(click to enlarge)
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section, I'd love to hear what people think! (it will not have that black bar around the edges that the preview shows, that's just something blogspot does)
I AM open to suggestions as far as minor edits go, but I will NOT be doing another cover design from scratch. I am trying extremely hard to stick to the deadline. (Summer International Lolita Day 6/02)
The cover artwork is by PinkGunDollhouse (www.pinkgundollhouse.net), Ewa Z. (www.antygea.net and Zen Thing, (www.thezenthing.blogspot.com) from top to bottom. These 3 pieces worked well behind the font and I thought they personified the different styles (sweet, gothic, classic) quite well. If any of you would prefer your art to NOT be used for the cover, please let me know and I can replace it with someone else's.
Hope you guys like it!
(EDIT: I didn't see this at all while designing, but a couple people have pointed out the cropped versions of the images can look rather sexual if you don't know what lolita is. This is the exact thing I want to avoid, so I'll be moving the illustrations around to focus more on their faces, less on legs).
As just clips, the three images kind of send the wrong message about lolita.
ReplyDeleteThe first has her bloomers showing, the second has a pair of slender legs in a broken room [sexual assault?], and the third is a blouseless girl who kind of looks like she's wearing a corset. As a lolita, I know what's lolita about each one, but as a person who just saw it on the coffee table at a friends house, it seems a little too suggestive.
Wow, that didn't even click in my head when I was designing this but now that you say that, I totally see it.
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can shift the artwork around so the focus is on different parts of the illustrations. (perhaps their faces instead of legs would work)
Their faces would be much, much nicer. I thought about an ero/ecchi book from first impression O_O
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above commenters and would like to add that I think arial black/helvetica looks a bit too chunky and I really don't like the script font
ReplyDeleteI think black/heletica font is a bit not fit into context, prefer a typeface in victorian style...e.g. http://www.fontspace.com/character/cameoantique
ReplyDeleteand the script font is hard to read...
I agree on the typeface at the bottom. the "wo" in artwork looks like "ioo". readin as artioork
ReplyDeleteThis might just be me, but if I were totally oblivious to lolita, I'd think it'd look like something that has to do with anime and manga based on the cover alone. :/ I'm not really comfortable with that.
ReplyDeleteThe general layout tho, I like. :) But I have to agree the "wo" part in artwork looks like "ioo".
I agree with everyone above, its to busy, looks like it sends the wrong message and has a more comic/anime feel to it which would definitely drive away the core audience.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping it would be a more simple classic layout, with less image and more text. Simple and elegant. Like just a nice bordered cover page that says "Lolita the artwork..."
That's lovely :)
ReplyDeleteI like the way you have the text block set up.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures do seem somewhat on the more sexual side though. Keep the themes you've chosen, just move up on the pictures themselves maybe. You don't even have to switch images if you just change the spot you see.
I agree with the other comments about those particular sections of pictures seeming sexual. Focusing on any other aspect of the artwork would be better. I think the last one is good though, mostly because girls without blouses aren't an absolute no-no (like all the lolitas in hot countries shouldn't be expected to wear layers all the time) and neither are corset style bodices.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the font at the bottom looking a bit like 'artioork'. However, I do like the layout and the large font, and I personally don't find it too cluttered. In fact, I find it quite balanced. The only thing that stands out to me is the blue rectangle, but that may be just me.
I agree completely that the crops you have chosen look too sexual :/ the chunky font is sort of ok but the script font is rather amature designer looking and doesn't coordinate with the other font. I think a cleaner, more modern and minimalist approach focusing on the fact it is an artwork book rather than blatantly stating it on the front cover might be a bit nicer to look at... You can write the full title on the back cover and on the first page inside, it would look cleaner and more appealing to pick up.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah and the blue rectangle has to go... It doesn't sit right and detract attention from the main focus :/
ReplyDeleteI agree with pictures needing to be changed. How about head in the upper, torso in the middle and legs in the lowest rectangle?
ReplyDeleteThe idea of spelling lo-li-ta across if good, I'm not a big fan of it being so big and chunky, but otherwise it looks fine.
As for "the artwork" part, i'd just do away with blue rectangle (that is, have a clean white background behind), the font itself doesn't bother me, I had no trouble reading it.
PS. I'm glad you liked my picture enough to put it on cover (: