Typographic Treatments

Using a simple 3 column by 4 row grid, I experimented with just typography to see how various layouts and typefaces give different outcomes. For me it was evident that the title should hold hierarchy over the author's name in the design, and I wanted to see the comparison in using a serif typeface to a san-serif one. Both bring with different connotations to the work, and reflect varying ideas. For instance, Minion Pro holds a more traditional look, and mirrors the aesthetic of the older book covers, whereas Futura gives a more contemporary clean and simplistic aesthetic. 

The first typographic treatment looked at a centred text that dominates the page. Using all uppercase, it presents a bold and hefty design. The serif font choice of Minion Pro aids the gothic aesthetic of which is thematic within the book  

The next treatments focus on Futura, a typeface which is often used in modern Penguin book covers. These experiments play with kerning in order to establish a sense of placement within the page. The title is again a lot bigger than the authors name, but this time spreads the entire width of the page and rests on the left rather than being centred. As such, it was important to play around with the placing of Lee's name as to tie in the page and ensure the viewer is taken on a journey around the page not just one side. 

I did find that using entirely uppercase with this typeface seems to not work as well, as it shouts too much and feels a bit too tense.

To solve this, the next treatment focused on calming down the page. Keeping the type centred allowed for the entire page to be incorporated into one, and changing the author's name to lowercase worked better both aesthetically and emotionally. Moreover, this design kept the kerning for the title however did not apply it with the author's name as to enable an easier differentiation, as the title is a lot smaller here. Additionally, I found keeping the title on one line seemed to work best aesthetically, creating a coherent and clear layout. 

The final treatment looks at taking kerning the other direction - keeping with Futura - and moving the letters for the title closer together instead of further apart. As a result, despite using the same font, there is a clear distinction and variation between the title and author's name, which works well together despite seeming very different. 

I then looked into apply my imagery to this possible layout. The images focus on the notion of the destruction of childhood innocence.