Assignment 2: Book Cover Redesign (Presentable Concepts & Finished Art)

Due to a 'Server Rejected' error at upload, I was unable to upload some images lately, so this is late. I've searched for a resolution to this, and found a Blogger help forum full of people having the same problem. I'd expect this from Sites, just not here. As usual the help forum is plugged up with people trying to get Google's attention.

 

Here's some more sketches/mock-ups that should've actually been uploaded in the last batch, the planet concept was scrapped, then brought back, then scrapped again.

The first set was going to use photographed backgrounds where letterforms were physically engraved/carved/written on the surface being photographed. This didn't go well, so I attempted to emulate the same effect using Photoshop.

The 2nd set was a re-visitation of my first concept (shape of a planet & stardate), I wanted to use slight coloration to distinguish between planets. Darkening the planet to prevent it from overpowering the type proved a challenge because if it was too dark, it wouldn't show up on the page (and waste black ink), too light and the planets would overpower.

Finally, the concept I stayed with, and my completed version of the design!

Constructing a font was a much better decision out of all of the other choices! I put together a template file to make each letterform using the same method I was going to use to make a calculator-ish font for the stardate concept (create a 'master' symbol and use parts of that to build each letter of the alphabet). Even if it didn't meet the requirements that concept ended up assisting me anyway!

As for the new design, this font came from a decision to try and emulate letters spelled out in stars and constellations, but I went in a different direction by using hollow circles as 'joints', and connecting these together. The end result looked more contemporary, and my background (revisiting the planet concept) is a faint cloudy pattern with color variation.