Jurassic Park Book Redesign
The Problem
I chose to redesign the book cover for Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. The original book cover is a classic and well known for its design. Although it’s a classic, I have noticed that many book covers are updated or redone as time goes on, so I wanted to try it out with the cover for this book. I felt that with a modern touch it could become more appealing to newer audiences of the book.
The Solution
To revamp the cover, while keeping a similar style to the original:
Cover needs to have a central focal image that draws the attention of customers
Font needs to be similar to original, with same sizing and hierarchy
Color should be introduced, instead of being just black and white
My main goal with this redesign is to take something that has around for a while and is classic, and give it a new modern adaptation. While there are no direct issues with the original, I wanted to create versions of the cover that introduced new ideas.
My Design Process
Step 1: Research
Analyzing book covers
I first started my process by going through pinterest and looking at various book covers. Some covers were made for fun for a particular book, while others were the actual cover of books. Something that many of these cover designs had in common was they showed something from the book as the image.
Step 2: Building
Sketches
To start I came up with 24 sketches of different ideas I had and began brainstorming color palettes. Each idea I came up with included an important aspect of the book or a memorable scene. Once I felt I exhausted my ideas through sketching, I sifted through and chose the ones that really stood out among the rest.
After choosing the three I felt were the best ideas, I began to make higher resolution sketches of them while also working on color palettes to match the ideas. This was to prepare for the final design process in InDesign.
Finished design
After finishing up the higher resolution sketches, I began setting up InDesign templates to mock a book cover. The template had a front, spine, and back cover. I started my process by working on the front covers first and then moving to the other two locations. The front covers held the most detail, with smaller details being placed on the spine and back of the book. After laying everything out, I began adding the color to the covers and finalizing them.
After this, I went into a critique to get some feedback on my designs. This helped me find minor details and spacing issues that I previously did not notice.
Final Version 1
This was one of the final versions I came up with for the book cover. The front cover is mean to represent being inside the mouth of a dinosaur and peering out.
Final Version 2
This is the second version I came up with. It represents the chase scene where the T-rex chases the jeep in the book and movie which is a famous scene.
Final Version 3
This was the final version I came up with. It’s a nod to the original but instead of a skeleton it’s the actual T-rex with blood dripping down, nodding to the graphic content of the book.
