Exercise 9: Choosing your imagery
For
each of the following categories write around 100 words describing why you
think the publishers adopted this particular design route for the book.
I did some research on the display of books
in my local W H Smith bookstore and was allowed to take some pictures, see
below:
An
out-of-focus photograph – Shades of Murder by Ann Granger
Amazon Book
Description:
In
1889 Cora Oakley died by inhaling a poisonous gas in her sleep, and her husband
William was put on trial for her murder. Over a hundred years later, the only
remaining members of the family are two elderly sisters who live in the
ancestral home. Unable to maintain the mansion, the sisters decide to sell up
and live off the proceeds. Then a young Polish man named Jan appears, claiming
to be William Oakley's great-grandson and threatening to ruin the sisters'
plans. When he is found dead, it seems that the shadow of murder has returned
to haunt the Oakley family again, and Superintendent Markby must look back at the
events of a century ago to find the killer...
Comment:
This frontispiece captures the whole
sinister look of a murder mystery story.
The colours blue and black, used in the picture, depict deep dark
secrets whilst the out of focus picture of the mansion house give it a
mysterious look. The inclusion of
shadows on the drive leads the eye into the picture and up the drive to the
house where all the action takes place, both past and present. The serif type font allows the eye to follow
the words along more easily although it’s generally advised to use a sans serif
font for headings; it has been ignored here quite effectively. The gold/yellow colour (the opposite of blue
in the colour spectrum) of the author’s name and book title make it stand out
sufficiently well to catch the eye where it would be placed in a shelf of a bookstore.
An
inverted photograph
I’ve found it difficult getting
to grips with this category as there are many different definitions of ‘inverted’
if you go to Google and ask to define the word you get the following:
Inverted, past participle, past tense of in·vert (Verb)
Verb: Put upside down or in the opposite
position, order, or arrangement.
Modify (a
phrase) by reversing the direction of pitch changes.
If you take it further then with Free
Online Dictionary you get:
in·vert (in-vûrt)
v. in·vert·ed, in·vert·ing,
in·verts
1. To turn inside out or upside down:
invert an hourglass.
2. To reverse the position, order, or
condition of:
Working on the above definitions and
checking other student blogs I have come up with the book below.
An
inverted photograph - The Poseidon Adventure
Book Description:
A
relaxing Christmas cruise soon turns into a tragic accident as the luxury ocean
liner, SS Poseidon, capsizes under a colossal tidal wave, and the passengers on
board suddenly find themselves struggling for survival. A group of fifteen
passengers face daunting obstacles, challenges and dangers, as well as a string
of personal crises, in a fearsome race to escape the capsized ship. In a
timescale of just ten hours, they face a life-changing physical and emotional
battle forever changing the people they had once been. This extraordinary novel
captures the true essence of human courage and spirit in a gripping fight for survival.
Comment:
After all my confusion about the type of
picture to use I came up with this upside down ship which is depicted as
floating upside down as it sinks slowly down to the depths of the ocean.
It is coloured blue which is understandable
as the ship is sinking and our immediate thought of the colour of the sea is
mid blue not the green/blue that is the real colour. The ship in the picture is slightly out of
focus, which is understandable, as it’s as if you’re looking at it from under
the sea yourself.
The white coloured sans serif for the title
and author’s name also links in with the bleached colour that items become with
a lack of sunlight.
An
historical archival photograph, but not depicting the subject precisely
C J
Sansom, Dominion
Book Description
1952. Twelve years have passed since
Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after
Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the
British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio
and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary
police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible
rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at
Senate House. Defiance, though, is growing.
In
Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in
the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated
scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of
the world struggle forever. Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as
a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission by them to rescue his old friend
Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate
group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of
London's Great Smog; as David's wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world
more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is
Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . .
At once a vivid, haunting reimagining of 1950s Britain, a gripping, humane spy
thriller and a poignant love story, with DOMINION C. J. Sansom once again
asserts himself as the master of the historical novel.
Comment:
My feeling with this book cover is one of a
timeless city of London during the 1950s. The book is set in that era where
Germany had invaded England but England continues in more or less the same way
as if they had never won invaded.
The misty background with people in period
costume and period settings give the impression of the 1950s whilst the red
sans serif font title (I don’t think a Bold font has been used) is rather
understated as is the personality of the British persona thought to be
throughout the world.
A
still life close-up – A Hunger So Wild, Sylvia Day
Book Description
Elijah Reynolds is the most dominant of
lycans, a rare Alpha whose skill for the hunt is surpassed only by his primal
sexuality. When the lycans revolt against the iron fist of angelic rule, he
steps in to command, becoming both enemy and coveted ally in the conflict
between vampires and angels. Vashti is the second most powerful vampire in the
world, a lethal beauty with a path of devastation in her wake.
Tasked
with proposing an alliance between vampires and the lycans who killed her mate,
Vash approaches Elijah, whose need to avenge the loss of his closest friend
calls for Vash's death even as his passion demands her surrender. Soon, their
enmity erodes beneath an all-consuming desire. Elijah has never encountered a
woman whose warrior spirit and fierce sexual appetite rivals his own, while
Vash is faced with the one man strong enough to be her equal. But as war looms,
each must decide where their loyalty lies - with their own kind or with the
enemy lover they can no longer live without...
Comment:
I’ve read the blub above and am having
trouble trying to work out what the cherries represent. The image itself is very well done with the
deep saturated red, perhaps to represent blood as this book is about wars
between vampires and lycans (?). The
black background and black and grey shadows allow the shapes of the cherries to
stand out well. In fact, the whole image
has been desaturated except the cherries to make the emphasis fall on
them. The fonts are sans serif and in
red to make them standout strongly.
I’ve not read this book but have read two
of the three ‘Twilight’ books that are about vampires and werewolves as the
heart of the story, and those books have a strong black and red themed front
cover.
A
minimalist landscape or outdoor scene with a large area of sky
The
Breaker, Minette Walters
Book Description:
Twelve hours after Kate Sumner's brutally murdered body
washes up on the beach, her traumatized three-year-old daughter is found
wandering the streets alone. At first, the prime suspect is a young actor,
obsessed with pornography. But now the local English constable has doubts about
the victim's husband. Was he really out of town when
she was killed? And why does the child scream every time her father comes near her? Did Kate have affairs with other men while married to her husband, and, if so, did he know?
she was killed? And why does the child scream every time her father comes near her? Did Kate have affairs with other men while married to her husband, and, if so, did he know?
Comment:
This front cover is fairly obvious as the
murdered woman was found washed up on a beach amongst the breaking waves. The colour scheme is one that would be found
on and around the water’s edge so fairly predictable. The font for both the author’s name and the title
is a serif style (something like Times New Roman (Windows) or Georgia (Mac). I assume that the author’s name is in
yellow/gold to make it less obvious than the title which is in white. Again, I’m pretty sure that Bold hasn’t been used
for either section.
n-vûrt
)
