# data[].attributes.body
Taking my toothpaste type, I cut out the individual words from the photograph and placed them in a sequence over my pink paper stock background that it used in my book cover design. I have manipulated it as much as I can and it hasn't turned out as well as I hoped, as I prefer how it looks in its original state, more toothpaste like compared to the one above.

# data[].attributes.body
Assigned book 'The Age Of Skin':
Working in a group of 3, we decided to use out own hands to create the type, to link to the context of the book, so above are some images taken of the process that we used. I created the word 'Age', it was extremely fiddly and difficult to try and make the letters look as hand-like as possible, but our group are very pleased with the outcome.

# data[].attributes.body
In the tutor group this week I showed my developed book covers, and one thing that was picked up on was the illustrative set of drawers/sticker on poetics of space.

After looking at my covers again I can see that this doesn't match with the others that are purely just images turned into stickers. So I have found this image of a plain chest of drawers from the idea website that I am going to edit to the same yellow colour and turn into a sticker.

Process below.

# data[].attributes.body
After reading the 3 series options, I have chosen the Penguin on Design Series as after reading the blurbs, I liked the connections that are available to make with objects and spaces. I have started to think about possible ways in which I could relate certain objects to each different cover in the series.

# data[].attributes.body
Alongside my initial online research, I also took a trip to waterstones to find some references to begin finding some artists to look further into.

I made sure to capture the books that caught my eye at first glance on the shelves amongst the dozens of others around it. 'Detransition, Baby' was one of the first books I picked out, for the choice of colours cleverly selected around the image of a bright red ribbon, it made me want to find more about the context of the book, as with a bright pink book you automatically relate the demographic to females.

'Money' By Martin Amis also stood out to me, I really like the use of a simple white background with black sans serif, and a high quality image. The simple design is also one of the most effective, especially with a golden telephone on the front cover. I think the designer has also handled the hierarchy of type really well here too. The title is at the bottom, with the authors surname being the largest element of type on the cover, however you can still separate the title from the author.

# data[].attributes.body
I have also conducted some annotations of the blurbs, to try and grasp a greater understanding of the context of each book. The Poetics of Space explores how humans react to sapces, and architecture, as well as the spaces around us, such as houses and rooms, drawers, wardrobes etc. On Photography explores humans interacting/living with photography, and how we utilise this, and The Beauty of Everyday things is about the concept of humans living with everyday items, reacting with objects by exemplifying the simplicity and function of everyday things.

# data[].attributes.body
The main features that drew my attention to this book are the colour and type combination. I think the black stands out against the deep lilac and the concept of the illustration of the woman upside down also stands out to me as it links well to the book being about a woman trying to get through life. This upside down element can also add an interactive feature to the book on the shelf, as when you see it, you automatically flip it around.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Shortlisted for ABCD Award 22 | Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

ABCD AWARD WINNER, Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Series design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Shortlisted for ABCD award, Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

WINNER of an ABCD Award 2022 | Design and image collage © Holly Ovenden

WINNER of an ABCD Award 2022 Design, illustration and hand-lettering © Holly Ovenden

Shortlisted for ABCD Award 22 | Cover design by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Tote Bag Design for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, collage illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustrated pattern by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and photography by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

British Puffin Classics series design and interlinking illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and botanical illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and hand lettering by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustrations by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Book cover design, illustration and hand -lettering by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Cover design by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration © Holly Ovenden

Cover design by Holly Ovenden

Image collage by Anna Bu Kliewer; art direction and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and textile collage by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Series design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover designs and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and botanical illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and botanical illustration by Holly Ovenden

Cover design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and collage by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design illustration and hand-lettering by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and pattern illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design, illustration and handlettering by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and image collage by Holly Ovenden

Design and image collage by Holly Ovenden

Design and image collage by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

Design and illustration by Holly Ovenden

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Holly Ovenden Graphic Design and Illustration

# data[].attributes.body
Jack Smyth's design of 'Detransition, Baby' caught my eye on the shelf initially with the bright pink and dtriking red ribbon. I think that it is a really clever use of objects connected with type, and the ribbon shadows over the type give a 3 dimensional effect. The ribbon being incorporated into the back cover also helps to tie both sides together. It is something that I would like to trial out in my experiments with my own book cover designs.

# data[].attributes.body
I really liked Anna Morrison's design of 'The Union of Synchronised Swimmers', espacially the illustrative and playful nature of the type with the image. Some could point out that the playful type challenges the readability of the title, However I think that with the words navigating both across and downwards on the page, this brings the composition together as a whole and imitates the art of synchronised swimming/diving. Also the fact that the type is perfectly unison, reflects the art of synchronisation in this sport.

# data[].attributes.body
Type
Hand rendered approach
illustrative elements
Block colour

The Neasden Control Centre has inspired my research into typographic elements of my project, The type has a hand rendered style to it, which along with the illustrative elements, give a really playful and positive feeling to the design. The smart choices of block colour in the poster designs work really effectively with hierarchy too. I am going to take this work into consideration with my experiments and further projects in the future.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stephen Smith / Neasden Control Centre is an award willustrator & graphic artist best known for his multi-disciplined, process led, hand drawn style within graphic compositions. Editorial illustration, illustrated maps, hand drawn lettering, advertising, animation, surface pattern design & i

# data[].attributes.body
Non-Format has some great references to advertising, and sans serif typographic compositions, with poster projects and many more. The colours aren't as bright and bold as Neasden Control centre but the professionalism from the type makes it exciting to the eye.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Non-Format was originally founded in London in 2000 by Kjell Ekhorn (Norwegian) and Jon Forss (British). Together they work on a range of projects including art direction, design, illustration and custom typography for clients including Adobe, Coca-Cola, EMI, Gap, IBM, New York Times, Nike, Nokia, Rick Owens, Sony Music and a great many others.

# data[].attributes.body
I also discovered this site with a round up of some really good examples of book covers from June 2021. This was really useful to see a more recent take on book cover design, what is working well with consumers and how each book context has been explored and presented in 2021.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to our round-up of the best book cover designs published this month, June. Owing to out-of-offices there are a few uncredited jackets at the time of writing, so if you are able to help us out with that, do let us know.

Last month also saw our British Book Award for Designer of the Year awarded to Simon & Schuster Children's Books' Jane Buckley. Congratulations to Jane, and you can read a post-Nibbies interview with her about the award and her career to date here. There was also a High Commendation awarded to Stuart Wilson of Pan Macmillan, so further congratulations to him, and indeed to the eight other shortlistees.

Until next time...

A couple of 4th Estate titles to start: Joyce Carol Oates' Night Sleep and Owen Booth's The All True Adventures and Rare Education of the Daredevil Daniel Bones. The jackets were designed by Jamie Keenan (Oates) and Leo Nickolls (Booth).

Levente Szabó illustrated the cover for Phil Earle's When the Sky Falls (Andersen Press), with art direction coming from Jack Noel. Jamie Keenan designed the Atlantic edition of James Davies' Sedated.

Greg Heinimann designed the jacket for Lisa Taddeo's Animal (Bloomsbury), while James Canton's The Oak Papers (Canongate) was art directed by Gill Heeley, with the paper artwork contributed by Diana Beltran Herrera.

Helen Crawford-White designed and illustrated Efua Traore's Children of the Quicksands for Chicken House, while B Catling's Hollow (Coronet) was designed by Pablo Declan and Denise Nestor.

Emma Grey Gelder designed Ava Reid's The Wolf and the Woodsman, with illustration from Russell Cobb, for Del Rey. Tahereh Mafi's An Emotion of Great Delight was designed by Ryan Hammond, and illustrated by Rik Lee and Rodrigo Corral, with art direction from Laura Bird. That title is issued by Electric Monkey.

A Faber pair up next, both designed by Luke Bird. The covers are for Tokyo Redux by David Peace, and The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura.

Helen Crawford-White designed and illustrated Kate Mascharenhas' The Thief on the Winged Horse (Head of Zeus), with art direction from Jessie Price. Jack Smyth designed Vaseem Khan's Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder), with art direction from Lewis Csizmazia.

Another Hodder title, Sandhya Menon's Of Princes and Promises, was designed by Lizzie Bromley, with illustration from Anna Bucciarelli. The designer for How Iceland Changed the World by Egill Bjarnason (Icon) was unconfirmed at this writing.

The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor (John Murray) was another uncredit design at this writing. Jo Mclaren designed and illustrated the cover for Roy Jacobsen's Eyes of the Rigel, for Maclehose.

Becky Chilcott designed Timothy Knapman's Sometimes I am Furious for Macmillan Children's Books, with illustration from Joe Berger and art direction from Chris Inns. Mudlark title Under Pressure, by Richard Humphreys, was illustrated by Neil Gower, with art direction from Claire Ward.

Aviel Basil designed We Made a Movie by Charlotte Lo (Nosy Crow), while Elizabeth Jane Howard's The Light Years was designed by Lucy Scholes, using illustration by Luke Edward Hall. This is part of a series design released by Pan Macmillan, with the spines coming together to create this lovely illustration.

Nathan Burton designed and illustrated Margolit Fox's The Confidence Men (Profile), with art direction from Steve Panton. Anna Morrison designed and illustrated The Union of Synchronised Swimmers by Cristina Sandu (Scribe).

The Stripes cover for Siri Kolu's Me and the Robbersons is an adaptation of the Finnish original, with illustrations by Tuuli Juusela. Push by Sapphire was designed by Etta Voorsanger-Brill, with illustration by Yolande Mutale, for Vintage Classics.

Helen Macdonald's Vesper Flights was designed by Suzanne Dean, with illustration by Chris Wormell, for Vintage. Chibundu Onuzo's Sankofa (Virago) was designed in-house by Sophie Harris, using illustration from Ethan Fender of Courier Design.

Daniel O'Connor's Nothing (W&N) was designed by Jamie Keenan, with art direction from Steve Marking. M G Leonard's Twitch (Walker) was designed by Ben Norland, with illustration from Paddy Donnelly.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to our round-up of the best book cover designs published this month, June. Owing to out-of-offices there are a few uncredited jackets at the time of writing, so if you are able to help us out with that, do let us know.

# data[].attributes.body
Some of my favourite book covers from my research so far, designers Chin-Yee Lai and Peter Mendelsund. I really like the hand written elements to the type from Mendelsund, as this makes it seem much more personal. As well as this I also much prefer the look of a hand rendered piece of type in my own designs rather than purely digital.

# data[].attributes.headline
Existing covers of 'The Poetics of Space'

# data[].attributes.subject
Existing covers of 'The Poetics of Space'

# data[].attributes.body
Taking a look at some existing covers has helped me to grasp a wider understanding into how other designers interpreted the context of the book. Some image based, Type based etc.. however they all have the same words beyond the cover.

# data[].attributes.headline
Existing cover of 'The Beauty of Everyday Things'

# data[].attributes.subject
Existing cover of 'The Beauty of Everyday Things'

# data[].attributes.body
There is something so simple about this cover that makes it such an interesting piece of design. The simplicity of everyday objects like a teapot, and how the meaning can be exemplified.

With my design, I want to challenge this approach with my use of colour.

# data[].attributes.body
Based on my research into designers and the existing book covers, I have sketched out a few thumbnails of initial cover ideas that I have been thinking of. Some purely type based, and some a mixture of illustration and photography.

# data[].attributes.body
Adding some small bits of colour into some of my favourite thumbnails has helped me to see more visually which ones are stronger and can be developed further. I think that I need to do a little more research as whilst doing these thumbnails I have realised that some of my research actually isn't as relevant to my ideas as I initially thought.

# data[].attributes.body
more thumbnails

# data[].attributes.body
This is some fresh research, more relevant to the type of design that I want to experiment with. the hierarchy of type and blend of serif and sans serif is really clever and although just black and white, the bright red background makes it really stand out.

# data[].attributes.body
Whilst starting to think a little more about how I could bring them together as a series, I found these 2 books online that seem to be the same format. The type is positioned in the same points on both books, with the illustration and colours being the differences between them.

# data[].attributes.body
I picked out this design of the book 'The Nickel Boys' initially for the beige colour in the cover design. I think that a colour like this could tie in really well with either 'The Poetics of Space' of 'The beauty of everyday things', as a colour like this adds a feeling of delicacy to design, something that I could possibly link to the context of either of those 2 books from the series.

# data[].attributes.body
This hand rendered type style was also inspired by The nickel boys book, as I found it interesting how the mix of a pencil type sketch works so well with a blocky sans serif font in the same type sequence. So I thought I'd try it out myself.

# data[].attributes.body
This was a really quick illustrative idea, trying to represent the ideas of space, by giving the type and illustration room to breathe on the cover with lots of blank space. I'm not the biggest fan of this, I think that the idea behind it may be too generic to the idea of space, and think that I need to include the ideas of architecture more in my other designs, to really showcase the context of the actual book, rather than just 'space' itself.

# data[].attributes.body
Some type experiments, the font to the left is adobe caslon and using procreate I am going to add some flicks to some letters to give a more delicate feel to type, which will hopefully make it appeat less blocky around the composition.

# data[].attributes.body
A series of design compositions

# data[].attributes.body
Some more design compositions

# data[].attributes.body
This was one of the styles that I showed in my tutor group this week, I was told to try out the idea of a pair of jeans and push it further. I think that they look good dotted around the cover, however know that I can produce stronger typography than just selecting a sans serif font, so want to explore this further by having a look at some fonts that were shown to me in this weeks lecture.

# data[].attributes.body
After finding the font 'adobe caslon swash' I have arranged the type in a way that makes the title appear as one, and I have added some additional flicks to the letters. I really like how this has turned out, so the next step will be to incorporate some colour into it, ad try it out with some compositions.

# data[].attributes.body
Found this font named HWT Mardell, I love how quirky and fun it is, however I do prefer the type that I have developed compared to this font as for a book cover the readability is important, and come consumers may find this difficult to read

# data[].attributes.body
I initially tried this type out on its own, with the idea of creating book covers purely type based. however I don't think this has turned out as well as the other ideas I am going to explore will try out. I also think that this type is going to look better with other elements on the page.

# data[].attributes.body
A thick card stock mockup gives the effect of a carpet when placed over the top of the beige tone background, and I think that this works really well with the context of the book being architecture and drawers, or just to represent the space around you. The vibrant yellow illustration of a drawers look great against the beige, and the small element of photography helps to being the idea of architecture more visual, making it apparent to the consumer that the book includes stories about architectural spaces.

# data[].attributes.body
Whilst developing this cover, I placed a white background behind the drawers, to add some depth to the composition I added a drop shadow, and this gave the effect of stickers that had been stuck on the cover. I think that the idea of stickers as a running theme throughout the covers could be a way that I could bring all 3 books together as a series, as I don't want all 3 to look similar colour/type wise (using the same colours and fonts), I want to challenge myself to see if there is another way I can bring the books together, and this idea of stickers could be a process.

# data[].attributes.body
Also type wise, I found that it works the best with it running around the top and bottom of the image, and by dragging it to both edges of the photograph, it helps to balance the cover. Along with this I have selected the font 'Bodoni 72', a nice serif font with some heavy and thin points on the letterforms, it works nicely with the bold title.

# data[].attributes.body
I have taken the same experimental approach to the beauty of everyday things cover. After discovering a gorgeous colour scheme of blues and pastel/pale pinks, I tried it out alongside the poetics of space colour, it works well and so I took my research further into mockups, to find one of a hand holding a book. I'd really like to try and incorporate this design into my cover with the concept of a book being an everyday item, and so wanting to showcase a book on the cover (a book in a book).

# data[].attributes.body
These images are sources from unsplash as I always find great high quality images that are good to edit from here. Taking the everyday items of coffee, jeans, and a toothbrush, I have taken the same approach as before when making the stickers.

# data[].attributes.body
This is the final outcome so far, similar to 'the poetics of space' I still need to develop the spine, as I think that the publishing logo would look better here. I am really pleased with the balance in this design. I'd say there is quite a lot of stuff happening in this composition, from the mixture of stickers to the hand rendered title, but I think that I have handled it well and managed to create and eye catching book cover.

One thing that I wanted to do was not abandon the small elements such as the barcode in each design. For the covers above. I have placed the barcode on the book placed on the cover, and I think it's the small elements like this which make this quite a strong composition.

# data[].attributes.body
On photography is the book that I struggled the most with in terms of understanding the context, so I did some more research into reviews of the book etc.

After this I learned that alot of these covers are photographs from a particular time, so I want to create a sense of photography in the 21st century, which has largely been through the use of a mobile/electronic camera. The way that many people are too invested in their phones rather than what is around them, many can also be too busy looking through the camera lens taking pictures, rather than living in the moment.

# data[].attributes.body
For my research I found some good examples of bringing two elements of photography together, the series of posters above right showcase this really well, and gave me the idea to have a front torso of a person, with a camera in the space of their head, to portray my idea.

This could also be the starting point for my stickers in this cover, I could take cameras as well as the torso at the front and turn them into stickers for the cover.

# data[].attributes.body
The Son of Man, surrealist work by Rene Magritte, has also influenced the idea of mine to place a camera over a humans head.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
After some feedback, I am going to try out a more clean type, as based off feedback, the current title is kind of competing with the imagery, which is wha

# data[].attributes.body
After feedback, I am going to try out a more clean type, as based off feedback, the current title is possibly competing with the imagery, which is what I wanted to avoid.

# data[].attributes.body
To break up the composition a little, we also found out that that book had references to tattooing, so decided to write thte final word 'skin' in red ink on someones arm moving across the page.

# data[].attributes.body
This was the initial video that we took of the process, then we took it into photoshop to create a quick stop motion of some frames.

# data[].attributes.body
Overall I am really pleased with how the gif has turned out, I think given the time limit again, I worked much better in comparison to the last workshop, working in a group allowed us to bring lots of ideas together quickly and filter out the ones that wouldn't work as well.

# data[].attributes.body
After changing it I think it looks so much better and in sync with the other 2 covers now, so I am going to mock them up and start to think about part 2 next.

# data[].attributes.body
Mock-ups sourced from 'Cover Vault'

# data[].attributes.body
This was a series of sketches that I put together to show in the presentation of how I intend to bring part 2 together. These ideas all had positive feedback and it was also suggested that I could take my stickers, and try and photograph them on lamp posts around the city, I really like this idea as it adds an interactive feature to my work.

# data[].attributes.body
Experimentation process

# data[].attributes.body
When finalising my designs, the spine was the last thing to pull it all together. I think by having them all in the same format helps to recognise them as a series, imagining the spines stacked side by side on a bookshelf. I am really pleased with the outcome of the 3. I think that I've handles the type confidently in each design which helped the covers to have the best possible outcome.

# data[].attributes.body
The outcome

# data[].attributes.body
This is a quick video that I took of me using a toothbrush to swipe through the type that I created. My intention is to use things like this in the social media promotion of the book 'the beauty of everyday things'

# data[].attributes.headline
First experiment in stop motion with stickers

# data[].attributes.subject
First experiment in stop motion with stickers

# data[].attributes.body
I had some spare toothpaste leftover so decided to re write some elements over a brighter pink card stock. Although this type worked well, I prefer the initial tests as the colour matches the aesthetic of the book and series better.

# data[].attributes.body
Some more tests, I cut up some parts of an old pair of jeans and presented them around some toothpaste type. Again, I think the test worked well but it doesn't fit into my other promotional ideas as well as the initial toothpaste type.

# data[].attributes.body
Below are some quick stop motion developments, to be posted on social media promoting the release of the beauty of everyday things.