The Plot

1984 is a dystopian novel released by George Orwell in 1949 in response to totalitarian governments around that time. The themes of a repressive society and government definitley tugs on the heartstrings of many today, as the political climate has been tumultuous to say the least. Because of this, when we were asked to redesign a book cover in our Vector-Based Design class with Professor Tim Cox, choosing this book was a no-brainer.

Scary Concepts as a Scaredy Cat

A big part of my design style that I still, to this day, haven’t done enough with is the analog horror genre that’s currently very popular on YouTube. Analog horror series’, such as Monument Mythos and Local 58, relies a lot on old technology and, well, analog media. Analog horror is so appealing to me and is one of my favorite genres in media because I love the idea of the general horror genre, but I also have a pretty bad blood phobia. 1984 connects to this very well, which basically inspired the entire design.

Going back to the blood phobia, I’m usually not too keen on getting too gory with my work, but making pixelated “red stuff” being teased on the spine seemed like a designer-safe choice to make. Many iterations of 1984 book covers out there don’t do much to emphasize how important technology is in this bleak story. Because of that, I wanted to incorporate that with the common themes of eyes and being watched in the cover.  

The front cover is very jarring, much like the difficult themes of the story being told in 1984. To contrast that, the spine and back cover are more simple so that the information is the hero instead of any visuals. That being said, there are some eyes around the back and spine to reinforce the spooky concept of being constantly watched. 

“He Loved Big Brother”

Polishing a project I was already incredibly proud of was a very fun and productive project to add, as it didn’t require as much from-scratch work as others. Although the changes from my freshman-year skills were minute, this is still a project that shows different sides of my design style and skill.