WHAT IS A LINE - book 'dust jackets'

As well as the actual covers for the books, I wanted to create some dust jackets for a select number of fairy tales - probably three or four.

Protective covers are given to hardbacks, as they are more expensive to buy and also to manufacture. 

The current book I am reading 'Hope: a Tragedy' by Shalom Auslander, is a lovely size and is also a hardback, therefore in order to create a layout for my own dust jacket, I used this to get the measurements. 

The measurements have to be just right otherwise text or image may get folded or become missing. 

A jacket consists usually of the title page, biographical information about the author, a summary or a blurb and then also reviews of the book from other authors, publishers or celebrities and so on.

As these book covers are for fairytales, it's quite rare that you will find reviews for them in a sense, mainly because of how long they've been around for. On the Puffin website there were reviews by readers, however you wouldn't usually find these on the cover itself. 

I decided that the best option would be to have the title page, then on the right flap I would include the information about the Grimm's Fairytales provided by the competition guidelines, the back would include a short plot/storyline and the left flap would be an enlarged version of the illustration. 

For the dust jackets, as the opportunity was given to work with more space, the illustrations could be enlarged and therefore they could be filled with colour.

Using guides to start putting the layout together.

Dust Jackets.

Overall, I am extremely please with how these turned out. After trying them out on the hardback book, they fit well and the antique white paper was a sufficient thickness for them to be sturdy but also for them to fold nicely. The illustrations are an extra touch that makes the books a little bit more intriguing. They also let the reader know more about the story, and give them an idea of what may be going on without having to read any of the plot summary. 

The decision to remove the coloured background was definitely the right one, as the use of stock for background is effective by itself, and it has nothing to conflict with colour-wise. Without the background, the collage still has that cut paper texture, and you're still able to see how they fit together which is a nice touch. 

The contrast between the digital and hand drawn type has mixed well, and doesn't look out of place. It draws you into the cover, and adds something a little bit different to the overall aesthetics of the book. It also makes them more of a set, or a series. It is obvious that they all belong together, yet they still have their own identity.

One issue I have, however, is that after I'd seen them functioning, I would have much preferred the illustration to be on the right hand flap, and the text placed in the back. The illustration at the front opening of the book would have been a pleasant surprise, and this is something that I would change next time.