Inscape is my college’s art and literary magazine which hosts a cover design contest every year. Since it’s a collection of unrelated art, poetry, and short fiction, the aim is to create a vague enough cover that it can encompass all aspects of the collection. The design needed to include a cover, spine, and back, with the logo and year on the front. I chose a vector typewriter to serve as a piece of art that could represent the written portions of the collection, and a corresponding font.

The logo was predetermined, as well as the measurements, but everything else is my own creation. Using a photograph as reference, I created the typewriter entirely using paths and gradients in Illustrator (with type for the keys and “Favorit” insignia). Taking from the same color palette, I then used various gradients to create a background that added a little depth without distracting. The back cover features a jumble of the letters found in “Inscape” in various sizes to emphasize the theme of the typewriter without drawing away from the imagery on the front.

A few close-ups of the typewriter follow.