Front Cover Designs

We all took it upon ourselves to approach the front and back cover designs in a personal way. We had been told by Mike that he liked the shapes used and this was something that we should explore further, so we all did. At first I didn't really know where to start. I knew I had a certain number of students and I should probably use an individual shape to represent each one. I also knew each discipline had been assigned either red, green or blue, so I thought each one of the shapes I use could be the right colour. Once I had decided this would be the direction I would be headed I then had to come up with a non-cluttered, visually appealing pattern.

I thought about making it somewhat abstract and placing the shapes in no particular order, just place them haphazardly across the page. I also knew that I wanted yellow to be a big part of the front cover design as it is probably the most engaging colour, and we should make the most of it. I played around with transparency a bit as well, the results of which can be seen below.

After separating the shapes into definitive categories and also have two different sizes, representing the two graduating years, I realised that some sort of pattern could be created. I also realised that using yellow as the predominant colour was not working, as it clashed far too much with the RGB and instead I thought using black would be a better choice. However I did not want to get rid of it completely, so I made sure to feature it in small amounts with the rest of the shapes.

Admittedly I got a bit carried away with the whole 'retro' approach. As per usual. But I was really please with the designs below. Having started with absolutely no clue as to what I could create that would be both informative and aesthetically pleasing I was surprised to very quickly something I think fills both requirements.

The design that I feel most pleased with can be seen below. There are certain aspects that I think work really well, and even if Mike is not a fan of the whole pattern, there are aspects of it that he can't deny works. For example I managed to come up with a successful and visually pleasing way of 'wrapping' the pattern from the front cover round the back side. This was something I was worried about, and thought there would be too much on the front and very little, if nothing at all, on the reverse. At the end of the day we are producing a publication from beginnning to end, and we can not simply skimp on efforts for the very last page.

I also think how I increased the size of the shape and made it white to contain the name of the course works nicely. We have been told that the name of the course has to appear on the front cover, therefore I thought it necessary to place it somewhere where it doesn't seem too out of place. I will take my designs to the next meeting with Mike and get his opinions. However I am aware that Maya and Rob have been working on designs as well, and he well may choose to go with one of their approaches.