Cover Designs

Above is my Feb. 12th VOX cover redesign. I was assigned to redesign the second cover, so to avoid the nasty poo-colored effect (below) I tried to choose a good neutral brown that is a little more appetizing. The bevel and emboss effect gives the text the feeling of actually being part of the chocolate bar, while the wrapper further emphasizes the chocolate theme. I wanted to avoid any Bon Appetit-esque stock chocolate photos, so I let the text lead the design. I like this cover because it's simple, aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. The latter is especially important when designing a cover, because if people aren't drawn to the cover design they won't pick it up and read it in the first place. The pinkish red of the wrapper draws this kind of attention and  plays nicely off the warm tone of the brown, without being too girly or valentine-y. 

A little explanation about the cover design with the repeating hearts. I like it, and I don't think it outright says "Valentine's Day!" just because it is almost making fun of itself. By repeating the same graphic over and over again I was trying to portray what is commercially considered a symbol of "love." By replacing one of them with a similarly shaped chocolate I was trying to show that Patric's (the chocolatier) definition of love is different than most others, but demands equal respect and is of equal importance. I understand that it's definitely not the right cover for this kind of a profile, but I wanted to give it some credit because the idea behind it is more kitschy and less cheesy than the final product makes it look. (The poor photoshop job is a result of time constraints, I would never dream of publishing it as-is!)