Previous winners

This article consists of previous winners of the Puffins Book competitions.

1

 This is the book cover that was first place on last year's competition. This vibrant book cover mainly consists of two illustrations of a toad, the famous character of the story. In a book cover, there is the title, author, the publisher logo and the description. The design has done a successful job of getting the level of hierarchy by having text 4 times bigger than the main body text.

The positioning the all of the text inside a rectangle that makes the layout look clean. Positioning the arm of the second toad over the rectaangle gives an impression that the toad is carrying a banner.

In this cover, there are two toads wearing prison uniform. This iconic signifier symbolises a section of the story were the toad was sent into confinement by the weasels. The first toad's looking directly at the reader  and other toad looking horizontally resembles of famous photographs of prisoners having their photo with a number on them.

2

 This is another example of a book cover for the Wind In The Willows. The designer uses artistic and Victoriana theme to make it look captivating to the eye. The hand drawn elements gives cover historic feel to connote  that the book was written a long time ago. Unlike the previous example the image design looks calm and a bit elegant due to leafs' design.

Overall this is a book cover showing two of the famous characters rowing on a river. This impact shows the mole sitting whists the rat rowing underneath the an umbrella. On a connotation level, the umbrellas suggests that these characters are ridding a boat on a bright sunny day.  The bright green and blue paints a scene where the characters are surrounded by a lush countryside.

As for the arbitrary symbols, the text, the title stands out because it is positioned on a bright background. Inverting the colours for the middle section of the cover enables the design look dynamic and the audience to differentiate the spin from the spine.

3

 This is a great book cover that uses a very aggressive colour, red, to ensure that the audience's attention. The rich red enables the tongue of the of the wolf to be the main focal point. The cover uses positioning to create a scene where the children are going to stand on the tongue. Having the spine of the book showing a tree bark to give the overall scene depth.


In terms of colour, black is the primary colour that creates a dark setting. This primary colour symbolises night time and very dark areas that are dangerous. This enhances the threatening wolf who looks like he is luring the children to his mouth.

The black also compliments the white text. The use of black and white makes the type design resemble chalk. 

In semiotics, this is a dark book cover image of a dark forest with a large wolf, children and glowing eyes.  The most powerful signifiers are the tongue and the the eyes. The eyes connotes that the children are unknowably been inspected by animal life.  The dark forest conveys that this adventure is dangerous and would involve the children to encounter wildlife.

References
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2013_vmills.php
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2010_jlaugalyte.php
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2012_tparker.php
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/pda2011_lcabule.php