OUGD503: Studio Brief 01 - Research - To Kill A Mocking Bird Book Covers

I looked at the current covers for To Kill A Mocking Bird and the new novel by Harper Lee, Go Set A Watchman because the cover also features the same mocking bird.

The first design uses a majority of the cover as negative space with the black. The type is the most prominent aspect of the cover making the title "To Kill A Mocking Bird" the first thing you see. Harper Lee's name is the second biggest on the cover. The authors names are usually written the same size if not sometimes bigger than the title because a person will be looking for their name if it is a big name author. It is a classic novel so people instantly recognise the title. To add more depth to the page there is an illustration of a mocking bird to in the colour orange. This is the original cover.

The next design also has the title and the authors name the key feature on the cover. Although this one has a larger illustration featuring a child and a tree instead of just a bird. This one uses neutral tones. For a special edition they used an orange colour instead of the black.

The vintage lee cover has a floral illustration as the background. It is the most image heavy out of the three. It also features a mocking bird. This version is colourful but because of all the bright colours could appeal to a younger generation and probably more female because of the flowers. Whereas the first black looks more gender neutral.

Go Set a Watchman fits as a sequel. Uses orange texture for the background. The image and text are the same size and each take a 1/3 of the page. The sticker has the same illustration as the second edition of To Kill a Mocking Bird to show they're by the same author.