I created a cover design for the book "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton for the Puffin Design Awards. I aimed to create a design that would appeal to the target market of teenagers, to pick up and buy for themselves, and adults to purchase for them.
The car wheel illustration is based on the wheel of a Ford t-bird, driven by one of the characters in the book. I chose the red background colour to represent the danger and death in the story. The texture and barbed wire added conveys the dark mood at certain points in the book. The simple illustration style would appeal to the target market. The standard edition paperback would still be eye-catching but also cheaper to produce. For the special edition, the book would be wrapped in patterned paper tied with a bootlace. I think this would encourage people to interact with the book and purchase it, as it would be quite different to others on the shelf. The label on the wrapped edition can also be re-used as a bookmark.
Front cover.
Back cover.
Close up of cover and bookmark.
Special edition, wrapped in wheel print paper tied with a bootlace.
Special edition and standard edition.
Special edition and standard edition.
