5 Book Covers

I was drawn to this cover because of the familiar colors of a post office. There is a definite center alignment in the cover. What really drawn me to this book cover was how simple the cover was but at the same time has an obvious connection to the title of the novel ( Americans in Paris, U.S. post office/ envelope style).

I was attracted to the origami bow tie looking design in the center of the cover. Although I don't know what Pnin means (title of the novel), the bow tie makes me feel like it's going to be about someone with class or maybe the bow tie has a significant meaning to the novel.

The pickle is what caught my eye. The reason for this is because there is nothing but the pickle so my eyes naturally stared at it. I thought the pickle was strangely fitting to the title, especially the "ugly" part. I like this cover because the cover is simple. It doesn't make my eyes wander since there's just the pickle but it makes people think why. Why the pickle? What does the pickle have to do with the novel?

I really liked how the title and author names are jumbled together like shredded paper. I feel like the cover really speaks about what the book is going to be about. The shredded paper style makes me think of offices and that makes me wonder whether the novel is set in a office or about an office worker. I really like the simple black and white concept.

I love how the letters look so three dimensional. I really like the whole idea of the title popping out at the reader. I also find it interesting how the cover doesn't have a picture. However, that's exactly the reason why I love the cover, it's so plain but at the same time it feels somewhat mysterious. It makes me want to know what this novel is about.

In all the book covers I chose, there is one obvious theme and reason I like them. That is... they are simple! For me, I don't like covers that are complicated because I feel like it reveals too much of the novel. I feel like simple covers are like teasers that show a little but draws in one's mind so that they continue to wonder what the novel is about.

What is a Good Book Cover?

I don't love this book cover. However, I do think this cover is a success. The reason for that is because it depicts the novel's mood and story line really well. I have a love- hate relationship with this novel but even without reading the novel, one can already know that this novel is not a comedy or happy type of novel. It's an autobiography and the black and white photo of a young girl with a scarf covering her face really gives off an eerie, kind of depressing feeling. That already shows in itself that the story line is going to be sad. Also it shows irony since the title is Autobiography of a Face but the girl's covering her face.

Design Competition Reflection

1. My process in creating this design was to first research more on images that remind me of Millennium High School. After looking at the images I looked at the past Millennium Student Planners I received throughout the years. I wanted to see if there was any common themes included in the past ones. I noticed how there was always the Phoenix which isn't strange since it is our school's mascot. I knew I wanted to include the Phoenix so I started off my designs with that in mind. Overall my process was difficult in trying to create a design that creates almost a nostalgic feeling for Millennium. I wanted a design that was familiar but at the same time different. 

2. I created my design by keeping in mind my goal for the cover of the planner. My goal I wanted for the planner was to have all the students look at it and have that "Oh! It's Millennium!" effect. What I mean by that was that I wanted to combine the major elements that reminds everyone of Millennium. I found that it was our Phoenix mascot and our unique office building school. Even though the whole design is simple, I think it is actually very fitting for Millennium. Millennium, although looks very plain on the outside; on the inside consists of stern but wacky teachers, crazy students, and a powerful community.

3. I've mentioned the reason I chose the images I incorporated into the design in the writing above. I chose the text and font that I tried to imitate in my design from the Millennium website itself. It's a font and text that every Millennium student have seen whether alumni or current student everyone had to stare at those fonts for four years. The text reminded of a unity to Millennium. I chose this layout of the Phoenix rising from the office building because I wanted to parody our school phrase of "the Phoenix rising from the ashes" and allude to the fact that Millennium was opened after 9/11 which is something everyone in Millennium knows about. 

4. To be honest, I focused more on the Proximity and Alignment aspect of the design. In terms of Proximity, the design is very modern and fitting to the current time. Also, alignment I wanted the design to be very centered so that people's eyes would really travel from top to bottom and look at the design holistically.