My submission for the 2015 Penguin Random House UK Design Awards. I decided to pick the brief for the Adult Fiction category which was 'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' by Jeanette Winterson.
For me, the pink raincoat was a significant moment in the story because that's how she meets her first love and everything changes from there. I liked the idea of Jeanette wearing the pink raincoat on the cover because it's not what you would see in traditonal stained glass work so she immediatly looks out of place, which subtly hints towards the feelings she faces in the story.
I wanted the front cover to look like a stained glass window
Oranges is about how nothing is in black and white - there are shades in between. I wanted the cover to reflect this and the multiple layers of the story, so I gave the illustrations multiple meanings. Before reading the book you already get some preconceived ideas from the cover but when you have read the book you see the illustrations in a different light.
The snake is usually associated with 'evil' in religion (i.e. Adam and Eve) so seeing it wrapped around Jeanette gives the impression that she is siding with an 'evil'. She also looks restricted so this hints towards themes in the book. However, snakes are symbolic for transformation (i.e. when their skin sheds) so after reading the book you understand the journey Jeanette takes to transform into the person she is, and the snake doesn't look so 'evil' on the front any more.
Thanks for looking!
