When making three cover designs, I wanted to make 3 book covers as they would fit the theme of me making a website that sells horror related things, specifically books. The first design is based on the fear of mystery, giving it a different feeling from the rest of the cover designs. I wanted to do this as I thought mystery, especially in the field of horror, is a huge attention grabber. Along with this, I wanted to try a bit of conceptual design, by making the figures in the poster represent the fingers of a hand, which their shadows form. This then works with the title ‘In the Palm of Chaos’ being in the literal palm of the hand.
When coming up with a font, I decided to choose a sans-serif font as it represented mystery a lot better than a normal serif font. Along with this, it also suits the much more muted colour scheme. While Green represents the forest, I chose darker and greyer greens so it could get that horror and mystery aspect more.
To contrast the first cover design, I wanted a design that’s more straight forward in its horror. Which is why I then created a design that is the inside of an incomprehensible and inhuman beast. I then added the conceptual design of putting the title of the book ‘Down The Gullet Of Hell’ in the gullet of the creature. When it came to the colour scheme, I wanted to keep it simple but in your face, compared to the other two, which is why I chose only three colours: Red, Black and White.
The reason I used red is not only because of how well it works with black and white, but also because of its association with danger, a key part of horror. This is best described by expert in psychology, Kendra Cherry (2023) “Its ability to instantly grab people’s attention is the reason why it’s often used to warn people of impending danger.”
The last cover design, like the last, is also based on more religious fears. However, this time I wanted to go the old ‘Deal with The Devil’ sort of horror. Specifically, I wanted to attract Theophobia which, Lisa Fritscher, a freelance writer and expert in phobias describes as “This phobia involves an irrational fear of religion. However, it may also encompass a fear of enduring “God’s wrath” or a fear of sin. A person with theophobia generally fears that if they sin, they will face God’s punishment.” I also tried to use a bit of conceptual design in this by using blood splatters to create devil horns next to the title, creating an actual Devil in the Details. I also made it so my name was where a signature would be.
References
Fritscher, L, The Link Between Religion And Fear (2023), Available online: https://www.verywellmind.com/religion-and-phobias-2671697 (Accessed online on 7/1/2024)
Cherry, K, Psychology of the Colour Red (2023), Available Online: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-red-2795821 (accessed on 7/1/24)