Penguin History and Book Cover Design

Looking upon Penguins early work, starting with their vertical grid, which was first used in 1951, this style allowed the integration of illustrations onto penguin covers. This design ensured continuity and consistency with the earlier Penguin standard designs through its three divisions and the use of colour. the central area was most commonly used for simple line illustrations but could also contain an extract from a book review or some 'Blurb'. The first title to use the vertical grid itself did not appear until 1952 - on Synge's 'Collected Poems'. With just some exceptions, such as Edward Youngs 'One of our submarines', fiction books adopted this design, but the crime series- apart from the Games Designs - continued almost exclusively with the horizontal grid until 1962.

The vertical grid layout was designed for the inclusion of illustrations, at first simple ones yet as time went on the illustrations grew larger and were allowed to invade the flanking orange borders. This was seen as the first steps towards creative and greater graphic freedom, this style was first seen on Richard Bissell's 'The Pajama Game'.

Commercial pressures on Penguins designers meant that cinema and television were taken advantage of whenever possible, this meant the use of photography. Integrating these photographs into the confines of the vertical grid was not always satisfactory (Breakfast at Tiffanys).

With the influence of Romek Marber, the designer behind Penguins most used and most famous grid system (The Marber Grid), Penguins covers became more creative and expressionate throughout the 1960's. With the cultural change of the time, the colours used on the covers got bolder and the illustrations more in depth than in covers previous. With the information such as author and the title of the book at the top of the cover, the designer had freedom to fill the rest of the page with colour, imagery and anything they chose to.

Keeping the same style as the Marber grid by keeping all typographic information at the top of the page yet being more expressive with the type. In the 1960s strict observance of the grid was no longer necessary, but because the covers were commissioned with care and were of a high standard with a consistent typographic feel, the series look was maintained. This policy would be continued through the next decade under the art direction of David Pelham.

The different styles of illustrating a cover varied through the sixties with hand drawings, prints, photographs and combinations of multiple medias, for example, Jack Trevors 'Live Now, Pay Later' used collage of photography and prints and also extended up into the top section of its grid, a freedom not normally exercised on covers with the Marber Grid. The technique of using prints and images together creates a bold layered style, the photography looks bolder and clearer in comparison to its printed background, this is a strong style. 

The penguin crime series during the Marber period of the 60's and 70's employed a green stock to print onto, the top of the book remaining consistently grided and also green while the designer had freedom to change the styles on the empty space.