The Cover
Project

The Cover Project is an opportunity to combine the design elements of typography, photography, and illustration into a cohesive and compelling composition.

Your cover project can be a:

  • Book cover

  • Album cover

  • Magazine cover

  • Video game cover

For all cover types, the cover can be real or imaginary. The challenge is to design a cover in a style aligned with the theme and content of the chosen media. (e.g., the selected photos, fonts, colors, etc. of a rock album should evoke a sense of this musical genre.)

You can use Photoshop alone or Photoshop in combination with Illustrator for this project.

Assessment

As with all Pro Projects, keep in mind that your work will be assessed by:

  • Professionalism - Project is done "to spec", follows directions, and fulfills all requirements.

  • Craftsmanship - Project exhibits an admirable application of design principles, an aesthetic style, and use of app workflows.

  • Challenge - There is producible evidence that the final design underwent the entire design process and was significant challenging.

  • Originality - Project content is unique (not copied, derivative, a template, AI generated in part or whole, or a reproduction of a tutorial).

*Note: Images depicting drug use, guns, violence, etc. are not permitted.

Process

1. Communicate

Start by picking a favorite book, album, magazine or game - and give yourself a client questionnaire in order to form a clear design brief.

Here are the essential question you need to ask yourself

  • What is the essence of the story, music, etc. that is conveyed in this media - how can this be made clear visually?

  • Who is the audience? What visual elements (colors, fonts, styles, etc. would resonate with them?)

  • What essential typography is required (title, author, etc.)?

  • What photographic or illustration style best suites this cover?

2. Research

Based on your design brief, visit the following websites and conduct some related searches:

Google (related cover, band, game, etc. search)
Behance (layouts and design styles)
Dafont (tons of fonts)
Google Fonts (curated fonts)
TextureLab (great, free textures)
Pexels (high-res, copyright free photos)
Media Militia (a nice collection of design elements)

If a cover, font, etc resonates with you, screen grab it using the snip tool (PC) or with cmd+opt+4 (Mac). After you have +20 images, drop the collective images into gomoodboard.

Please note to add a comment to the submission that clarifies:

  1. What kind of cover?

  2. What specific album, game, book are you designing?

3. Ideate

Based on your moodboard, grab your sketchbook and draw at least 6 possible cover solutions.

From these initial 6 solutions, selected one. Flip the page over and draw 6 new variations based on the initial solution you selected.

From this second round of 6, pick your top solution.

Before you fully commit, get some feedback from classmates, family, . . . anyone you can. Listen to learn - and be open to suggestions - you might come up with an even better solution with some outside feedback.

4. Formalize

Using Photoshop, take the very best of your moodboard assets and your top solution for your ideations, and design your Cover Project.

Specs and
Standards

 

Your cover should be setup and turned in with the following specs:

Industry-standard dimensions for given media. Research specialty sizes or use the following standards*:

  • Album:10 x 10in

  • Book: 6 x 9in

  • Magazine: 8.5 x 11in

  • Video Game: 135mm x190mm

*Note: Whatever the dimensions, the resolution needs to be 300ppi to assure print quality.

Requirements:

  • 2 or more typographic elements (title, author, band, album, etc.)

  • 2 or more photo element (person, landscape, etc.)

  • 1 or more design element (pattern, vector graphic, texture, signature, etc.) or masked photo element.

  • Use of some fx (layer styles, filters, blend modes, etc)

  • RGB

  • upload .jpg files for your check-in and final submission (but be sure to save your source .psd files as well.)

Issues and
Guidlines

Here are some common challenges and helpful guidelines for cover designers to consider.

Evoke a sense of interest and a clear theme - make your audience eager to engage and learn more. Avoid overly simple/minimal.

If designing a magazine cover, be sure to research and stick to their standard title, layout, fonts, etc.

If creating an existing cover, make sure it is a new concept - not merely a derivative or copy.

If using a photo, be sure to make it more than a copy-n-paste. Use blend modes, illustration, etc to make it more original.