The Brief
Design a cover for Truman Capote's In Cold Blood which breaks boundaries in the same way that the book did.
Synopsis
In Cold Blood tells the true story of the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, in 1959. They were brutally killed, with no apparent motive by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Initially they get away with the murder, leaving behind scant clues and having no personal connection with the murdered family. The killers move on with their lives and it seems that they might never be found out and brought to justice.
A living witness can tie the two men to the Clutters. They are arrested and both confess to their part in the crime. They are tried for murder and convicted; after many years on death row, both men are hanged.
The Concept: Reveal
In Cold Blood was first published as a four-part serial in The New Yorker. I have split the publication back into its original four parts so that the title of each book ‘reveals a clue’ and offers insight into what follows.
Thermochromic inks are temperature sensitive compounds that temporarily change colour with exposure to heat.
Other than the obvious connection that the ink has to the concept of reveal; each reader will read and understand the story differently, uncover clues at a different rate and come up with their own conclusions at the end of each publication. Additionally, the use of thermochromic ink links to the visuals of fingerprints, clues and murder.
