Illustration Cover

I began this project by doing research and reading up on the two magazines I had to choose from to create an illustration cover for. Prior to this project I had only heard of 'The Economist' which i vaguely recall. As I looked at the previous visual treatments for the front covers it was evident that the 'New Scientist's front covers are lot more visually pleasing as they are consistently illustrated in exciting ways. In contrast, The Economist is a lot blander and lacks consistency and refinement in it's front covers which is one of the reasons I chose to do an illustration cover it. I thought it would be more challenging creatively as I would have to be bolder in my creative thinking and designing.

The topic I chose for the front cover was 'Cancelling poverty'. My reasoning behind this was that although it is a very important issue ethically/morally, design wise there are various interpretations and angles I could approach this from. The possibilities are endless. I began designing by referencing existing treatments on poverty in general from charities and campaigns. I then went on to look at what we as a society associate with the term 'poverty' which is people (children in particular) from third world nations/countries. When I think poverty I automatically think about the adverts that a constantly on television about starving children all over the world which is one of the biggest issues globally. This then led me to consider how this can be approached differently as society is now used to images of starving, malnourished children therefore this approach has lost it's shock factor. I got the idea to take a 'role reversal' approach in which I would put the viewers of such adverts in the situations of the people they are being asked to help. This idea would have been great- for another project as I started  straying away from the brief.

After experimenting with drawing and considering the use of photographs or illustrations on the front cover I quickly decided that photographs aren't as effective in this context as the world is already aware of the realities of poverty. Also, I feel that illustrations do not capture the seriousness of the situation therefore that wouldn't be a good treatment to use either. I then decided that a simple, yet bold typographic treatment would be the most effective as this would capture the seriousness of the matter in a bold, striking manner. Initially, I felt that the outcome i produced was to simple/plain as it features a lot of negative space. Although I received positive feedback from some of my peers, one individual criticised my choice of typeface and the size/scale of my final outcome which I attempted to refine by experimenting and playing with the possible outcomes. Nevertheless, as I thought about what it was I wanted to achieve and the reasoning behind my design I felt that I should stick to what I wanted to create as my work isn't going to be liked by everyone. I also believe my treatment of the subject was appropriate. I wanted to convey my understanding of poverty which I believe is to truly 'lack' in more than one sense of the word as you can lack not only necessities like food and money but also factors such as education which are incredibly important. This concept of poverty to me would look 'empty' visually and quite dark and simple as although it is a matter of perception it is a tragedy as it is almost factual.

Overall, I am happy with my final outcome as I feel that I considered the directions of the brief but ultimately made the project my own and took it in the direction I felt was appropriate in terms of the format and content of it. 

The Economist front cover (authors own, 2014)