Friday 15 November 2013

Looking at Previous Top 3 Winners of the Penguin and Puffin book covers

I thought it would be a good idea to look at the previous winners of Penguin Design Award to get an idea what people designed their covers and to understand why they were chosen as 1st, 2nd and 3rd and then comment on what i think of each of the covers.

So i looked at last years book covers for Penguin which was The Big Sleep and these below are the top three winners.


This book cover got first place for the 2013 award and was by Hayley Warnham at the Royal college of Art.

This design has a very strong attraction and would stand out within any book store. The use of simple images and the placement which forms one thing works well and is bold in contrast to the rest of the book. This helps to bring out the imagery making it eye catching which is what most people look at when finding a book, the imagery of the cover and this one has been composed to a high standard and looks very interesting.

This helps me to understand that you don't need to have one image to be the main focal point, a range of segmented images placed to together as if its one formed image can look stronger and work a whole lot better and look quirky and eye catching.

 I totally understand why this book cover would get first place because of the way it stands out, its a quirky design and works so well that it would make you want to take a look at it just by glancing at it for a moment in a shop.







This next book cover design got 2nd and was made by  Steve Panton at Plymoth University.

The design on this one looks a lot more refined and elegant with amount of pattern designs on the book cover, this helps to give it a sophisticated look and fit in with the time period. The slip at the side that's red is suppose to resemble a match box  slip you use to strike a match. So the overall impression of the design is suppose to resemble a vintage match box and might've been done for many reasons and might relate to the book but the overall appearance looks interesting and a lot of detail has gone into it.

The inside of the book shows the matches which adds to the concept of a match box design and adds to it and the theme.


Overall i really like the whole concept of the design and you can tell this person went into detail and thought it through. I do really like the patterns on the front cover and it all looks structured and well placed and has a sophisticated and elegant feel to it which would appeal to a lot of people seeing a cover like this on a book in a book shop.











This book design got third and was made by Andy Cadywould at the Cardiff Metropolitan University.

This design incorporates a type of comic book, mystery feel to the narrative and a film look about it at the same time. The colours of blacks and whites help to emphasies that comic book and mystery feel to it and the placement of the design works really well and looks very inviting and interesting if it would be on a book shop and it would definitely grab my attention.

I love the style and the amount of detail that went into this and what they were trying to incorporate with this design it works really well and they've done it justice, the illustration and colours all compliment it and refer back to its themes which is a positive. 

The use of the reds have been used well with the blood on the back and the title of the book. Overall both the front and back cover of this book design work really well and look visually intriguing and pleasing to the eye.






Link to Adult Award Previous Winners (2013) -

1st Place
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2013_hwarnham.php

2nd Place
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2013_spanton.php

3rd  Place
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2013_acadywould.php






I continued to browse through book cover designs of previous winners and one of the books people had to base their design off was one of my favourite books as a child James and the Giant Peach which was the 2011 award for Puffin and was designing the book cover.



This specific book cover design won 1st place and was made by Niklas Sagebiel at the University of Fine Arts at Hamburg.

This design of the book as a very bright and colourful look about it which would immediately attract children from the colours to the lovely illustrated border with a lot of detail that went into it.

The Border makes it inviting, playful and creative and has a welcoming feel to it. The title with the leaves wrapped around it add to the theme of gardening and the peach and compliments the overall theme of the book cover.

I feel like this person has put time and effort working on this with the front and back of the cover and its nice to see a border that is well executed. It has a fun feel to it and would appeal to children and catch their eyes.







This got 2nd place for the award and was made by Liva Cabule from the University of Bedfordshire. 

This design is very appealing to me, if i were a lot younger and saw this book i would instantly pick it up and beg my mum to get me because i love the design on this version. The name of the book of the 'peach' uses it and has it on the main cover covering half of the front and back of the book which is a strong way to implement it. 

The typography of the title is strong and eye catching and works really well, and the glowing from it gives that magical sense to it which i believe is what the designer was trying to do. The illustrations from the shadows of the characters from the moon give it a fun and playful to it as well as making it feel magical and something a child would want to read. 

The bright and dark colours compliment each other emphaising that magical world and overall it is a great book design that i love the look of for this kind of book, seeing as its one of my childhood favourites. 







This cover got 3rd and was made by Josephine Kibuka from Buckinghamshir New University. 

Looking at this covers design is it has a very fun and playful feel to it with the range of exciting and cute illustrations scattered on the back and front of  the book. This would help to gain interest towards children as small drawings are appealing to that age rang and the way its done here works really well.

The colours of the background are subtle and look like as if its paper and the story is being brought to life. The use of the strong orange colour from the peach makes it the main eye catcher and i like what they did with the back cover of using the peach again and adding the info in it, a very clever idea. 

The typography of the title is fun and playful and likes like its and written which fits that child look the book cover is going for and trying to aim towards. Overall its a very interesting design and works well with the illustrations which are subtle and the strong boldness of the peach which is interesting and fun.
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