Print Design
October 30, 2016
This project was a book cover redesign of Hannah Kent's "Burial Rites" novel. Burial Rites is a tale of personal freedom, murder, survival of life and death and the extensive lengths we go to risk everything for love. Along with the book cover, promotional posters were developed displaying the central themes of the novel; murder, religion and love.
Current covers for the novel all use images of either a melancholy woman, raven feathers, or combined imagery of both. Although this imagery successfully reflects the story line of the book, it is not unique compared to others in the same genre. To differentiate the novel, the imagery was refreshed by applying a more modern and minimal twist to the cover and posters. To remain minimal, book covers rely heavily on colours and textures to reflect the book and convey meaning. Many of the covers also used a paper jacket with a cut out section to display the texture underneath.These cut outs were chosen carefully to reflect various themes within the books and this seemed like an effective way to communicate themes and symbols in a more modern way. The cut out design is a simple, yet effective way of drawing attention to the novel, whilst also giving the viewer a sense of intrigue.
The promotional posters incorporate quotes from the novel surrounding the themes of murder, religion and love. The textures for these posters were developed using a variety of techniques. Including the manipulation of coloured dyes in water, capturing textured tree bark, scrunched purple fabric and feathers. All these textures were then taken into Photoshop and edited and applied to silhouetted symbols that displayed the chosen themes; a knife for murder, rosary beads for religion and a rose displaying love. Particular quotes from the novel along with particular colours applied to the edited images to express the symbolism of these elements with the chosen poster themes.