25 – 26 August 2016 (Thu – Fri)
9:30am – 5:30pm
Silver Room
ChartNexus
International Plaza, #34-08
10 Anson Road, Singapore 079903
MAP | WEBSITE
Course Fee: $200.00
Eventbrite Registration Fee: $6.25
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View GallerySYNOPSIS
Creating a winning cover is a two-day 13-hour workshop suitable for anyone involved in the publishing industry: graphic designers, editors, publishers and writers who want to learn about the fascinating process of designing book covers. The keystone of the workshop will be in-depth brainstorming techniques to generate ideas and concepts that set the basis to create a great book cover. Award-winning covers by renown international designers, including covers designed by the facilitator, will be used as case studies. Participants will engage in all stages of the creative process through the use of collaborative exercises: visual and verbal brainstorming, cover conceptualisation and design layout assisted by the facilitator.
This workshop will help participants with:
- Demystifying the book cover design process
- The ability to engage with covers visual analysis and abstract concepts
- Developing skills of team creative work
COURSE OUTLINE
DAY 1
1) The basics
- The importance of book covers
- The foundations of a solid book cover design
2)Stages of book cover creation
- The brief: a crucial tool in the making of a successful cover
- Conceptualization: developing imaginative and feasible ideas
- Formal execution: finding the right tone of voice and suitable imagery
- Layout: the interplay between image/illustration and typography
3) How to look at covers
The facilitator will use real-world examples of cover drafts discarded by publishers to engage participants in visual analysis and conceptual discussion
4) The best and worst cover
Prior to the attendance of the workshop, each participant will have selected 6 good and bad covers, according to their own criteria (3 fiction and 3 non-fiction). These covers will be used by the facilitator as case-study. After a comparative discussion, participants will give a reasoned verdict of which one are the best and worst covers.
DAY 2
1) Create a great book cover
The facilitator will brief the participants with the redesign of the previously chosen worst cover and will act as a moderator of a team brainstorming to keep the creative discussion on track. Participants will pick what they consider to be the best feasible ideas and will search suitable imagery from online stock image libraries to create cover drafts.
Participants with design skills (or the facilitator, if there are no designers attending) will design cover drafts in suit with the ideas, images and fonts suggestions provided by the participants. The facilitator will assist with art direction. The team will discuss comparatively over the final drafts and choose the winning cover.To conclude, the facilitator will ask participants to assess and point out the issues that may have arisen during the cover creation process.
Requirements for both days
Designers: Laptop with layout design software (Adobe Indesign or alike)
Other participants: Laptop or Tablet.
About the Trainer: Xavier Comas
Xavier Comas is a Fine Arts graduate of the University of Barcelona and Spanish graphic designer, photographer and author with more than 25 year-experience in book cover design. He is the founder of Opalworks, one of the foremost book cover studios in Spain and the CEO of Cover Kitchen, an award-winning book cover design studio based in Bangkok working for international publishers such as Penguin-RandomHouse, Planeta and Tuttle. His cover design for the European bestseller “Viajo Sola”, was selected by leading art directors in the publishing industry as one of the best cover designs in Spain of 2014. Xavier’s first book, both as a photographer and author, titled “The House of the Raja”, was published in 2014 by River Books.
Registration Details
Kinokuniya Privilege Card Members
Kinokuniya Privilege card members can enjoy 10% off the workshop fee.
Please provide your membership number and workshop title to [email protected] for the discount code before online registration.
Minimum – Maximum Number of Participants: 15 – 30 pax
Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis and workshop fees must be paid before the workshop. If the minimum number of participants is not met for the class, the organisers will inform all participants about possible postponement and cancellation, two weeks before the workshop date.
Cancellation & Substitution
The workshop can be cancelled or postponed two weeks before the workshop date if the minimum number of participants is not met. Participants will be fully refunded for workshops cancelled by us.
Participants who are unable to attend a workshop they have registered for are to inform us of the reason two weeks before the workshop date. They will be fully refunded in the event of extenuating and mitigating circumstances (E.g. illness, bereavement, accidents) . Those who inform us up to five (5) working days before the workshop date will receive a 50% refund. Participants can also attend another course at the same value within the same year.
Upon registration, you are deemed to have read and understood the cancellation, withdrawal and substitution policy and accept the terms contained therein.