OUGD503 | PENGUIN | INITIAL IDEAS

To begin designing, I started drawing out some initial ideas. I wanted the cover to show the scale of Berlin, and how Emil is lost in the city. I also wanted to include elements of dramatic irony in the cover, where the audience can see what's happening but the character can't.

I first made a list of things to do with the book, and hopefully sparking some ideas off using word association:

I knew I definitely wanted to do something thats bright and illustrative, with hand rendered type. I drew out some initial sketches of some ideas that I had, featuring Emil surrounded by buildings, with a feeling of loneliness to it:

I liked the skyline image at the top. I feel it has more substance and isn't as sad or scary looking for a childrens book. The figures across the top are The Detectives helping Emil catch the criminal. I think the skyline idea has a lot of potential, and I drew out a bigger version here:

Here we have Emil at the bottom of the scene looking quite sad and lost. Although he isn't the main focus of the image, I think this encourages a focus on the artwork and an appreciation of what will eventually be illustrated buildings. I also sketched out an idea of what could work for the title, as I know I'd like it to be hand-rendered type:

I feel this style works more for childrens books as its friendlier and doesn't look too serious. This book is aimed at around 7-13 year olds, and I think they'd relate to this sort of book cover more, and want to pick it up, rather than a solely vector based design.