Virginia Woolf
Book Cover Design | Student Work
This is a series of book covers for three of the most popular works of Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse, The Wave, and Mrs. Dalloway. All of the covers are original illustrations done with Photoshop and Wacom tablet. Each book cover has a different style depending on the narrative style that Virginia used in the story.
Virginia Woolf
Book Cover Design | Student Work
This is a series of book covers for three of the most popular works of Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse, The Wave, and Mrs. Dalloway. All of the covers are original illustrations done with Photoshop and Wacom tablet. Each book cover has a different style depending on the narrative style that Virginia used in the story.
Overview
Typography
Sabon LT Bold
Sabon LT Pro Roman
Target Audience
Virginia Woolf aficionados that might relate the painting styles with the narrative. Also, people who might understand why paintings were the choice of medium, as her sister was a painter and made her original book covers.
Objectives
Create a system of three book covers by the same author or genre and communicate the feeling of the stories through imagery.
Software Used
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign,
and Wacom Tablet.
Book Covers
Mrs. Dalloway | Final Design
To The Lighthouse | Final Design
The Wave | Final Design
Mrs. Dalloway | Draft
To The Lighthouse | Draft
The Wave | Draft
Here is a comparison of the final design with the penultimate design. We can see the last changes that were implemented before finalizing the covers.
The solid background behind the title on the spine was removed, as well as the drop cap on the paragraph located in the dust jacket.
The author's bio was re-located, and The Wave cover design was completely re-done.
Illustrations
Mrs. Dalloway
Omniscent narrator who knows everything about the characters and shifts point of view constantly; I tried to communicate this narrative style through an expressionist painting.
To The Lighthouse
Uses a stream of consciousness narrative style with an anonymous narrator. Since the narrator gives us insight into the characters' feelings, I decided to make it a watercolor painting.
Everything seems to be dreamy, and a theme of the story is bringing order to the chaos of life. Because watercolor paintings are unpredictable and sometimes we can't control the outcome, I felt this style exemplified the theme of the story.
The Wave
It uses a stream of consciousness narrative as an experimental novel which is why I decided to represent the waveform in an abstract way.
The waves and the apple tree serves as motifs of the story which is why I decided to incorporate them on the book cover.
Process Work
I created a system for the book covers since they had to be connected to create a series. All of the book covers have the author's signature in the same location, the title of the story at the top, the publisher's logo on the spine, and a brief synopsis in the back. Even though the imagery is rendered in different artistic styles, they all fit within the system.