So two weeks ago, I turned in the following 3 cover designs:
I was told to make one a typography cover, one an Illustration cover and one a photography cover. My favorites were the first and last one, and when I presented them to the Vox staff, they agreed. They shared their input on all three covers and I was to then pick on after hearing their thoughts and make the proper changes for next week's critique. I was going back and forth between the first and third cover, but decided to do the first one. If I picked the third one, I would have to find someone to photograph (since I obviously could not get Glenn Beck to do it for me), and I thought that it would have been difficult finding someone when this was such a quick turn-around.
So I made the proper changes, and voila! I present to you the next draft!
The Vox staff wanted me to keep the question mark theme, but give it a more "light-hearted" feel, since the stories in the issue weren't as "dark" as my cover was.
After presenting this draft the next week, I was the lucky winner and they chose to publish it! So the next step was to make even more changes.
I was told to incorporate some kind of "cloud" theme on the cover, but keep the question mark. We didn't want it to be too "heavenly" and too literal for the reader, so we put cirrus clouds on the cover. (No, I did not know what cirrus clouds were before this experience.)
So I made 3 new covers for the art directors/TA's to pick from:
We ended up going with the first ones, since the cirrus clouds didn't scream out heaven. I never thought I'd spend so much time inspecting question marks in my life. We wanted a rounded question mark, because the blocky question marks (like the second one) didn't quite fit the overall feel of the issue.
The first cover was selected and will be published. It comes out tomorrow and I'm very excited to see how it turns out!
Great work on the cover. :] So different from the original!
ReplyDeleteSeeing your third drafts, I'm very surprised that they didn't go with the second design, because I just love that photo (maybe just because I want to try and sit on them). I definitely agree with the thoughts about the round vs. square question marks, though.
Great job, Blair. I actually love the question mark with the noise in the background that you presented as your second draft. It feels more mysterious and "cool" than the cloud backgrounds. I think the cover came out great, though, but I feel a bit partial to the third design. I get that it looks too heaven-y, but it's such a great photo! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteSeeing where you started with your first cover design and where you ended up with your published design is so intriguing! It's crazy how much and idea can shift and change when you're forced to constantly look at it and work on it. Good job with being able to step away from your initial cover and rework everything to get Vox's vision across. With that said, I have liked every single one of your cover designs for this. I especially like the cloud designs. They bring your cover to the next level. I agree with Brittany that the third cloud cover is my favorite of the three, but the first cloud cover is definitely more in line with the package. Anyways, I look forward to seeing some of the other stuff you come up with!
ReplyDelete