So, after much deliberation, perusal, consideration, discussion, and a bottle or two of beer, we decided upon the two winners (one junior, one adult) of the Design Your Own Penguin Book Cover competition we helped out with at the V&A Summer Fete; which, happily enough, are the two that we'd already mentioned in an entry below.
Would-be-designers were asked to create their designs within a hand-drawn version of Romek Marber's classic Penguin grid, dating from 1962. We reckoned the two winning designs captured the essence of their titles with an almost effortless grace and frankly astounding economy. (Especially considering the two minute time limit.)
The War and Peace cover captures the futility of conflict with stunning simplicity; one soldier standing over the body of another, each a reflection of the other. It's full of emotion, but without veering anywhere near sentimentality. Quite brilliant.
The Outsider cover amazed us with the strength of the narrative it created, particularly with little more than a few strokes of the pen. Simply a fantastic illustration, and one which reminded us of Tom Gauld's work, which is high praise indeed.
