Book Covers
For this project, we had to take an existing book and design a book cover. This was our first real experience with designing metaphors and dealing heavily with concepts. The Secret Life of Bees is a book that deals with the emotional struggle of a young girl, Lily, who runs away from her abusive father. She finds herself in the South Carolina town that holds the key to her mother’s past. The structure and community of the bees seems to reflect Lily’s emotions and she begins to discover herself through them.
I focused on the idea that Lily was revealed through her time with the bees. Before leaving home, she was lost and afraid. Lily began to learn about herself and about her past. My first design in meant to show the title emerging from behind the honeycombs. The second design meant to depict Lily’s true self being drawn by the path of the honey. The third is an empty jar that represents the emptiness Lily felt before the bees filled up her past.