Penguin Cover Design Award

January 2024

This is an individual project, the brief being to choose one of the three books they list and design a new book cover for it. All the details are here https://www.penguin.co.uk/company/work-with-us/cover-design-award

  • Atomic Habits – Adult Non Fiction
  • Daisy Jones and The Six – Adult Fiction
  • Stolen Magic – Childrens Fiction

I’ve chosen Daisy Jones and The Six, apparently it’s also a netflix series. I’ve never watched the series but I did buy the book and did a quick synopsis of the main characters and the story line. I didn’t agree that the main character was a “Stevie Nicks” persona. from the first description of her walking down the streets of LA, I got a real Janis Joplin vibe. I also think that the strongest character of the book, and who the story was really about was Camilla Dunne the wife of the lead singer Billy. So straight away, I’m at odds with the book synopsis but I really wanted to tell the cover story as I see it.

My sketchbook notes.

My original idea was to use a 3d plaster sculpture that I had made a couple of years earlier, that looked like a broken record and paint my design on it then photograph it. I started mocking up a collage of “Daisy” using images I found, to me she was mix of Janis Joplin and Florence of Florence and the Machine. I also found patterns of 1970’s style clothing and a Halston robe, to give me an idea of the flower pattern I wanted to use in relation to the Wild Flower Project mentioned.

My nemesis here is that I had to use in-design and whilst I was great at my paper mockup, actually using the computer was not really my forte. I think to say I struggled was an under statement.

This image to me, is what the book is all about. The strong woman in the background, her story.
I needed a not so famous face for my collage, hence this image.
I envisage flowers around the side and Daisy with The Dunne’s in the background, on the top of the broken record. My plan is to then overlay the two photographs I take in photoshop.
penguin-helen-finalDownload

I haven’t enter the competition, I wanted to but I’ve missed the deadline. Also, this is my mock-up of something I wanted to paint. I’m not happy that this ended up being my final piece of work because I don’t feel like its finished. I don’t feel like I’m done with the idea.

I think it would be great for my work to be considered for a book design cover, not this one, but any future work I do, its one of my quieter ambitions.

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