ever made." - thus it is important to note that this is an acknowledged and legitimate interpretation of the book and thus merits good authority to reference if needed
• Critical response to To Kill a Mockingbird was mixed: a number of critics found the narrative voice of a nine-year-old girl unconvincing and called the novel overly moralistic. 

Genre 

1. Southern Gothic
2. Coming of age
3. Bildungsroman - focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood - character change in really important

- progression of characterisation - consider age 

- gothic - dark colours - forrest greens, reds and black/ grey shades 

- consider southern/ rural / country 

- a moral figure - representations of Atticus - glasses? 

Need to explore:

Visual representations of,

• innocence - crayons, child's drawing
• intelligence - glasses, pen, tie 
• racism - black and white colours - contrasts
• rural - trees, leaves
• mockingbird - just the wing, the sound, feather? if at all necessary 

10 adjectives that describe the book:

1. Childhood 
2. Mysterious
3. Morality
4. Inequality
5. Prejudice
6. Vulnerability
7. Intelligent 
8. Injustice
9. Ambivalence 
10. Tribulation

To Kill A Mockingbird: Themes

Themes:

• The coexistence of good and evil
• childhood innocence - people are good because they have never seen evil before
• adulthood - confronted evil - incorporated into their understanding of the world
• PERSPECTIVE
• Transition from innocence to experience 
• Threat of hatred, prejudice and ignorance on the innocent 

• Importance of moral education 
• development of children's moral education
• Sympathy and understanding - best way of teaching

• Social inequality 
• social status / hierarchy 
• townspeople, white trash, black community (despite abundance of admirable qualities)
• Irrational and destructive rigid social divisions 
• prejudice in human interaction 

Characterisation:

Atticus

- Moral voice

- Has experienced and understood evil without losing his faith in the human capacity for goodness

- Understands that people have good and bad qualities 

- Tolerance (see from their perspective)

- Trying to teach that it's possible to live with conscience without losing hope or becoming cynical

- The scenes at school provide a direct counterpoint to Atticus’s effective education of his children: Scout is frequently confronted with teachers who are either frustratingly unsympathetic to children’s needs or morally hypocritical.

- Atticus’s ability to put himself in his children’s shoes makes him an excellent teacher, while Miss Caroline’s rigid commitment to the educational techniques that she learned in college makes her ineffective and even dangerous.

Motifs:

• Gothic
• referring to a style of fiction first popularised in eighteenth-century England, featuring supernatural occurrences, gloomy and haunted settings, full moons, etc. In this book it is presented through the unnatural snowfall, the fire that destroys Miss Maudie’s house, the children’s superstitions about Boo Radley, the mad dog that Atticus shoots, and the ominous night of the Halloween party on which Bob Ewell attacks the children. These elements, out of place in the normally quiet, predictable Maycomb, create tension in the novel and serve to foreshadow the troublesome events of the trial and its aftermath.
• Small-town life 
• Counterbalancing the Gothic motif of the story is the motif of old-fashioned, small-town values, which manifest themselves throughout the novel. This contrasts with the suspense and moral grandeur of the book. The slow-paced, good-natured feel of life in Maycomb is emphasised. There is deliberate juxtaposition of small-town values and Gothic images in order to examine more closely the forces of good and evil. The horror of the fire, for instance, is mitigated by the comforting scene of the people of Maycomb banding together to save Miss Maudie’s possessions. In contrast, Bob Ewell’s cowardly attack on the defenseless Scout, who is dressed like a giant ham for the school pageant, shows him to be unredeemably evil.

Symbols:

• Mockingbirds - innocence destroyed by evil - the mockingbird represents this idea of innocence and the characters who (are destroyed by) come(ing) into contact with evil 
• Representation in the book
• after Tom Robinson is shot, Mr. Underwood compares his death to “the senseless slaughter of songbirds,” 
• at the end of the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like “shootin’ a mockingbird.” 
• most important, Miss Maudie explains to Scout: “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but . . . sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” 
• That Jem and Scout’s last name is Finch (another type of small bird) indicates that they are particularly vulnerable in the racist world of Maycomb, which often treats the fragile innocence of childhood harshly.
• Boo Radley - the way the characters develop in their responses to his is pivotal - thus an important measurement of their development from innocence to moral
• At the beginning he is just a source of childhood superstition, as he leaves Jem and Scout presents and mends Jem’s pants, he gradually becomes increasingly and intriguingly real to them. 
• At the end of the novel, he becomes fully human to Scout, illustrating that she has developed into a sympathetic and understanding individual. 
• He's an intelligent child ruined by a cruel father, and thus one of the book’s most important mockingbirds
• Despite the pain that Boo has suffered, the purity of his heart rules his interaction with the children. In saving Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell, Boo proves the ultimate symbol of good.

Final Evaluation

This project focused around the developmental pros of using process as the basis of a brief. Both the wayfinding and object brief encouraged a vast scale of experimentation, which broadened the scale of research and practicality, which thus supported my design decisions with greater legitimacy. For instance, the tasks set on producing subjective and objective signs gave me a greater understanding of these areas of design, through undergoing various approaches to each, evaluating and finding out for myself what one I enjoy more as a designer. 

Furthermore, despite finding the wayfinding task tricky to understand fully at first, with the help of researching existing systems that vary in approach from more literal and objective, to more ambiguous in nature, I was able to grasp the necessity and variation of wayfinding systems. This allowed me to develop my designs with greater contextual understanding, something that is integral to the success of a design. 

I found printing to be my biggest limitation of the projects, and affordability of this as well. Studio brief 1 was tricky to tackle literally, as sticking the posters or stickers to private property can case issues with locals, and could be considered vandalism. As such, superimposing on Photoshop was a healthy medium that allows a forum for the contextual understanding of the designs, however lacks authenticity and integrity. With Studio brief 2, the final album productions encountered issues with trimmings. I cut the flaps on the wrong side, causing problems with the formation of the enclosed product. Furthermore, I also mis-sized the inside sleeve and having to cut off part of the imagery, affecting the composition. As such, this limited me to only being able to add the gloss to one out of the three covers, hindering the final aesthetic. 

Nonetheless, the overall projects were successful in selecting relevant and good quality sources of research and information. Particularly the wayfinding project merited good primary research which heavily aided the progression of the entire project. Being able to indulge in the exploration of Leeds City was refreshing, and getting out of the studio and seeing designs first hand, provides the most reliable sort of data, and a greater understanding of the sites and routes needed to be addressed in solving design problems. 

Both projects explored pressing and current issues, which is something that motivates me in design. The idea of loss of live music culture, and independent companies as a whole, at the expense of corporate and TNC companies is changing the structure of industry and thus a necessary ethical issue to put light on. Additionally, with the growing concerns over the dismantling and undemocratic nature of modern day politics, focused on subjects like war, racism and segregation, is building barriers internationally and is therefore a viable area to explore within getting a message out through design. 

Soap Film artist

Nicky Assmann

VIDEO OF INSTILLATION: https://vimeo.com/21168008

A dutch artist you uses the psychedelic patterns subsequently produced from soap films, and created an instillation which upscales the designs created. She uses light to upscale and project the pattern, creating whole scenes and environments rather than simply small examples of light refraction. The emotive scene indulges the audience and reflects onto them, involving in the entire process and literal 'beauty os science'.

It is important if I decide to use these materials that they are channeled to produce something with emotive purpose, as they can do this so successfully.