Cover Design Contest

[blueflame]

Dear roxysurfergirl,

Please take out all uses of the Mistral typeface. Why does your line-art have that odd texture? Thats and the contrast of the heart and those lines on the bottom make the type at the top and bottom harder to read. I would just push the authors' names further down so you don't have that strange space there. Could you line up "professional" with "no-limit"? Is it supposed to be overlapping? Just a couple ideas and questions. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-bloof

[Roxysurfergirl00]

Blueflame,

I really like the Mistral typeface, it's more elegant and easier to read than any other script typeface, and seems to be a favorite among most graphic designers here. I may play with other script faces to see what else will look nice.

The main themes of my cover are abstraction and contrast, in order to achieve this, I have to contrast my typefaces, images and colors. The odd-texture is just a filter that I decided to use that makes the line-art stand out more in order to achieve my contrast.

The dark heart against the lighter lines is perfect contrast and the bright white type IMO is pretty easy to read. I'm not sure which author's names you are referring to? the front, back, spine? but on the front cover, no type should be too close to the edge in case of any extra clipping due to the printer (I've seen this happen before).

I will line up Professional and No-limit because it's slightly off, and the overlapping of text, or leading is something that I think adds to the design. I don't use general text settings, IMO it seems pretty uncreative. So I decided to change the leading and kerning and I liked what I got

Thanks for your comments [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
~Roxy~

[Roxysurfergirl00]

Iq75,

When I was originally looking for ideas for the SNG, I was actually contemplating whether or not I should use the same theme as my PNL, but I was trained to be very diverse in all my designs. I still may play with it though.
Thanks^_^

[ZenMusician]

Hi everyone!

Late to the party here, so bear with me.

I will probably submit 2 or 3 versions for the
SNG book...in my humble opinion, the PNL contest
has already been won!

I approached the cover in 3 ways: as a designer, a
marketer/publisher, and from a prepress/printing
viewpoint.

2+2 has a strong corporate identity, not only in the
logos and indicia itself, but the look and feel of the
products as a whole. From a marketing standpoint, one
wants to corral products into a highly identifiable
image while maintaining a fresh growth and evolving of
ideas.

As a designer, you want to ensure a message or feeling
is conveyed as well...and the prepress part, well, it's
nice to print something "how it looks on your screen!"

Sit and Gos have fewer chips and a tighter blind
schedule, so the "marathon" feel of a MTT is somewhat
gone; I feel time constraint and pressure!

My graphic style is bold, clean imagery with a
professional/educational book design "feel".

By the way, if anyone runs into output problems
or has any software/proofing/prepress/printing
type questions, I am more than happy to help!

By the way, all graphics are done in AICS3 and
composited in IDCS3.

Good Luck to all, and all feedback is most welcome!

-ZEN

[Yossarian147]

beautiful. my one comment is that the spade 'lobe' appears to give the king a funky chin.

[ZenMusician]

Hmmm...looks like teh internets ruined my colors a bit.
The suits are more green and subtle, here they look
black and goofy. Will play around this weekend.

-ZEN

[Roxysurfergirl00]

[ QUOTE ]
beautiful. my one comment is that the spade 'lobe' appears to give the king a funky chin.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. I will mess with it this weekend and try to redesign the King, so it dosn't look like he has the funky chin.
Thanks for your help. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[wilneedheart]

why not make the clock a poker chip rather than a stopwatch? Or a stopwatch with a poker chip face?

[ZenMusician]

[ QUOTE ]
or a stopwatch with a poker chip face

[/ QUOTE ] See? great minds think alike [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I was just playing with a version like that,
thanks so much for your suggestion, I'll try to
have one up on Monday.

-ZEN

[BozMan82]

Zen,

Your design looks nice, but I think it is more suited for something such as a poster or billboard than a book cover. Other than that, the artwork looks sharp.