Project Synopsis
I redesigned the first three editions of the Harry Potter series as a limited house collection—the Harry Potter universe separates students into two distinct houses, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. In this redesign, I focused primarily on the Slytherin house. The goal of this redesign is to attract and entice adult readers to purchase the collection.
Mockup created by mockupguy2
Process Work
1. Research
For this project, I visited my local bookstore to see how fantasy novels are advertised on bookshelves. I noticed right away that fantasy novels geared towards adult readers tend to contain busy visuals and typography. Most novels are presented to the reader spine-first. Books with minimalistic visuals tend to stand out from the crowd.
Based on my experience in the bookstore, I wanted the redesigns to take on minimalistic visuals and have unique spine designs that will allow them to pop out to readers immediately. This way, no matter how they are displayed, they will stand out from the surrounding competition. It was also important the spines easily communicate reading order so readers can quickly find the book they need.
2. Visual Theme
In the Harry Potter universe, Slytherin is closely associated with the imagery of serpents and the colour green. To ensure the books stay true to the theme of Slytherin, greens and snake imagery are heavily used on each book cover.
To ensure each book in the series is unique, important items from every book are paired with the snake imagery. This allows the books to have variety while staying true to the established visual system.
Interior illustrations are rendered with a slight texture to simulate traditional drawings. This was done to complement the Serif typeface used in the interior pages and setting of the story.
3. Typography
The typeface used for the inside content is Athelas, a serif typeface designed by Jose Scaglione and Veronika Burian from TypeTogether. Athelas was designed for books and ebooks. This typeface is perfect for prolonged reading sessions and sits with the setting of the story.
The typeface used for the title is Crimes of Grindelwald. This typeface was inspired by the logo used in the movie Crimes of Grindelwald. It is a serif with extra decorative elements to give the title extra character and directly connects the books to the established franchise.
