Book: The ABC Murder's
Plot:
There's a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim's corpe the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town where the murder has taken place. Having begun with Andover, Bexhill and then Churston, there seems little chance of the murderer being caught - until he makes the crucial and vain mistake of challenging Hercule Poirot to frustrate his plans.
Research:
Previous versions:
This is the most recent adaptation of the book. This design is also the design that represented a number of applications. As this novel later received production in gaming and other mediums. It doesn't vibrate creativity and looks rather simple and a simple design concept. There is much more that could have been done to this design as the semantics involved could have generated a much more purposeful meaningful end design.
Covers designed by Rudolph deHarak, 1960s:
- The Uncommitted
- Towards A Visual Culture
Although these may be outdated book covers, the overall design concept is what the style is in todays world. The minimal yet effective design. The paper cut outs and the bold font its simplicity creates it's effectiveness.
Experimentation:
One thing that was the main aim, was to pay homage to previous designs (the stereotypical Agatha Christie novel design) and stay relevant to the time set of the story of the novel. So it was important to play around with the theme of blood, as it is a common theme in her murder novels. As well as representing the story and its time with some sort of wit involved.
This is a recent adaptation of the novel, simple clean cut design appeals to the modern demographic. But blue suggests cold and emotions that do not comply to the novel itself. The use of the typewriter is appealing as it is relative to the time-set as well as the 'ABC' concept. Working with the typewriter idea is a concept worth working with.
Typewriter stencil design:
Initial workups playing around on illustrator:
Final Concept Design:
The main aim was to try to create informed design decisions, whilst trying to maintain a modern contemporary adaptation of the novel. By including these semantics this design is provided with more depth whilst still holding to original concepts and a Agatha Christie novel design. It has now been posted on the guardian to pay homage and celebrate what would have been Agatha Christie's 125th birthday! The link is below:
https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/55fa8aa2e4b0d1b4cd9dd53d#contribute
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