Neverwhere

Book Cover Redesign

Research into Neil Gaiman, the Author

I found out that Neverwhere was a Television series at one point. His genres of writing include fantasy, horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy.

Genre: Fantasy

Neverwhere is one of his fantasy books, although some feel that it is a bit science-fiction-y. I would also describe it as dark fantasy.

Mood/Tone

• Surreal
• Dark
• Magical
• Witty and sometimes silly

Setting

• 2oth century London (Upper and the fictional Lower)

Visual Language Notes/Ideas While Reading

• Map of London (umbrella or otherwise)
• London: Upper and Lower. Show the dichotomy?
• Doors
• Place/Setting
• Color of City
• Prey, On the Run
• The Beast
• Door’s Clothes (pg 29)
• Wanted Poster (The one Made my Mr. Croupe and Mr. Vandemar)
• Rats
• Passages, Tunnels, etc. of the Sewers of Lower London
• “beneath the streets of London” (pg 47)
• “You better pray you haven’t stepped too far in” — would be a nice quote on the cover
• The room without doors (showing how Door travels)
• “It’s one or the other. Nobody ever gets both” (pg 88. Describing how you can’t be in both Lower and Upper London.)
• The Dark Bridge
• The watch with a blank face (pg 108)
• “Falling through the cracks” of London (pg 136. I imagine doing something with sidewalk cracks or something.)
• Sewers
• Corruption
• The Angel
• Keys — Could be shown hanging from Door’s Neck on a string
• Trains
• The Labyrinth — but include the sewers, tunnels and trains into it? So it is like how there travels were in the book.

Original Covers

Darker Covers

These two depict place well. One also shows the two worlds next to each other which is nice. However, they don’t capture the humor and magical nature of Neil Gaiman’s writing. The colors are nice though.

Less dark. More illustrative and silly.

The brown one is not dark enough. It really doesn’t fit the book in my opinion. I don’t understand the color choice. It is gross and unappealing.

I like how the green one is grungy, but in a sophisticated way. The illustration and type is fitting, yet I do not like the color choices. The green and yellow seem to bright and fun.

Commentaries on the Book (sourced from goodreads.com)

• “fantasy is a reflection of reality, but fantastic”
• “reality through the lens of imagination”
• “a clever take on Alice in Wonderland”
• “great fantasy, wonderful sense of humor”
• someone said it is similar to Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy… interesting because that’s one of the books that I will be reading
• emphasis in commentaries on setting of London and the Lower London
• “urban fantasy”
• “magical”

Inspiration

Color Palettes

Visualizing

For this one I can imagine a photo-collage kind of thing, that is a blend of photograph and illustration. That way, I can take Normal London and add in the imaginary Lower London. I don’t know if that is too cliche.

I like the idea of playing up “falling through the cracks.”