503 - Penguin Book Cover - The Brief

- Looking for a cover design which breaks boundaries in the same way that the book did. It should be bold, maybe even shocking, yet remain true to the book, reflecting both its literary merit and its chilling content.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy supplied and be designed to the specified design template 

– B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 20mm 

- incorporating all the PENGUIN branding and all additional elements such as the bar code.

What the judges are looking for

We are looking for a striking cover design 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. It also needs to be able to work onscreen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

The winning design will need to:
- have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
- be competently executed with strong use of typography
- appeal to a contemporary readership
- show a good understanding of the marketplace
- have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

- Copyright must be cleared for all images used in your cover design and you must include a credit line on the back cover of your design for any third party images used. For example: ‘Cover photograph by Joe Bloggs’.

The Judges
I do disagree with producing a piece of work entirely for the judges approval but as they all have a connection to the company I do respect their background knowledge of Penguin. I do need to consider them in my design process.

John Hamilton – Art Director, Penguin General
- Specialised in illustration at Glasgow School of Art
- After graduating he became a junior book designer and has continued in this field of work
- Joined Penguin in 1997 and is responsible for dropping the orange spines from the fiction book designs
- For Penguin's Seventieth Birthday Campaign he invited (along with Jim Stoddart) seventy designers, artists and illustrators to create one cover each, designed within seven days. This shows that he has an interest in a number of different medias and therefore will hopefully not favour particular design styles.
- Responsible for art directing Penguin's hardback imprints; Viking, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph, Fig Tree and Penguin Ireland

Joanna Prior – Managing Director, Penguin General Books- This article is an interview with Prior where she is asked her opinion on the rise of e-books and how this has affected their methods
- 'Putting the right cover on a book is something that takes a lot of care and attention and, in my experience'
- ' I don't think we would tolerate a cover that marginalised a writer's work.'

Jim Stoddart – Art Director, Penguin Press
- From graduating Jim worked at a studio designing record and CD covers
- He then went on to working for Penguin as a cover designer
- Oversaw the redesign and rebranding of Penguin Classics/Modern Classics and Pelican books

Classic Covers already published..