Create a book cover design and layout spreads that reflects the artist's disposition.
toyin ojih odutola - artist book design
brief
introduction
Toyin Ojih Odutola is a Nigerian-American artist based in New York. Renowned for using a variety of mediums on paper, she dwells on the topics of black stories and the possibilities in visual storytelling. In order to design the book, I made certain decisions in order to display the artwork properly. The drawings should not be obstructed and be at the center of attention, while simultaneously balancing out the content in the layout.
approach
After much consideration, the concept of “breaking the norms" which the artist tends to traverse, became the central idea for the book design. The summary of the book was placed on the spine to combat its conventional placement in order to reflect the spirit of the artist. Furthermore, a serif type was chosen to pair with the sinuous lines in her artwork and the colours of the chapter separators, black on black was chosen in order to reflect the disposition of her art.
Outcome
Throughout the project, I struggled the most with how I should approach it, because it was difficult to envision the final outcome. Also because the artist explores many other grand themes throughout her work I had to make a decision to focus on a specific character of the creator rather than compiling all of her characteristics into one concept. However, once I had figured out the central idea which I had to focus on, everything slowly settled together like a puzzle. I am happy with the outcome of the book.