OVERVIEW
For this project, I was asked to re-design a book cover including front cover, back cover, two side panels, and the spine. I chose the book “This Is How It Always Is” by Laurie Frankle, one of my favorite books when I first started reading.
To convey the story of the book, I designed a cover with child-like elements and bright colors.
THE STORY
“This Is How It Always Is” is a story about Claude, a boy who discovered his true identity at a young age. Claude’s family fully supports his decision and tries their best to give him the best things in the world. However, due to the fear of societal judgments and prejudice, the whole family decided to hide Claude’s true identity from the world, causing conflicts among the family members. After all the misunderstandings and disagreements, the family came to realization that hiding their child’s true self is unhealthy. They finally proudly let Claude present himself the way he wished to be seen.
THE DESIGN
I designed an illustration depicting Claude and his family using bright colors to convey the happy ending; I also added some stars to portray the “magical” ending of the story. Furthermore, I made the illustration imitating watercolor with loose and organic shapes to emphasize the child-like style due to most of the plots taking place during Claude’s childhood. Similarly, I chose ButterShine Script for the title of the book since the typeface provides a nice hand-written look; in addition, the texture of the text establishes a crayon-like appearance.
