the strange case of
dr.jekyll & mr.hyde

book redesign

A redesign of the classic novel “the strange case of dr.jekyll & mr.hyde” using tactile methods to create imagery.

Book and case designed, printed and assembled by Stephanie Ford.

Brief
Redesign a classic novel and include 3 applications of tactile design. Print, bind and assemble the final book.

My approach
I chose to redesign the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because it was a book I had read before and it was relatively short- there was a rough word count to stick to. After looking at different versions of this book I noticed they were all pretty similar. The cover had an illustration of a normal man, Dr. Jekyll with either a shadow or a split face of Mr. Hyde. The subject of this book makes it almost mandatory to use such a juxtaposition in design, but I wanted mine version to stand out.

My first tactile application was the cover art. I wanted it to be somewhat ambiguous, avoiding any spoilers. I crafted 2 eyes our of clay 1 was a normal seeming eye and the other was an evil version of the eye. I photographed them, printed them out, transferred the image onto wood and then photographed them again. I wanted it to have an old vintage look. I made the hard cover from 2 pieces of chipboard layered together, one with a hole cut out and the other with a photo of the eye in the same place. The holes represent peep holes because doors are used as symbolism in the book.

I wanted this book to be vintage and gothic so the cover fabric is velvet and I added gold foil detailing- all by hand.

My second tactile application was the chapter headers. I sculpted letters and laid them out to spell each chapter name, I photographed them to cast a large shadow and applied the same technique of printing and photographing as I did for the cover art. to avoid too many blank pages and to give another point of interest I reversed the images on the other side of the page.

My final tactile application was the book case. Made from a green velvet fabric and a large “potion spill”-acrylic panit. It features a hole in the same spot as the cover to add a point of interest. I chose to add a bookcase over a dust jacket because I wanted it to have a more expensive feeling and I it adds more to the experience.

Typography / Layout

Set in adobe jenson at 11 point, it is easy to read and fits to the time period of the book. Nice large margins leave room for hands to hold the book without obscuring any text. The type is set very simply as to not distract from the text as well as to not compete with the graphic elements.