Shape & Color
Process
Initial Cover Content for Cookbooks
Book 1: Egg
Front Cover — Egg , Blanche Vaughan
Spine — Egg
Back Cover — Where would we be without eggs? Their versatility has made them the foundation of recipes from all over the world. We eat them in many different guises: for breakfast, lunch, tea, and supper. This simple ingredient is the star of the kitchen. Soft-boiled, gently poached, crisp-fried, or creamy and scrambled, the breakfast egg has become an institution, and I can’t think of a better way to start the day. There are recipes here to bring out the best flavors of the morning egg: anchovy soldiers to dip into runny yolks, eggs scrambled with Spanish black pudding or fried with spices, herbs, and chili. For sweeter days, there are muffins with fruit and fluffy pancakes to cover with crunchy bacon and maple syrup. Despite eggs being one of the most familiar ingredients in the kitchen, I am constantly surprised, delighted, and inspired by the variety of recipes they can produce, and I hope you will be too.
Book 2: Toast
Front Cover — Toast , Raquel Pelzel
Spine — Toast
Back Cover — Easy enough for breakfast, yet suitable for brunch, lunch, dinner and even dessert, the possibilities of heaping beautiful seasonal ingredients on bread are limitless. Organized by season, Toast features 50 recipes from savory to sweet that unleash the power of fresh ingredients and simple techniques guaranteed to impress and satisfy any kitchen audience on any occasion. Award-winning food writer Raquel Pelzel’s relatable and accessible recipes span generations and cultures, and shatter expectations of what this humble favorite can be.
Book 3: Tacos
Front Cover — Tacos , Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman
Spine — Tacos
Back Cover — Tacos is a deep dive into the art and craft of one of Mexico’s greatest culinary exports. Start by making fresh tortillas from corn and flour, and variations that look to innovative grains and flavor infusions. Next, master salsas, from simple chopped condiments to complex moles that simmer for hours and have flavor for days. Finally, explore fillings, both traditional and modern from a pineapple-topped pork al pastor to pastrami with mustard seeds.
Preliminary Sketches
Illustrated Type
I chose to create my own type due to the unique forms I was creating. I focused on simple geometric forms sans serif, and I first sketched out a version that was scanned and then traced in illustrator to perfect and smooth the lines.
Digital Iterations
I chose the top right palette because it creates a light and fun atmosphere which I feel really matches the tone of these simple cookbooks. It reminds me of a more lighthearted version of a primary color scheme.
Feedback from Critique 1:
Overall Theme:
The color scheme captures the light and fun nature of the series and consistency with type placement work well between the covers. The typeface is very thin compared with the illustrated type so this could be made thicker to define the hierarchy and coordinate the theme better. The use of a serif font could hint more at the idea of a cookbook.
Back Cover:
Reduce the amount of information on the back so that it isn’t so cluttered, and make sure it’s placement is consistent, and could play around with putting it outside of the illustration so it doesn’t take away from the forms of the illustration. Making the nest of the chicken more identifiable as straw and not feet.
Spine:
Keep the spine design simple, but consider wrapping the illustration around the spine and placing the text on the spine accordingly. Increase the width of the spine so that the front and back cover don’t bleed onto it when it is folded. Flip the title text on the spine so that it isn’t vertical.
Cover:
Consider flipping the chicken so that it is more recognizable, although some liked the chicken with the head on the back cover. Could add legs on the part of the chicken on the front cover so it’s more recognizable. Enlarge the authors name so that it isn’t so contrasted with the strength of the title and illustration. Could put the Authors name bottom center and float the images up a bit. Consider bringing the authors name towards the illustration, and having it interact more with that. The egg is difficult for some to identify as a word, so alter the lettering to be more clear. The alignment on the Taco and Toast text is disorienting because of the rags.
Further Iteration
Individual Critique
Watch for small white space or overlapped pieces in the illustration. Choose a lighter font for the information, it conflicts with the hierarchy of the title and draws the attention unnecessarily. The font size on the back of the page is too large and the text doesn’t have to fill all of the empty space. Play around with the placement of the text to integrate it more into the composition of the back cover. Watch the distance between the illustrations and authors name, because on the Egg cover it is pretty tight. Look into adjusting the line thickness for the S in Toast and the Egg font to match more closely the thick font of Taco. Set the layout for the two person title and then apply that to the other two, because you want to start with the odd one out when setting a theme for layout.
Final Covers
I find that many times cookbooks have cluttered unappealing covers, that use literal images of food instead of conveying an experience. I chose these three simple cookbooks to design for, and I wanted to convey the enjoyable experience that one would have using the books in their kitchen. I chose simple illustrations with a fin and lighthearted color scheme that draw the cook in and convey the simplicity and ease of the recipes within. Due to the simplicity of the title I was able to illustrate it using forms that draw the eye and define a clear hierarchy between the title and any other information being shared. I enjoyed creating the letters myself, because it really gave me an appreciation for the complexity of an individual letterform no matter how geometric. I wrapped the illustrations around the cover to create a continuous theme, and draw the readers eye from the front to back covers.
