Matt Rickard: Graphic Design Portfolio - C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy

Overview

Graphic Design Portfolio class assignment to create a series of three book covers connected by either same author or genre. C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy is three stories of satirical fantasies with Christian undertones. All of the book shared the same thread of mysticism and spirituality, so I used a photomanipulation approach to enhance that.

Design decisions

Out of the Silent Planet

Overall the story was about human ignorance, imperialism, and the mystery/wonder of outer space. To represent these qualities I chose a man with a blindfold that blends into space, as well as a planet (the silent planet - earth) with the type flush right to give the eye the impression of movement from the planet's surface launching out toward outer space.

Perelandra

Perelandra's plot is about an allegorical floating island that represents the Garden of Eden in the Bible. The floating island of Perelandra is surrounded by the "fixed land" where travel is forbidden by the island's god. A satan-like character attempts to tempt the queen of Perelandra to the fixed land, which is the story's main conflict. The typeface used for the title is "Onyx" which embodies both the seductive conflict and island beauty simultaneously. I created the island of Perelandra out of Manpupuner rocks, trees and waterfalls all composited together to represent peaceful beauty.

That Hideous Strength

This book is about a Orwellian/totalitarian organization called N.I.C.E. that comes in and starts controlling a small town and its people through subversive means. This also includes recruitment and indoctrination, which relates back to an important motif in the story, the "blue room". In the blue room, everything is slightly askew. N.I.C.E. recruits are sent there to become more "objective" through exposure to the off-kilter characteristics of the room. In the story, the moment the protagonist steps into the room he figures out exactly what he needs to do to defeat the N.I.C.E. Another important piece of the plot is Merlin (yes the medieval wizard), who represents true neutrality and is seen as the key to victory by both good and evil.