The CMYKlub here at Marywood currently has a design show on the second floor of the Learning Commons. We asked members of the club as well as other design and illustration majors to choose a classic book in literature and redesign the cover in a poster format. The CMYKlub has never had a show in the Learning Commons before, and we are thrilled to bring our artworks and designs outside of the art buildings and into a main part of the campus for all to see.

My favorite part about a group design show is seeing how everyone chose to solve the design problem. Mounted on the walls are an array of solutions from using more illustrative designs, typography, painting, and flat graphics. They all then incorporate various parts of the book they chose from symbolism, metaphors, and key parts of each novel. Many of the books selected are also major motion pictures so the challenge also includes not being fully inspired by the movie, but rather the book.

I am a member of CMYKlub and I took part in the design show. For my book cover design I chose The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Luckily, I am currently reading the book so it was the perfect opportunity for me to design that book cover. I focused my design on Bilbo Baggins, the main character in the book and also known as the Hobbit. The blue sword becomes Bilbo’s in the book and the blade glows blue when their are Orcs nearby. At the tip of the blade is a golden ring which Bilbo will come in possession of. The bridge under the title is a design chosen to anchor the design. When coming up with the design I had many ideas and rough sketches, and then narrowed it down to four designs. I then came up with a design similar to my finished product. It took me about 15 other drafts until I thought the design was perfect.

Knowing about the design choices and reasoning behind everything definitely helps to fully appreciate the artworks. At the opening reception for the show each of the artists discussed their inspiration then some went into more detail about the time and process to complete their designs.

The show is mounted on the  second floor, on the right side of the main stairs. It is quite hard to miss! The posters will be in the learning commons for a few weeks so please make your way to the second floor and admire the work of graphic design and illustration majors.

Hopefully next year in CMYKlub we will be doing something very similar once again!