The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Project

Creation of a book cover and book specimen for a selected work from The Gutenberg Project.

Two The Murder of Roger Ackroyd books lying on a shelf.
Open The Murder of Roger Ackroyd book lying on a shelf.

Goal

Create a book cover that would capture the essense of the story and promote it to a wider audience.

Create a 32-page book specimen that is properly formatted, easy to read and is consistent with the cover.

Challenge

Reimagining the appearance of a hundred-year-old classic novel to make it appeal to current readers and stand out on a bookshelf.

Strategy

Bold, untraditional layout to grab attention.

Centering an image composition within the circular frame to draw the eye towards the book cover.

Complimentary colors with a high contrast that also work for the mood of the book.

Sans-serif typeface to modernize the book and step away from the traditional classical book look.

Target Audience

Younger book lovers that enjoy suspense and detectives.

Older audiences that grew up with the book and want to update their collections.

Fans of the new Agatha Christie movies with Kenneth Branagh.

Process

Sketches

Sketch for the book cover layout.
Sketch for the book cover layout.
Sketch for the book cover layout.

Digital Roughs

Digital layout of the book cover.
Digital layout of the book cover.
Digital layout of the book cover.
Digital layout of the book cover.
Digital layout of the book cover.
Digital layout of the book cover.

Book Specimen

Page from the book.
Page from the book.
Page from the book.
Page from the book.

Result

Created a book cover and book specimen that stands out clearly and boldly on a shelf, reimagining the classic look of the novel and modernizing it.

Two The Murder of Roger Ackroyd books lying on top of each other on a wooden shelf.