Re-Covered Books Archive - The Fox Is Black

Re-Covered Books: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

All the way back in 1900, a 44 year old L. Frank Baum released a book titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which has now become one of the most well known.. movies. Most of us now know the Judy Garland film of nearly the same name, The Wizard of Oz, which isn’t quite so much like the original book. I think that’s what makes this a good contest, because you need to know about the real book, not the movie, in order to win. Easy enough though, you can read the full book by clicking here.

So here’s your objective. Make a contemporary version of a modern day classic. Don’t make a cover to the movie, make it a cover to the book. But make sure it feels fresh and new. I’d suggest looking at the work of Neil Kellerhouse, who is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else when it comes to contemporary design. Make it fresh, make it new, and make it amazing.

This time around you’ve got a pretty sweet prize. This time around we’re giving away an Apple TV (which is American, not sure if it matters), so you really need to throw some blood, sweat and tears into this one. Sound like a plan? Here are the rules.

RULES

• Please save your images as JPGs no larger than 800px wide at 72 DPI/RGB mode, there’s no height restrictions (within reason). Feel free to play with the dimensions and have fun with what you make. Making a front and back cover with certainly help your chances, but is not required.

• Label your files “Firstname-Lastname-Wizard-of-Oz.jpg”

• Send all entries to [email protected] with the subject “Re-Covered Books: Wizard of Oz“. Cut and paste what I wrote there, it’s super easy and it helps me keep track of your entry.

• All entries are due Saturday, February 11, 2012 by Midnight, PST.

If there are any other questions feel free to leave them in the comments. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with and be sure to tell your friends/classmates/pets to participate. Good luck and have fun!

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Bobby Solomon

January 17, 2012 - See more posts by Bobby

Christopher Porter wins the Romeo and Juliet Re-Covered Books contest

After a slew of beautiful entries, I’ve chosen my winner for the Romeo and Juliet Re-Covered Books contest – Christopher Porter. Chris is a designer from Falmouth, Cornwall who wanted to create something contemporary:

I’ve tried to go with a direction that would appeal to younger generations, the Irvine Welsh generation, the sort of people who are more than likely to judge a book by it’s cover.

I think he’s done exactly that. I like his cover for a few reasons – typography, color palette and choice of image. As with a lot of entries, typography, or the lack there of, tends to be a major problem. Chris uses only two typefaces, both of which are appropriately used. The script used for William Shakespeare is so damn beautiful and gives his name such life, it’s a perfect application.

As for the imagery, I love this old photo he found of a dead couple. What I find most interesting is that they aren’t perfect of beautiful, they’re real people. They might not be the correct age, but I think that’s ok. I’m sure we’ve all felt that yearning for true love at many stages in our lives, and this reflects that in some ways. I also love the addition of “Love Is Toxic”, which makes me think of Britney Spears, and I’m guessing others would as well. Overall this one felt the strongest, especially because he created a whole package to show the full idea. Well done Christopher!

Check back in the new year for our next contest, and if you have any suggestions for books you’d like to see, please put them in the comments.

Bobby

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Bobby Solomon

December 14, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby

Re-Covered Books: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

This month we wanted to do something a little more open, and a little more special. To make things more open we decided that we’d tackle Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s classic tale. I’m fairly certain that most people on the planet are familiar with the story of a pair of star crossed lovers separated by their families disdain for each other. The story has been covered, parodied and rethought countless times, so now it’s your turn to rethink the cover for the book.

As far as I can tell, the cover has never really been done well. Take a look at these results from Amazon and you’ll see what I mean, scary stuff. So here’s your challenge. Create a cover for the book that feels new and exciting, that would grab people’s attention and make them want to buy the book. Here’s the catch though, you only have two weeks to complete the contest.

Here’s where the special part comes in. As per our usual $100 Amazon gift card, you’ll also get the super rad Nooka Zub Zen-V in black. Since the holidays are coming up soon I thought providing a little something extra might be rad, either an early present for yourself or someone you love.

RULES

• Label your files “Firstname-Lastname-Romeo-Juliet-Cover.jpg”

• Send all entries to [email protected] with the subject “Re-Covered Books: Romeo and Juliet“. Cut and paste what I wrote there, it’s super easy and it helps me keep track of your entry.

• All entries are due Monday, December 12, 2011 by Midnight, PST.

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Bobby Solomon

November 28, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby

Jennifer Talesfore, winner of the Dracula Re-Covered Books Contest

Choosing a winner for the Re-Covered Books contest becomes more difficult every time as the talent level continues to rise. Our last redesign contest was for the classic novel Dracula, where I asked potential creators to make something that steered away from the typical cliches, that felt like a new addition to the mythology of Count Dracula.

As I said, there were a ton of great entrants, but the one I was most mesmerized by was the entry above by Jennifer Talesfore. What I love about her design is how stark and graphic it is. She used a theme that was common amongst several of the designs, inverting the A’s in Dracula to represent fangs. Where I think her design differs and veers into brilliant is her treatment of the title. I see it two ways, the first being a hapless victim stuttering the name of Dracula, and the second being the way that Bela Lugosi may have intoned the word Dracula, sounding out certain parts longer than others. It’s funny that it also reads so well, despite looking so nonsensical.

She also did a nice job of presenting a cohesive thought, uniting the front, back and spine nicely. The book is told through a series of anecdotes from different characters, so the quote on the back is quite a nice touch.

Overall her entry feels like the complete package, and for that she deserves to be the winner. A huge thanks to Jennifer for entering, she’ll be receiving a $100 gift card to Amazon. Check back on Wednesday for a special edition of Re-Covered Books and the chance to win something extra special.

Bobby

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Bobby Solomon

November 21, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby

Re-Covered Books: Dracula by Bram Stoker

I’m a little late in the month for this, but I couldn’t resist doing a themed Re-Covered Book contest for Halloween. So this time around we’re tackling Dracula by Bram Stoker, a classic novel who’s reach has influenced pop culture in so many ways and defined what a modern day vampire was. The book was written back in 1897, and as Wikipedia says, “touches on themes such as the role of women in Victorian culture, sexual conventions, immigration, colonialism, and postcolonialism.” I think this is a great way to look at the book, these themes not necessarily coming across from a pale guy with fangs and a cape.

Your job is to make a super rad cover the portrays those themes without resting upon Hollywood cliches. Perhaps your cover is gruesome? Or maybe you say fuck it all and make the funniest cover ever? It’s up to you, but be sure to steer clear of pre-existing imagery like Bela Lugosi and the such.

The prize for winning, as always, is $100 to Amazon.

RULES

• Label your files “Firstname-Lastname-Dracula.jpg”

• Send all entries to [email protected] with the subject “Re-Covered Books: Dracula“. Cut and paste what I wrote there, it’s super easy and it helps me keep track of your entry.

• All entries are due Saturday, November 12, 2011 by Midnight, PST.

See the entries below.

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Bobby Solomon

October 19, 2011 - See more posts by Bobby