OUGD503 - Penguin Design Awards: Initial Sketches

OUGD503 - Studio Brief 1/Penguin Design Awards 

Initial sketches

From my research into the book,author, audience I was confident in creating a range of initial sketches that would articulate my first design directions would could then be evaluated  and developed accordingly. I took inspiration from the feminist art developed in my research when designing using the iconography in metaphor ways to create stronger statements within the connotations of the pieces. The first concept is based on the most basic of iconography, using the female toilet symbol as the largest generalisation of women possible. This holistically represents the title of the book while pointing a satirical gesture at how this image is painfully far from representing the woman is the individual. 

Inspired by the bold nature of the feminist art I used this design to highlight one of the most popular feminist issues of double standards when it comes too nipples. This sense of double standards that its inappropriate for women to show their nipples however its perfectly fine for men is a strange concept that feels outdated in the 21st century yet is still an issue within society. The high quality photography zoomed into to the focal point of the nipple will create a strong and eye-catching aesthetic. When analysing this I concluded it may be inappropriate to display in book shops and I would have trouble taking original imagery.  

Adopting the satirical tone of voice of the book and Moran's personality I came up with a conceptual design strategy to use fruit representative of the vagina to create a bold playful statement that is eye-catching yet would not be inappropriate to display publicly. This Embodies the authors personality and books tone of voice in a playful engaging aesthetic that will make the audience double take and want to look closer at the cover making them interact with the design and be more likely to remember the title creating a talking point around its aesthetic. 

Another key issue within the book is body image and beauty standards/conventions. This cover concept uses a similar satirical style within its aesthetic using a faceless silhouette surrounded by different emojis to represent how women are expected to chop and change their apparence to match current 'trends' this could also hint at darker connotations of digital manipulation within advertising which presents unrealistic body standards for women. Evaluating this design it was clear I would have to develop the aesthetic further as it currently feels similarly claustrophobic to the current cover design. 

Continuing with this theme highlighted in the above design this design uses a mannequin to represent how women are posed and shaped by society into what it deems to be a 'woman'. This sense of moulding women leaves no room for individuality and suggests they are puppets controlled by society, this offers a deep contextual insight into the social place of women which is satirically talked about through the content of the book.