H.G. Wells Covers – Penguin Classics

Here are all 5 covers from Penguin's Classics range:

While the illustration style is very different for all the covers, the bottom 3rd of the page, which is dedicated to a standardised title strip, ties all the books together and they feel part of a set.

H.G. Wells Book – Cover Research

Ann Veronica

The History of Mr Polly

Kipps

Love & Mr. Lewisham

Tono-Bungay

What If Websites Were Books?

These are a collection of book covers for some (strangely enough) popular websites. They were conceived from the point of view of a 1960's designer and produced by Stéphane Massa-Bidal of French agency Retrofuturs.

Graphically they look excellent, using a 'vintage', faded look along with old imagery that adds to the belief that they were supposed to be designed in the 1960's. The books also employ a duotone or tritone colour scheme which further reinforces that point, as if they had been screen-printed or litho printed with a limited range of colours as was often done for budget reasons due to the fact that digital print and the cheap, full-colour printing it brought with it wasn't around back then.

Apart from the visual appeal of the books, the series also demonstrate a strong sense of collection between them, using a standard header section and typeface across the board that links them together, regardless of the different colour palettes and changing imagery. This is something that I am looking at in relationship to my H.G. Wells D&AD brief as I want each cover to be unique, but carry common themes throughout to bind them together as a collection.