Penguin Book Awards Brief: Design a striking cover that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting.
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For my book cover, I chose the colour palette of old Russian Art and subtle rays to link to the Communist symbols featured in the book, Animal Farm. The main illustration is of a hand with a pig’s hoof morphing into the index and middle fingers - this visual image would become known to the viewer once they’ve read the book to under the metaphor and other visual themes that run throughout the book.
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My alternative book cover has a more subtle link to the Russian theme linked to the book, by using a Russian font to type the words Animal Farm repeatedly as a background. This is used to test the viewer and provoke thoughts about what the plot is really about and its running themes and motifs.