Design Case Study: It’s Deeper Than We Think

Most nebulae are of vast size, reaching sizes of even hundreds of light years in diameter. -Wikipedia “Nebula”

Design in its simplest form is often profound.  Think of how complex an Apple product is; but most people realize that the visuals all come together in a unified message.

I recently had the pleasure of working on author Paula Casill’s latest book cover.  She was clear on the tone and feel that she wanted the art to have.  She wanted clean lines and a mild sense of masculinity to come through in the font.  She wanted the text to occupy certain zones on the page and she wanted the colors of the cover to evoke the content of the book: DREAM CHASERS.

Let’s translate the requests into design decisions that may help you when you want to create a new marketing piece:

FONT
The chosen font is a sans-serif font ie a font without serifs (added decorations at points along the letters.)  When you want a clean look, start with fonts that have the same line thickness throughout each letter.  The boldness of this font suggests strength which nods to the masculine feel.

FIELDS
There are two main blocks of text in the design: title and subtitle with the author’s name.  When you are creating a new piece, take care to order your information according to importance.

Here, the title is the most important, so it’s centered and the largest item on the page.  (Notice how it grabs your attention?  That’s what titles should do.)

The subtitle is next, so we bring it down into the second requested field and reduce its size.  More often than not, keeping the font the same or similar in style keeps the design uncluttered.  Lastly, the author’s name will follow in the same size, but to distinguish it visually from the subtitle, we change its color.

IMAGE
The background art was created to include colors requested by the author.  Those colors worked for the theme and some of the other colors ware added as accents.  There are abstract shapes in the cover that remind me of clouds when you see them.

Color theory would also tell you that purples are very regal, luxurious and royal while the teal blue family was used to evoke the limitless possibilities of sea and sky- a very present theme of this book.

When you choose colors, consider your target audience and what message you need to convey to them.  … All right, I’ll admit that this color palate also happens to be a favorite of the authoress – how appropriate though, right?

So, there’s quite a bit of thought and purpose that goes into design especially at its simplest form.  It may seem easy, but case studies like this show many things to consider when designing for your brand!  Need some help?  Contact me 😉

Leave me a comment and tell me how you plan to use one of these design tips to freshen up your marketing materials!