Chiếc giày Bông / Be careful what you wish for

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by Du Dương

One of my recent work as an Art Director for Du Bút Publisher. Big shout out to the amazing team that support and deliver this adorable visual in such a short time frame.

Art Director: Quynh Than

Illustrator: Tất Sỹ - Chiêu Quang

Layout & Typeset: Moon Trang

Editor: Phan Hải Anh (Quacakidieu)

Moodboard

A modern twisted fairy tales. I was inspired by the classic, vintage book design of the past - combined with a touch of chic, cheerful and modern look. The author asked for a feminine feel so I opted for the sunsets tone or cotton candy-like.

Sketches

I provided several scams, each brought a different look and feel. Below is the chosen one, taken from our my meeting notebook. I love making thumbnail sketches - it's quick and easy and proved efficient in delivering the idea across, without letting each side digging so deep into the details and forget the big picture.

Other thumbnail sketches that din't make it. Notice how it progressed from classic to modern, from very decorative to very minimal.

The cover

Such an honour to work with talented and quick-minded artists like Sy and Quang. They got the idea completely, turning the assets around professionally and got things on time.

Along the way, Sy suggested some alternative compositions that could work. This is an example of how creative thinking works: it works when one tries to improve the existing condition to make it better. I personally love the simplicity and cleanliness of this version. We shared both with the client but they still much preferred to go ahead with the initial choice.

Layout & typeset

My job is not only creating the cover, but also styling the inside to be consistent with the look and feel from the cover. A book should work as a whole, it speaks as on unity from the choice of typeface, the illustration style, the cover the design to how big the font should be. These might be invisible to the readers' eyes, but they are the first to see "something's is off" if elements of the book fails to connect as one.