Once I had all my mood board and ideas jotted down, I went straight to the pen and paper. I copied the picture of myself where I am holding my phone and then went over it with pen. I tried to keep the plan simple, so that I could add stuff in later if I wanted to. I then added my text bubbles and banners at the top of the cover so that I have room to put the required quotes up there.
I then coloured it in in Photoshop, just to get an idea of what kind of colours I could work with. I really wanted some bright and fun colours because that is the epitome of the book, as it is all about feeling good! I think pink can be quite a comforting yet playful colour, so that was the one that I chose as the central colour, then I picked turquoise and blue to contrast this so that I could still have colours that compliment each other, but also ones that jump out.
To begin with I knew that I wanted to have very bright and vivid colours for this book because it is funny, quirky and memorable in itself, so of course the cover had to reflect this. It is also to be imaginative and exciting, so I tried to think very outside the box for this one.
I then got onto the central illustration of the cover. I created a replica of a smartphone using the shape tools, added some depth with an inner shadow and titled it at an angle, as if the viewer would actually be using the phone, or as if the person on the cover is showing the viewer what is on their phone. I then went and added the hand which was much trickier for me to make. It didn't look like a hand at all first, so I went and added some nail polish and thankfully it started to come together! I then put the little illustration that I came up with on the centre of the screen, though I started to debate whether I should put the title here or not.
Once I had done that, I got onto making my apps. I wanted to include a good range of them, from easily distinguishable ones, to ones that symbolise quoted from the blurb. For example for "Should we get botox?' I drew some big bright lips, and for "Why does everyone ask us when we're going to have a baby?" I drew a milk bottle. Just things that are very relatable to women, yet in a modern way, i.e apps and a phone.
Once I was happy with the main illustrations, I started to add my title and quotes that were required for the front cover only. I decided that since typography wasn't a major focus, that I wouldn't detract too much from the concept, yet I still wanted to find a font that is stylish and approachable. I chose Gill Sans for the whole of the design template. Ever since I was told not to use more than two fonts on one design (unless for a concept) then one good font is usually enough.
Therefore I got straight onto the back cover. I carried the theme onto the back by using the speech bubble effect that is now popular in film and Tv shows. I've never personally seen it on a book so I thought it would be a great idea. I also had a spur of the moment idea to create a mailbox app behind the barcode, just because in the brief it said that it could be repositioned if the designer wanted to and I have rarely seen designers interact with it, so I gave it a go. I then carried on the symbols from the front cover onto the top of the back cover, changing the colours to the colour palette and I think everything ties together quite nicely.
This is the front and back covers now together and I think they are rather cohesive and have a thorough concept. I love the colour palette and how everything connects. I would have liked to have made the speech bubbles a little thicker but I will get some feedback first before I start tweaking. But overall I have really enjoyed working on this template as well. I don't read enough non-fiction, so I was slightly out of my depth, but I think you can still make a cover exciting even when the contents isn't fantasy or a wild fiction narrative.
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