Penguin: Norwegian Woods Initial Ideas

Based on research into Norwegian Woods I've developed various initial outcomes based on interesting aspects of the book. Initially I've explored the mental health focus of the book as many of those within suffer from different mental health problems. I've used my own interpretation to visualise the idea of feeling lost and unable to figure out whats going on inside your head. Initially this interpretation was inspired by the repetition within Torus actions as he often travels aimlessly after receiving difficult news, however this felt a little unrefined (see figure 1). Therefore I decided to create a more contained variation to represent how hard it can be to break through your mental health issues as you often feel confined by how you feel (see figure 2-3). In relation to the back cover, the alignment of the copy has been kept quite simple due to the large amount of copy included within the brief, this allows the copy to be read easily and the main focus to be the front cover. 

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In addition to the theme of mental health, letter writing has also been explored within the cover as this is a source of comfort for Naoko and Toru as they find they can explain and understand each other. Originally illustrations (see figure 4) of letter where used to represent this system however this felt a little childish and simple for the themes within the book. Therefore the system of letter writing was explored in order to inform the layout of type (see figures 5-9). The basic layout of a letter was used in order to represent the relevance of letter writing within the book, with the correspondents being Toru and Naoko as letter writing was particularly relevant to their relationship. Initially GT Pressura Pro Trial was used (figure 5-6) as the heigh x-height gave a typewriter aesthetic to the typeface, fitting a written letter as I wanted to avoid script type as this can look tacky and unprofessional.  However after realising that I only have a personal licence got GT typefaces I had to experiment with others such as Brandon Grotesk (see figure 7) which had been used in previous experiments. However  due to the small x-height of this typeface the type looks out of place within the cover making it look unfinished. This lead to the use of Source Code Variable (see figures 8-9) as the 'code' inspired type also resembled a typewriter but in a more obvious way than that of  GT Pressura Pro Trial. The heigh x-height allows the type to occupy the cover without looking lost or unfinished, due to the short nature of the letter. This approach to showcasing letter writing within the book is more appropriate than illustration as its more appropriate for a older target audience. I'm unsure if this typeface fits or looks too technical, therefor I plan to gain feedback in order to help aid development. 

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I've also explored the use of traveling within the book as Toru travels when he feels lost but also travels to visit Naoko at the Ami Hostel in Kyoto, which is a key location within the book. Therefor I decided to focus on the route between Tokyo, where Toru is based and Kyoto (see figure 10) to show the significants of the two cities. Initial looked to use the whole map, however when I looked up the route the line of the route seemed more relevant that just the map itself, therefore I focused on this. I wanted the illustration to be quite simple as having a detailed map may distract from the content of the book, giving a false impression to the potential reader. Initially I thought spreading the route across the front and back would be intersting as I've previously kept all designs on the front cover due to the amount of copy required on the back(see figures 11-12). However when the front cover is seen on its own, the design is very simple, making it lack shelf impact as the design makes sense when the cover is seen all together (see figures 12). Therefore I started to look at different ways to include the whole route within the front cover (see figures 13-15). On its own the route looked too simple, lacking impact which lead to the incorporation of the circle (see figures 14-15), inspired by the Japanese flag. The addition of a black base for the cover allows the red to stand out, boosting the shelf impact of the cover (see figure 15). This experimentation is the most successful as it showcases the elements of travel within the book whilst still having shelf impact due to the use of red and black. 

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