The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton- Reflection
Book Publishing Book Cover Design
Hi! Before you start reading, have you looked at my book cover design for ‘The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton?’ Well, you might want to give it a little look first; I’ve linked it below :)
https://medium.com/@crystaljadalewiswrites/the-outsiders-by-s-e-hinton-506257850642
Reflective Commentary
I think it’s remarkable how there are so many different books, all in the same genre, yet the front cover and the blurb will heavily influence the one you pick up in the store or order online. I have always been a visual learner, so I thought that by doing this task, I would excel in the design elements by bringing in my creativity. I opted for this novel as I liked the idea of revamping the cover to make a classic story look and feel more modern. In this commentary, I aim to take you through my thought process on designing the cover and how it went overall.
When beginning the task, my first thought was to refresh my memory on the story outline, the main characters and any themes or symbolism threaded through the book. I found this beneficial, as I wanted to explore these and bring them into focus. In The Outsiders, the theme of violence is prominent, especially between the two groups: The Greasers and The Socs. Hinton reveals the tension between the characters through violence, yet despite being from different social classes, they are not that different from each other; they all hold anxiety from the looming threat of violence. So, when creating the cover (See Appendix B), I wanted to show that despite their ‘differences’, they are all the same.
I found that looking at existing covers (to see what others had taken for their approach) helped me envision my goal. I found the covers conveyed serious, emotive, and assertive tones. I wanted to highlight that despite the characters’ realisation that violence can create more harm than good, they will struggle to escape the cycle of violence. I chose to contrast the light-hearted, youthful, colourful tones with the image of Two-Bits’ blade (which comes into Johnny’s possession) as the focus of the cover to allude to the idea of the characters returning to their old ways. I wanted to create a magazine scrapbook effect. I tried to take snippets of clothes and features that represented both groups and collage them together. However, it didn’t have the desired outcome when executed and looked too mixed-matched (See Appendix B). Suppose I redesigned the cover, I may employ this idea but focus on the facial features, show the difference in hairstyles, and focus more on the eyes, as the differences in eye colour and shapes are mentioned a lot in Hinton’s character descriptions; to emphasise their personalities.
With my first attempt, I wanted to focus on the motif of literature; specifically, at the end of the book, we discover that the embodiment of the book is Ponyboy’s English assignment i.e., autobiography. So, I created a front cover with a letter and an envelope (See Appendix A). Although it conveyed an emotive tone, it gave a Victorian feel and wasn’t modernising the book. In the final book cover design, to restore that fresh, innovative feeling, I employed a collage effect and pictures of the characters together to show the importance of friendship and the strength of their bond. I also thought the photos gave a reminiscent and reflective tone, as towards the end of the narrative, they are parted by death. Here, I also used duct tape and chewing gum graphics to show the playful nature of the characters and their youth. This cover will appeal to younger audiences as it creates a nostalgic vibe and the idea that we should cherish our friends and the moments we have with them.
The design software I used to create my cover was Canva. I found this program easy to navigate, especially for someone with little experience with digital design. I found a vast range of backgrounds and graphics, making it easy to experiment with different ideas and formats. However, when it came to incorporating real-life images, I found it better to find these elsewhere. There were also many fonts to choose from, so if I were to do this again, I would do more research on typography so I could utilise this feature more. I think this design process was very enjoyable, I enjoyed experimenting with Canva and trying something new. I think with more training; this may be a career path I would like to pursue. I like how throughout this process, I had to apply both analysis and creative thinking. This task made me further appreciate the time and planning that goes into creating book covers.
Appendices
