The Trial, written by Franz Kafka, is a novel that focuses on themes of surrealism and alienation, the absurdity and inhumanity of rules and regulations in the modern world through a trial for a man named Josef K.
The cover focuses on these themes by using mixed media and photo collaging to interpret an imagined scene of Josef K. locked behind a prison cell. The bright orange void of space is juxtaposed with the unnatural beauty of the imagery’s simple yet complex composition, textures, and abstraction.
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, is a fictional novel that tells the story of Jacob Jankowski, a vet student, close to graduating Cornell University. However, when his parents died in a car accident, he was forced to leave school. With nowhere else to go, he hops onto a passing train which happens to be a traveling circus.
This design aims to design a unique cover for the captivating novel “Water for Elephants” by incorporating a symbolic representation of an elephant behind bars like an animal cell. The grunge texture and overall rough yet cohesive nature of the image highlights the novel’s theme of animal activism and the hero story of Jacob as he navigates his life, struggling to find a place to fit in.
Similar to the dust jacket version, this cover also focuses on the elephant motif but instead the elephant is represented by animal crackers. The elephant "breaks free" from the inside of the boxed container. Animal crackers are commonly associated with nostalgia and the circus so it was important to incorporate the box pattern with elements of vintage circus poster designs.
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