This project was to create new covers for a collection of horror books. The collection included: Dracula - Bram Stoker, Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, The Hound of The Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

 

I wanted to focus on the concept that these books had a lot of layers to their story, and there is a lot of underlying themes that go beneath the basic storyline. When looking at the horror section in bookstores I noticed a lots of the books focused on the bold colours of black and red, which I wanted to stay away from. I hoped to create more delicate pieces of design that would intrigue the viewer to pick up, touch, explore, and from this want to discover the stories that were hidden within the covers. 

 

This gave me the idea to create secrecy and intrigue in my cover design, so I went with the idea to create a window where the viewer can have a brief insight into the story by looking at the different illustrated bookends. I created a different window illustration for each book, (relating the window to the buildings and the era the stories were set). Which were cut out to reveal imagery on the bookends, in the style of a wallpaper pattern, which if you look closely gives you glimpses of some of the imagery from each of the stories of the books, that could be used as clues for the plot. 

 

I also created a set of bookmarks, promotional cards and a sleeve that bound and connected all four books together as a set.