Penguin Random House - In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote, published 1966 is a non-fiction novel which tells the story of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family which occurred in Holcomb, Kansas USA.

At the time the murders were national news and on learning of them, Capote travelled down to Holcomb and began to interview locals about the events which took place, the murderers (Richard Hickock and Perry Smith) were arrested 6 weeks after the crime had taken place, and both executed. Capote spent six years completing the book which was published in 1966.

Capotes story follows the murders of four members of the Clutter Family at their home in Holcomb, Kansas, by former prisoners Richard 'Dick' Hickock and Perry Edward Smith in the early morning hours of November 15, 1959. Herbert Clutter, his wife and two youngest children were the victims of this horrific crime by the two criminals who drew up the plan to rob the house and leave no victims before then fleeing to mexico, the pair were told that the Clutter home contained a safe full of money (Up to around 10,000 Dollars), Richard Hickock was told this by his former cell mate who happened to work for the Clutter family some years before. This story turned to be false as Herbert Clutter did all his business by cheques to keep track of business better, once discovering there was no safe in the house the two convicts woke the family, gagged and bound them and ransacked the house in search of valuables, though all they found was a pair of binoculars, a transistor radio and around $50 in cash, the pair then kept to the original plan of leaving no suspects and proceeded to murder the four members of the family. 

The pair fled the clutter house but without the loot they were expecting they couldn't complete there original plan properly, the pair went from the Clutter home to the central Kansas State area, there, Hickock wrote a series of hot cheques, when they eventually made there way down to Mexico, where Smith spoke about catching a huge fish off of the coast of mexico near mexico city, the pair ran out of money and pawned the binoculars and had to travel back to USA where they drove up through California, from there they went to Omaha, Nebraska then to Iowa where they stole a car which they used to return to the Kansas area before travelling to florida and then Nevada where the pair were apprehended by Alvin Dewey (Head of the Kansas Bureau of Investigations, the KBI) six weeks after the murders took place on the 31st of December 1959. The pair were both sentenced to execution by hanging in the state of Kansas. Capote was present for the execution following his continued interest in the case which he took thousands of notes on and helped conclude his book. 

Capotes book though a true crime novel and a piece of non fiction literature, its style was incredibly unique at the time, the book itself is written as if it were a thriller novel with dialogue, multiple opinions and simultaneous triple narrative, which describes the lives of the murderers, the victims, and other members of the rural community in alternating sequences. It is the second biggest selling true crime novel in the world. 

Key Aspects of the case which can be used in the design -

- News paper clippings from US news papers, specifically the Garden City Telegram which covered the full case as it was local news. And others which were significant. Picture ones or large type highlighting the crimes.

- Evidence from the crime such as;
  - License Plate which fell off the car as the culprits fled (Good Screen Printed Idea or monoprint methods)

  - Bloody Boot print which was found inside the house from Smiths motorcycle boot.

  - Tire track in the dirt track leading away from the Cutler house from the car used to flee in. 

- Both Culprits Tattoos 

- Cutler Family house - shape, architecture, colours, pictures drawings, prints of the house. Key features (Trees, woodland, dirt track leading to the house.

- Objects taken by the criminals - Transistor radio - Binoculars - $50 dollars in cash

- Portion of the 23rd Psalm read to Hickock before his execution

"The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed is the name of the Lord. May the Lord have mercy on your soul."

- Teddy bear on chair belonging to Clutter daughter (Police Photograph)

- Map of route which Smith and Hickock followed on there escape (Using pins and string to show the route of escape the criminals used (Police Board style) (Investigation Style)

• Kansas City
• Mexico
• Through California
• Omaha, Nebraska
• Iowa
• Kansas City
• Florida
• Nevada

- Culprit finger prints taken by Kansas Bureau of Investigations

- Culprit Booking shots (Numbers)

Former covers - 

Eric Spiekerman - Typomaniac - Type for Screen

- Now when designing type, it is common practice now to produce a type which will work on all platforms and not like 10 years ago when it would be designing type for paper and then designing type for screen which used to be two totally different processes, todays world it is the same process.

- Spiekerman talks about the process of designing for a small screen, for example for an iPhone app, he says that printing out a lot of iPhone templates and drawing ideas straight on to the screen part of the phone to save time and get a wider range of ideas generated, though a 'Primitive' style of doing the designs, it is easier rather than making a few digital mock ups and prototypes of the apps design. Spiekerman believes that now more than in recent times of the computer age, the designer is working with pen and paper again.

- "The more type you have the more brand you have" The type face is the main source to identify branding without splashing the logo everywhere, consistent type shows good strong branding which is recognisable. Web and App should have a consistency to keep the brand strong too.

- Talking about working for red bull, who give the designers who they hire freedom, as long as its 'cool'. Especially for the Red Bull Music Academy, where they created a series of posters for their world tour and Spiekerman explains how he got to work with a range of cool young illustrators on the project.

Green apps, no one does green, sticks out on the page. - Spiekerman says that he used green when designing an app because he felt its a colour which is not used to often in app icon design, he showed it in context to other highly used and downloaded apps and it sticks out immensely next to the common blue app icons that are around. The app icon design should always begin on paper.

Rebranding - before and after , only a slight change to the typography makes the audience think nothing has changed yet there is only improvements, Spiekerman believes that this is the best outcome for a rebrand.

Even for screen based projects always start with pen paper.

Icons - Not totally symmetrical, adds more character.
The font is animated, build animations without leaving the font.

Penguin Random house

Responsive Briefs -

Penguin Random House -

Brief - To design a book cover for one of three choices of books (Categorised) keeping it relevant, clear and eye catching for both on shop book shelves and for digital means too (Ebooks, Kindle platforms).

Categories:

Children's Cover Award - The secret 
Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 & 3/4 - Sue Townsend 

"You are invited to design a cover look for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole to bring this much-loved classic to a new generation of readers. The design should ensure that this original and hilariously funny book remains a must-read for every child.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 16.6mm), incorporating the PUFFIN branding and all additional elements such as the barcode."

The winning design will need to:

• - have an imaginative concept
• - be an original interpretation of the brief
• - be competently executed with strong use of typography
• - appeal to the broadest possible audience for the book
• - show a good understanding of the marketplace
• - have a point of difference from other books that it will be competing against in the market
• - be able to sit on the shelves of a supermarket or ebook store as easily as it sits on those of more traditional bookshops 

Adult Fiction Cover Award - To Kill A Mocking Bird - 
Harper Lee 

To Kill A Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece of modern literature and was voted the most loved book of the last sixty years by The Times readers in October 2009. It has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold over thirty million copies worldwide. So no pressure.

We would like you to design a new and classic cover for this book. The trick here will be to come at it from a fresh perspective and to avoid repeating the obvious iconography from the many previous editions in print. If you can get your hands on a copy of the book in order to get a sense of the beautiful writing, this will only help to inspire your design. The cover should feel timeless and confident, and appeal to a whole new generation of readers.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy supplied and be designed to the specified design template – B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine width 20 mm, incorporating the ARROW branding and all additional elements such as the barcode.

The winning design will need to:

• - have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• - be competently executed with strong use of typography
•  - appeal to a contemporary readership
• - show a good understanding of the marketplace
• - have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

Adult Non Fiction Cover Award - 
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

In Cold Blood is regarded by many critics as the pioneering work in the true crime genre. It is a startling, true account of a gruesome crime and a skilfully researched piece of journalism – it is a literary masterpiece brilliantly imagined which reads like the most gripping of thrillers.

• - have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• - be competently executed with strong use of typography
• - appeal to a contemporary readership
• - show a good understanding of the marketplace
• - have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

User Interface Ideas

The brief: Create an immersive and engaging screen based user experience for a media of your choice, this could include; website, app, streaming service, title sequence, ident's, onscreen graphic overlays, etc.

User Friendly interface possible choices-

Apps 

- Sound Cloud

- DePop

- Sky Sports App

- Spotify

- Blogger

- Google Mail

- Amazon Shopping

- song kick

- BBC Sport

- Facebook

Websites

- Blogger

- Estudio

- Pop Boutique

- BBC Sport

- BBC iPlayer

- LCA Library

Interfaces 

- Apple Music

- iTunes

- Amazon Prime TV

- Netflix

Possible problems and solutions

App - Soundcloud - Currently Rated 3 Stars on iTunes - Main Issues on current app - Adverts cutting into song time and inability to interact with ones own profile (i.e change details on profile and change profile image) As well as crashing during loading of a song, many complaints about the app as well are to do with notifications or the lack of accessibility to them. Another comment was the the app "Seems So Dated" and that it feels "Unmanaged" and this persons overall opinion of the app is that it is "Useless". Possible solutions would to bring the app into the present while also keeping its core beliefs at heart, sound cloud has always kept a unique look and also an integrity and belief in music, and looking through the ratings of there app and website, it feels that they have lost there integrity, so a refreshed look and more friendly interface could revitalise this music application.

App - Pantone - current app rated 1 star on iTunes - main issues is that it does nothing which says in description. Changing it currently to an app which can identify Pantones' through the camera when pointed at colours, the app identifies colours.

App - Creative news - Art, Culture, Music, Current Affairs, Jobs, Networking? Creative app to open up news for students, stepping away from useless issues of celeb culture and looking at news which is important but making it relative, easy to digest and engaging for students, with options to highlight key points students look at, as well as keep on top of cultural events too, geographical aspect, interest driven news. With interface to share opinions and debate?

Streaming Service - Amazon Prime Video - One of the best collections of subscription paid online movies and tv shows, the streaming service is on the same site as all the other amazon services (Shopping, reading and others) the site is relative clear yet has a lot of content and gets even more jumbled once the amazon video page is accessed, the huge page of square images to show there films and tv shows is noisy and cluttered, there is no real system in place and due to this the same movies are shown in different categories all down the page on a number of occasions - Solution - Give Amazon Prime Video a sleek new clean look to fit with its image, making it clear and simple to use while also giving the audience an engaging experience that makes it easier for them to collate and watch new programmes as well as their favourites.