Special Advertising Note: The following sponsored content is provided by one of Print’s partners, Blurb.
If storytelling exists at the core of good art and design, then a great challenge for any designer is to create a cohesive design around a narrative. It gives you a chance to flex your creative muscles, carry motifs through multiple compositions and create an entire, holistic experience for the audience.
At Blurb, we’ve seen a number of designers showcase their creativity by using classic fairy tales—in the public domain and freely available—to create beautiful books.
Babes in the Wood. Long in the public domain, Randolph Caldecott’s classic tells the story of two children, a jealous stepsister and a fearsome beast. Graphic designer Lucy Haworth took a dark and starkly pop approach. With a unified “torn and scribbled” aesthetic, she finds new and surprising ways to move the story forward on each page.
Rumpelstiltskin. Taking a purely typographic attack, Laura Foster turned the classic tale of spinning straw into gold into a fairy tale font-fest. There are no drawings of spinning wheels or girls with strawberry-blonde hair. Instead, as Foster spins the tale of, well, spinning, the type jumbles and jumps.
We’ve also seen this old-to-new approach with everything from campfire songs to classic novels. And (shameless plug), it’s really easy to turn this exercise into a beautiful, actual book with Blurb’s plug-in for Adobe InDesign. In fact, it’s even something you can sell on Blurb.com and Amazon. Or use as a portfolio piece.
Give it a try and save 20% on your next book. Just use the promo code HOW10 at checkout.*
*Offer valid through June 21, 2014 (11:59 p.m. local time). Valid for printed books only. A 20% discount is applied to your print book product total with no minimum purchase required. Maximum discount is USD $100, AUD $100, CAD $100, EUR €100, or GBP £100 off product total. This offer is good for one-time use, and cannot be combined with volume discounts, other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.be combined with volume discounts, other promotional codes, gift cards, or used for adjustments on previous orders.
Need a portfolio refresh?
Find out how to pull together a stunning body of your work with Denise Bosler’s Preparing Your Portfolio Bootcamp, starting May 26.