Reflection #4

So I have finally decided my final major project for extended practice. I am currently in the process of reading and re designing 12 covers by Haruki Murakami. The 12 covers are from his collection of novels (excluding 1 novel which was published last year). I have really enjoyed immersing myself into the weird and wonderful mind of Murakami. I have currently read/analysed 6 books of his and beginning to notice some clear recurring themes and motifs which has been really interesting and is something which I can really use to my advantage. 

Key themes:

Music
Love
Loss
Journey
Cats

What I have tendencies of doing is DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN without really stepping back and REFLECTING. So far I have been reading/analysing/watching and then designing. I haven't really been considering the books as a collection and how each book connects. My current mindset is to come up with a few designs for each book and pick the best design - I am treating this project as several individual projects which puts me at risk of not creating a collection of books at all.

I just had a really helpful crit with Fred:

• Good progress on projects so far
• We talked about maybe having 3 sets of 4 Murakami books 
• What was a really interesting idea we talked about was actually visually linking each book - if all the books were laid out in front could there be some kind of story being told? Each book linking to one another
• Doesn't have to be a direct link, experiment with colour increase and decrease
• Put the book designs through different treatments
• Book designs can then turn into prints
• Think about the COLLECTION, unifying
• BE INNOVATIVE
• BE AMBITIOUS

On reflection

I think trying to visually connect all 12 books together sounds incredibly ambitious but also very exciting. It would add even more to the collectable value and create a really interesting composition. I also had another idea of connecting the back covers but maybe that is slightly too difficult. What I have noticed when reading Murakami's books is that each book seems to have a similar protagonist going through some kind of journey. Perhaps this could be incorporated in the concept of connecting the books? Maybe the man could represent Murakami and the surroundings could represent the interior of Murakami's mind - almost like the author is doing a walking tour for the viewers.

Going forward

It's time I stop designing for a minute and take a step back to really find some common themes and motifs to connect each book together. Think about this 'journey' concept and start to create each book with a similar style/way of working. Start thinking about the colour scheme needed to represent the tone of voice being portrayed. Think about the project as a whole and not 12 individual books. Start thinking about possible merchandise to create. Using my initial designs to create posters, bookmarks prints etc.



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