The Golden Compass
Book Jacket Design
The Golden Compass is the first book in the His Dark Materials series, a fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman. It follows 11-year-old Lyra as she journeys to the far north to unravel a dangerous mystery.
Challenge: To design a book Jacket for the Golden Compass, communicating the magic and mystery of the story while appealing to readers of all ages.
Inspiration & Ideation
Moodboard & Sketches
Inspired by themes from the story, I wanted to establish a dark, mysterious mood with references to the celestial.
In my sketches, I explored a variety of cover art options, pulling imagery from the book, including various animal forms, the titular golden compass (aka: the alethiometer), and references to travel and the arctic. I also experimented with ways to represent the mysterious particle known as dust, which features prominently in the story, using pattern, texture and variations in tone.
Digital Drafts
Using my sketches as place holders for the cover art, I created three rough drafts, mapping out the placement of text and images. For the second round of drafts, I focused on refining two options, adding most of the actual copy and images and honing in on the final font and color selections.
Round One
Round Two
In this second round of drafts, I was still using the original sketch as a placeholder on the first option. For the final design, I created the artwork using a combination of hand drawing and layering in Photoshop to apply texture.
Final Design
Reflection
I am happy with how the book jacket turned out, and feel that I captured a sense of wonder and mystery with this simple but striking illustration style, paired with an elegant serif font fit for a fantasy title. Moving forward, I would like to create complimentary covers for the second and third books in this series.