Art 235 Project 02 Conceptual Book Cover

For this project I was asked to create three covers for the classic story of Hamlet by William Shakespeare using three different methods: a type cover, a handmade cover, and a cover of our choice in any style or format. Each of these three conceptual covers capture the essence of a concept from Hamlet and draw upon the seven creative strategies to create a unique cover.

Physical shape similarity and isolation are the creative strategies I used to portray the tradgedy of Hamlet in this type cover. He dies when he is stabbed with a poisoned sword. Hamlet's final line is to his friend Horatio, "The rest is silence." Hamlet tells this to Horatio as he is dying and after Gertrude, Laertes, and Claudius have all died. It's the end of his wrestle and in-depth breakdown because of his father's death. Death appeared a chance for him to finally rest in peace, in silence. I choose a dreary night sky background to represent the turmoil Hamlet experiences through out this book. I transformed the word's "the rest is silence" into a sword dripping with poison striking Hamlet to represent his tragic end. The moon was added as a symbol of calmness, his chance to finally rest in silence.

This handmade cover was created by staining paper with tea, printing the images I wanted to use on seperate papers and then ripping and piecing the different pieces together using the creative strategy of combination. Shakespeare includes the theme of corruption in this book and utilizes many different ways to express this. For example, there is a lot of talk of decay, death, and rotting from the very beginning. Even Marcellus, one of the characters, says “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” which suggests that the kingdom is falling into the wrong hands. The audience knows from Hamlet's perspective that his uncle, Claudius, killed his father and illegitimately sits on the throne which corrupts the kingdom from the inside. The crown represents this corruption of the crown, the middle represents the life of Hamlet and the skull of Yorick represents death. This cover is symbolic of the duality of life and death that is a key concept in this story.

My designer's choice book cover was created with both photoshop and ripped tea stained paper. I used the creative strategy of material change to demonstrate the major theme of revenge in Hamlet. The concept of this book cover was to show in the end no one comes out the victor, all who sought revenge died. The audience could be everyone because, at some point, we all have experienced being wronged. Shakespeare portrays in Hamlet that revenge just leads to more pain and suffering. The crown was made from a blood drop suggesting that revenge is never the answer. In the case of Hamlet revenge led to his own death.