Animal Farm

A brief from Bucks: Designing for a live brief. Designing a book cover for Penguin books as part of a competition. The brief entailed we select a book name from the supplied list, and then research and develop the front cover, spine, and back for a book. Animal Farm by George Orwell is the book cover detailed below.
A bit about the design: Evolutionary: From back cover to front cover - the personification of pigs whom are assigned human characteristics, e.g. bipedalism = the ability to walk on two legs. The pigs are meant to be humanised in the sense they are becoming more 'human-like' every-day. These pigs are almost going through an evolutionary tale - "four legs good, two legs better..." this quote represents the cover perfectly. The contradictions between the pigs, and their hate for 'humans' makes clear their intent for a "dictator like "political system within the Animal Farm kingdom. My design represents these conflicts, and all the contradictions in a subtle way. Typography style is that of constructivism era, (communists).
Typography: I created using Franklin Gothic as a template. The type was manually set, and cut using a laser machine, of which I then letter pressed the outcome for my book cover. The Type construction in 'Orwell' - a scroll of the second "l" is indicative of the descent from knowledge and being able to write descending into violence.Hierarchy is noticeable when looking at Napolean in comparison to his blind followers. Superior Authoritarian figure takes prominence in the foreground. in which he is composed, this enhances the show of power, along with the colours red and gold, which are typical of a Communist State colours. Thes communist colours are indicative of the known horror of this book. Vanity is big in modern society, and this representation I tried to put through with this cover, by representing Napolean in such a way. Referring to this quote: "All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others."
Themes in Animal Farm:
  • Revolution
  • Communism
  • Satirical
  • Betrayal
  • Group Mentality
  • Hatred


Outlined Characters for Animal Farm Cover


Windmill in the representation of a (Military) Grenade




Napolean Sketch

Evolutionary scale of humans - Easy to decipher.

Animal Farm Concepts

Final Animal Farm book Cover, Spine and Back

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