Monday, 16 February 2015

OUGD406 | STUDIO BRIEF 2 | STUDY TASK 2 | BOOK COVER ANALYSIS

To reiterate, the book I was given was Obey The Giant: Life in the Image World by Rick Poynor.

The next task was for us to analyse the actual book cover instead of the content and discover if the message is communicated successfully.

The cover for my book was designed by Kam Tang, an underrated illustrator who is 'naturally shy of publicity, his creative output is poetic, contemplative and can best be typified by his meticulous attention to detail'. This is evident in this cover too as it is full of colour and detail, so many tiny details are apparent in this design, things seem to be going on in every direction.

The cover is filled with brands and different corporations which may be a reflection of our consumer culture and how we are constantly bombarded with advertisements in the media. I feel like this is relevant to what Poynor is getting at in these essays, although I have not read the entire book, the publication's main aim is all about exploring the way the media use imagery in advertisements.

The way that the semiotics are placed within the cover show how powerful the mass corporations are and conveys the way we cannot escape from it and it's enormity. Since it is covering almost all of the page, it demonstrates that point well since there's not room for much else, similar to our society that feeds off of consumerism and relies on huge corporations.

Although I think the concept is successful, I don't particularly like the cover or the way it's been designed. I'm not a big fan of lots of colour myself, but I don't feel like these work. I think they would look better more realistic and not so vectorised in context with the book since it has some serious themes in it.

After we had analysed the cover, we were split into groups to discuss them further and each person must describe each book with one word. The words I got were:
  • Confusing
  • Busy
  • Unnecessary
  • Saturated 
  • Big
  • Urban
  • Relevant 
  • Agressive
I think although some of these words could be a positive in relation to the book, they are mostly all accurate in describing it's cover design. I think this study task has got me thinking how I can complete brief 2.




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