PETERSON'S FIELD GUIDE TO THE BIRDS
SPRING 2020
PROJECT TYPE: PERSONAL
PROJECT GOAL: REPLICA OF 1980'S BOOK JACKET
My mom has always kept her copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Eastern Birds nearby. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the subtle things she notices about the birds around my childhood home.
When I was given a vintage edition of the same book, I was immediately inspired to mimic the classic 80’s cover that was so iconic about my mom’s copy. This became an exercise in the exact duplication of an existing design, and an experiment in book jacket layout.
FROM SOFTBOUND TO HARDBACK
I first tracked down the fonts utilized on the original cover. Using high-quality scans of the original cover as the base, I lined up the text and adjusted the spacing. When printing the jacket itself, I increased the spacing on the spine to accommodate the various curves around the hardback cover.
In place of the front illustration from those scans, I found a high-resolution image online and touched it up. The blue color was color-dropped from the original scan and darkened to account for fading. For the back flap I designed a brief author’s bio with a photograph. For the front flap I extended the graphic elements and mirrored the illustration.
FINAL PRODUCT
The end result is an homage to a book that I’ve seen laying around my house my entire life. The classic design is eye-catching on my bookshelf. I always know right where to reach when I have need of it.
PETERSON FIELD GUIDES ® HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
