The Beginnings of Design
As I have gotten a a sense of what I find successful in a book cover design and it's branding, I have begun to dive into the process for myself. I have decided to work on rebranding Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. To get the creative juices flowing I have reread the book and marked down different descriptions/visuals that I think have potential for a cover. Using stick notes I write down what I noticed in the text and placed it as a bookmark on that page as I read. Starting this weekend I am going to begin working on turning these ideas in to rough drafts.
Something that I plan to avoid with my designs is the use of Jules Feiffer's illustrations from the novel. This will not only distinguish the work from the original branding, but also let me design more freely. In addition to that, I found through my research that Feiffer wasn't fond of his illustrations for The Phantom Tollbooth.
"“I had very little regard for what I did on The Phantom Tollbooth. I thought the text was brilliant, and I thought I was imitating illustrators who were better than I was. I did the art on tracing paper. Those illustrations are now legendary, apparently. People say they treasure them— they’re their favorite part of the book—and I don’t respond to any of this. I look back on the work and I think it’s good work, but I can’t say I have any visceral response to it. Unlike The Odious Ogre [2010], the last book I did with Norton. There I take great pride in the work, and I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done, and I take it out and look at it with great admiration. But I don’t look back at The Phantom Tollbooth, except for a few drawings, as an example of my work that I like to be reminded of.”
- Jules Feiffer
