Wednesday 13 August 2014

Covers, 3 possible approaches

A concept cover was one of the first things I did for Break!!  I recently bashed out covers of our various vapour-ware supplements for the official website and thought it was about time I looked again at the covers (and at some point the logo too!) as I now have a better understanding of the product and its intended audience.

Note: I'm using old (lo-res) images for placeholders on these covers. I fully intended to redraw them!

Novel vibe

  • Less is more.
  • Character as focus for front cover (back of character shown on rear!)
  • Colour coded spines. 
  • Note: I've not finished the rear cover illustrations! Could have some sort of visual gag on the back, which could be a nice touch. A fairy picking a back pocket, a promethean scratching his backside, an amusing tattoo.



Gamebox vibe

  • Nod to a core inspiration, NES era videogames.
  • Badges for age, number of players to emphasis game-ness.
  • Distinctive slant brand (useful to identity break!! compatible products at a glance.)
  • Back cover used to promote other related books.


Manga vibe

  • Full bleed illustrations


Anyways, love to know your thoughts/preferences...

PS Official website is a work-in-progress. Any thoughts on how to 'sell' Break!! would be welcome too! (I quite like Dungeon Worlds stripped back pitch). Please feel free to sign up to the newsletter, which we won't abuse, honest!

4 comments:

  1. In order of favorite to least:
    1. Gamebox
    2. Manga
    3. Novel
    All three are awesome though, at the end of the day I am going to buy it regardless. Soooo looking forward to this!

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  2. Yep, gamebox, manga, novel for me too.

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  3. Thanks Guys.

    Really I should have kept colours, and images the same to make a cleaner comparison.

    Gamebox is closest to the core inspiration for Break!!. I'm hoping the internal pages will feel a bit like a glorified NES instruction manual toon. Rey has also indicated his preference for this direction. The graphic design elements could do with a little more love.

    I still like the purity of the Manga ones though and think the Novel approach might work better as an inside cover.

    I will also need to play around with the main images. Should they be crazy epic scenes? Character close-ups? Something else. I will all have a similar treatment or a linking theme.

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