Project Overview
Jacket art and typography for Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen, a novel about Lee Lien, daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, who struggles to find meaning post-grad, and discovers a surprising connection between her family and the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on The Prairie novels.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
The Studio of Chris Silas Neal
Project Brief
Jacket art and typography for Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen, a novel about Lee Lien, daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, who struggles to find meaning post-grad, and discovers a surprising connection between her family and the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on The Prairie novels.
Project Innovation/Need
We decided to invoke the original covers from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie. Instead of doing a direct parody or one for one comparison which would not have matched the tone of the novel, Paul Buckley hired Chris Silas Neal to make a new piece of art and lettering, taking several cues from vintage covers while also drawing something that feels contemporary.
Design Challenge
The biggest challenge was to make a drawing that invoked a long time favorite Young Reader series while at the same time, designing a cover that felt like an adult contemporary novel. Book sellers and publishers take careful measures to ensure that books for adult readers and books for young readers feel and look different. In this case, we walked and perhaps blurred this line.
Effectiveness
We ended up with the exact book cover we set out to make which in publishing is a near miracle. Readers and book sellers seem to enjoy the art as well as the story inside.
Graphic Design - Illustration and Type
This award celebrates creativity and innovation in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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