This entry is a book cover design I created titled Imprisoned By Fear by author Kathy Lange (my mom). I got the opportunity to design this book cover when my mom finished writing her first book. It is a true crime story that has been printed, published and distributed to stores such as Target, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This piece is a photographic collage of barbed wire, a prison fence and a hooded figure, edited with custom filters and hand drawn caution tape graphics. The title is a powerhouse composed of three different fonts that work in tandem to unveil a very unique, edgy cover.
BOOK JACKET
Imprisoned By Fear
Illustration
Photography
Typography
Process - Phase I
The first thing I did in my creative process was take a trip down to the local Barnes & Noble bookstore and check out the true crime section to see what kind of themes were present in true crime novels. Looking around, I Identified a common color system among true crime book cover designs. There is always some combination of reds, yellows and blacks. I decided to also add shades of teal in my design to set it apart from the “norm” that I saw present in my research. Teal is a mix of both green and blue, I chose teal so that the green tones would compliment the red and the blue tones would compliment the yellow.
Process - Phase II
In my next phase of creative exploration, I took a trip down to the actual house where the murders in the book really happened. My mom and I were given special access to photograph there for the book cover. We also visited the man in prison to get his story and photograph the prison where he now resides. Making the photos in the collage authentic to the story is an important aspect of this piece. Then I photographed my shadow wearing a hood and started creating custom filters for each photograph. I am creating these custom filters with high saturation and dramatic shadows to create a unique edge and a sense of unity within the collage.
Original Photo - Front Cover
Original Photo - Front Cover
Custom Filter Created
Original Photo - Front Cover
Caution Tape Sketch - Hand Drawn Element
Original Photo - Back Cover
Process - Phase III
In my final phase of creative exploration, I took one of my photos of the house from the shoot at the murder scene. I picked this photo because there was a lot of white space in it with the snow piled up. Like an apocalyptic, abandoned and forgotten house, it spoke to me. I turned down the exposure to give it a darker feel, then used white type over it to create the back cover. As a finishing touch I then decided to include a hand drawn element. I drew the caution tape by hand to give it a distressed texture and then wrapped the book in it all around at the edges of each photo, sealing them together to finish the piece.
