Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde:

Case Study.

Duration: 

January – May 2020

Objective:

The purpose of this project was to redesign a book out of the public domain to create a renewed interest in the book with a brand new concept. The books themselves were printed and bound professionally but the rest of the design was left up to us. The goal of my redesign of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was to highlight the creepiness of the book and also emphasize key themes or points within the book. I wanted to highlight the concept of duality by making it a bit more clear throughout the book. 

Research:

The main bulk of the research of this redesign was done by reading the original. It had been quite some time since I had read the book so I wanted to make sure I remembered and understood the premise and themes presented. After that, I decided to watch the Original movie from 1931 to just help me visualize the story. This would lend to a better-developed concept. Another major aspect of my research was just re-searching Victorian-era design. What fonts were most popular and what types of design styles were popular. 

Concept Development:

The goal I set out with was how I could make the book more interesting while still keeping a simple design scheme. I decided the best way to do that was with only redesigning with Typography. I didn't want to add pictures because the original book only had little sketch drawings. 

Grid and Layouts: 

I first chose to work with a modular grid because I thought it would offer me more unique layout options. However, I found this wasn't the case, and it actually made laying the text out a bit harder. So I ended up changing to a column grid with a few places to put some modulated text. For my first full draft, I decided to add an extra column at the bottom of each page to have the text flow into. I wanted to make the book a little bit uncomfortable to read because I thought that would go well with the story in the book. However, it ended up breaking up the paragraphs too much. I ended up taking the Fudoni out but would eventually replace it.

Typefaces: 

Original Typefaces: Gill Sans, Bohemian Alchemist, Another Danger 

New Typefaces and Typefaces used: Fudoni One, Bodoni 72 Smallcaps, Didot

Refinement:

I ended up removing the extra column and bumping the chapter titles down the page to give that unsettled vibe and added the same shadow effect that I have on the page numbers. I then when through the whole book and put Fudoni One in whenever an important conversation was happening, an Important story point, or just anytime Hyde/Jekyll was talking. I tried to put in more and more as the story progressed and ramped up. I also added a Table of Contents for the chapter and a colophon. 

Lessons Learned:

Over the course of the project, I have learned quite a bit. First I learned how in- credibly hard it is to produce a good-looking book. The intricate process has made my workflow a lot better. Especially producing something with 10 times as many pages as my last biggest project. I always valued critique and feedback but I think I finally realized just how important it is to get feedback and to be able to ask peers good questions so you can better your own project. I usually just left critiques up to my peers and would take what they had to say but this project I was asking my peers questions about my own project way more. I also learned how important it is to have a solid concept before starting work. Making an agenda and planning ahead in steps. I am usually pretty bad with time management but this project forced me out of that destructive habit and made me make this project in steps and increments which allowed me to have a much better final project because I had gone through 5-6 different ideas/drafts.

Programs:

Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, Blurb Publishing