The Giver Redesigned
illustration, product design, typography
The Giver is one of the most popular young adult novels, winning multiple awards such as the 1994 Newbery Medal. In honor of the 30th anniversary, I decided to redesign the cover. I believe with book cover design it’s really important to show some of the important themes of the book without giving too much away, so I decided to try and convey the importance of touch.
Although the Giver shares his memories by touching Jonas' back, I felt like a simple drawing of two hands touching would indicate its significance. I found a picture of an elderly hand and a young hand online and I photoshopped them together to seem like they were touching. I then used this as my reference and drew the hands-on paper and then using Adobe Illustrator, choosing what colors to use based on the photos. The illustrative look is very popular right now, so I decided to do color blocks when drawing the hands instead of blending them more. I chose a sans serif typeface because I feel like it successfully conveys the dystopian feeling of the book without being too harsh. I decided to make the background of the cover a simple black. I think the simplicity of the background allows the hands and their slight touch to be the focal point of the cover.
