The Golden Compass
Book Jacket Design | Illustration
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.
Synopsis: Lyra Belacqua is content to run wild among the scholars of Jordan College, with her dæmon familiar by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle—a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, and a mysterious substance known as Dust. As she hurtles toward danger in the cold far North, Lyra never suspects the shocking truth: she alone is destined to win—or to lose—this more-than-mortal battle.
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
Mood & 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 2
In this second round of drafts, I was still using the original sketch as a placeholder on the option which would eventually become the final design. For the final, I created the artwork using a combination of hand drawing and layering textures in Photoshop.
The image depicts the main character Lyra, her friend Iorek Byrnison, the armored bear, and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, in his ermine form. The three figures are shown in silhouette, standing with their faces turned toward the sky. This simple image thoroughly encapsulated the cold, dark, mystery of the arctic setting in the story, which is why I selected it for the final cover.
Final Design
Reflection
This was a particularly fun project for me. I have always appreciated books, not only for their content, but also as objects of art. Thinking more practically about all the necessary parts that make up the book jacket, and getting it to fit just right, was a fun learning experience and great exercise in layout and print setup. I also enjoyed creating the cover art for a book that I love, and I feel that I was able to capture the mood of the story in a simple but striking illustration, paired with an elegant serif font fit for a fantasy title. Moving forward, I would like to create complimentary covers for the other books in this series, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.