Moving forward from previous ideas I decided to focus on the one concept I was most excited about which was the combination of the feminine little black dress icon along with the Doc Marten Boots.
I started to sketch out using vectors ideas for the shapes for these items, however after gaining some feedback on the shape of the dress it doesn't full symbolise the femininity of the 'little black dress' I had researched into.
In women's dressing rooms, bedrooms and even clothing stores items are put together as outfits:
From looking at these image it would be best to situate the dress onto a hanger to give the appearance of a bedroom setting, this enhances the normal nature of Caitlin that we can see within the series she wrote about her family, Raised By Wolves.
The layout:
Cover designs I want to avoid:
I want to avoid these styles of covers for Caitlin because the design conventions for many book covers are some form of dramatic photograph with a sans serif font with an extended tracking into the typography. Within How To Be A Woman the main element is that secrets are told, therefore the book cover needs to stand out as something bright and different. As Caitlin says herself, "yet".
Again to prove what I said previously, just from searching on web stores such as waterstones the large majority of book covers seem to follow in the same patterns.
Two of the covers are reminiscent of what I researched previously in terms of books for women, a soft script and pastel colours. These design conventions are something I need to avoid when choosing colour palette and fonts.
Research into colour palette/ style and ideas:
Because the concept for the cover is incredibly simple the best way to illustrate this would be through clear vector illustrations to match Caitlin's bold and brash personality. I began putting a board together for inspiration for style and colour inspiration for this cover design.
What I found from looking at designs like this are a strong use of black/ white and one or two spot colours. For the initial ideas for colour of the cover I looked at what colours would be suitable or relatable to Caitlin's personality and I found that she has a signature green eyeshadow she seems to wear for events (see below), this would be perfect for a solid colour.
Addition of typography:
From looking at photographs and influences for the design I found that the typewriter was a really important tool in gaining women independence and introducing them into work. Caitlin herself in some of her promotional photographs uses a type writer as a prop perhaps to further portray her job as author and journalist/ columnist.
Above are two different styles I tried to make an informal typography choice including thick and thin line weights. After asking for advice the second could really work within the dress as a title rather than one that runs across the illustration, inside it could really work.
However after trying the title inside I can completely see the difference as it draws the eye towards the title. I made further development to this by removing the outline on the hanger and warping the text to follow the curve of the dress.
The was the final front cover design I went with to then design the back & spine for the initial submission to Penguin:
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