Consider the Lobster redesign
So it’s only one (although I’m still working on three others), but I figured I would post this redesign as it’s done — or at least ready for a good critique.
A bit of explanation: I guess it’s fine to put a lobster on a book called Consider the Lobster. But the essay for which the book is named is (primarily) about killing and eating them; Wallace is writing about the fate of the lobster. And to me, lobsters need butter.
This design may be obvious — I’d like some comments about that. Wallace strikes me as a Futura kind of guy, but that’s only because I imagine him being a Wes Anderson fan. I took the photo of the butter with my serviceable but far from pro digital camera — please don’t tell me that the photo sucks. I know this. But pretty much everything else is fair game and constructive comments are appreciated.
Comments:
is the photo final, or just for comp purposes? My biggest issue is that I didn’t know it was butter at first glance. In fact, it was just prior to actually reading the word “butter” in your post that I realized what was going on. So, if this is not the final photo, I can forgive temporarily.
As for the butter concept, i’m not so hot on it. And there seems to be a disconnect between the top and the bottom. The plant-like illustrations just don’t tie in with the top.
If it weren’t too hard, what I think could be cool is actually molding (not the right word, but can’t think of the right word now) the title into the stick of butter. And if it were me, I would decrease the space above and below the butter, move the whole image up (so it takes about the top third or so of the cover) and leave the rest just solid color and type.
Maybe that won’t work, but that’s what I’m wanting to do with it as I see it now, being unable to try it.
The butter idea is fantastic, but I feel like the overall type/layout doesn’t punch it strongly enough.
If I had only one comment to make, it would be: Use a pristine piece of butter. The nicks and imperfections in this one are distracting, because a stick of butter is classically such a perfect thing.
Hi Joseph.
I really like how you extrapolated the idea of butter from the fate of lobsters. Of course, being a fairweather cook, I pictured melted butter. Or boiling water. Then melted butter floating on top of hot water…that greasy slick you get. (I know that’s not how you cook lobsters but it’s a fun visual.) But the boiling water might be fun to try and photograph, even with your sub-pro digicam (same thing I use btw). Consider how the lobster feels when it goes into that boiling water…alive. Ow. Is that too obvious, boiling water? Maybe you need a clove of garlic in there somewhere?… oh, right next to the “And Other Essays,” like a little punctuation mark.
Just a thought. But what do I know?
jenn
I didn’t get that it was butter at first either… (‘scuse me if, as the previous poster stated, this is just for comp purposes)
love the leafy things… though I agree right now they don’t tie together with the top.
I would go buy a lobster and cook it and put a nice square pat o butter on it and wait for it to melt just a tad, then use your macro (what kinda camera do ya have btw) and get a nice close up of the pat-o-butter on the red back of the lobster. Then you get to eat the subject! So it may be obvious… who cares, lobsters are interesting visually! and of course it would be so close up that it would kind of abstract things.
sorry for the ramble… tis 5 am.
Due to the colors and hierarchy of the typography, my eye keeps going directly to the line of “And Other Essays” copy - arguably the least important information on the cover. I also really dislike the color and the wonky dropshadow of the title - it’s not working.
I too had a hard time discerning that the image was butter. I agree with Jenn that people think of melted butter with lobster - the solid stick is kind of a stretch to connect with the title. That said, you could probably get away with it, but I think you’d need a much more visually interesting image to carry it off.
Not a bad effort, just kind of disjointed and unclear IMHO.
How about a butter sculpture of a lobster? Ha ha!
but seriously folks show just the antennae coming up from the bottom of the page and maybe the eyes…
… or a shot of one in the tank at the supermarket
PayPal donations for a new digital camera can be sent to…only kidding.
Regarding the leafy bottom thing: I brought that in for a couple of reasons, most importantly that it reminded me of a tablecloth or a napkin or something else like that. I also thought it was visually interesting.
I don’t associate a stick of butter with lobster, but a little metal dish of melted butter would work. Or a nutcracker. Or a bib. “And Other Essays” is in another font for no good reason, and is more prominent than the title. Like the floral pattern.
In total agreement about the “And Other Essays,” at least color-wise. I was going to change it (just ask my wife!), but there was beer to drink and pool to play :-)
Hmmm, this is interesting at first, but the more you think about it, the less sense it makes. You don’t use a stick of butter to eat lobster, they use drawn butter. Maybe something to do that would be visually arresting is to show a stainless steel pot with the antennae and a claw the only part of the lobster you can see sticking out of the top of it, somewhat like the lobster is making a last-ditch effort to avoid being dinner. I guess it depends of the point-of-view of the book whether that would work.
As for the bottom half, it’s nice but that seems to be the only reason it’s there. It doesn’t seem to be there because you made a particular design decision other than it looked good. Nothing inherently wrong with it, just seems to lack meaning.
Dave
I love the concept, the butter is a great idea, I am very glad you didn’t go with a lobster, or even a more obvious display of butter. The layout is nice, I am not at all sold on the type treatment though, especially for the title. I don’t like the yellow color of the type or the drop shadow. Overal, a very nice design, maybe just work with the type a bit more.
Joseph, thank you so much for posting this for us to think about!
The butter concept seems great but I’m not sure this execution works for me — melted butter, mentioned above, might make me relate more to the subject.
I like a couple of the ideas above, too: a butter melting on the lobster’s back macro shot seems like a cool and arresting visual (or an action shot of melted butter being poured onto the lobster, with some nice “splash”), but I think my favorite idea is a shot of a steaming pot on a stove with just an antenna or claw tip — just barely enough to let you know what’s in there.
No matter where it goes, very much looking forward to seeing the others! Thanks.
Butter’s not selling me. Neither is brighter yellow type over pale yellow butter with nasty gray-blue shadowing.
What if the upper part is a picnic table cloth, with pale greasy stains - washed out enough not to be too loud.
And try putting the title on two lines, in black.
And “infinite jest” should probably be on one line.
Just thinking aloud.
I really want this cover to be red, in one way or another. Tasty lobsters are red, and there is no red in this cover at all!
I would ditch the butter idea altogether, visually it doesn’t work, and i think you’ll have a hell of a time getting it to work, unless (as suggested) you use a butter sculpture of a lobster (really fun idea).
I think a lobster bib or maybe even a wet nap wrapper would be interesting since it invokes readily identifiable lobster dinner graphic vernacular.
This is a great post Joseph, lets have more like them!
I didn’t get that it was butter at all. I thought it was a bar of soap turned sideways. Made me think of the redesigned Fight Club book jacket when the movie came out.
What about a lobster claw holding a knife that is cutting a pat of butter? Is there some way to imply that a lobster is about to enjoy a nice formal dinner? Or does the photo setup involved get just too weird?
I do like that the butter is a subtle joke that takes a minute, very appropriate for DFW.
Jay
I still think it should be a pile of broken and picked over lobster shells.
..ripped apart and with that disgusting green stuff dripping all over the torn and mangled carcass. A claw cracker with red bits and pieces of the exoskelatal remains of a noble and majestic ceature of the sea lays exhaused and used-up on the checkered tablecloth …
All of these comments are extremely helpful, and I thank you all.
Hi.
You said: “A bit of explanation: I guess it’s fine to put a lobster on a book called Consider the Lobster. But the essay for which the book is named is (primarily) about killing and eating them; Wallace is writing about the fate of the lobster. And to me, lobsters need butter.”
I believe the essay asks us to consider why it is that we usually avoid thinking through the ethics of killing and eating lobsters. A stick of butter does not convey this and seems to be a random “postmodern” image with no connection to the essay itself. Just an opinion.
The cirlicued shapes under the photo are distracting and incongruous. And I agree with the other posters that the stick of butter isn’t a short logical leap from a lobster.
I don’t think the butter cube needs to be perfect—this isn’t a cookbook. I like how it looks like you just pulled it out of the refrigerator quickly.
The floral line art in the bottom half under “and other essays” could be changed to be old fashioned scientific looking line art of lobster claws and tentacles.
I like the type treatment for the author’s name but would also try it in one line base aligning with “wallace” and keeping the type below exactly as you have it.
How about a huge man-eating lobster? like a jap sci-fi movie! haha
red of course…
! wait i have more…
have any of us read this “funny crustachean essay”?
I agree with most everything said. I don’t know whether I like the butter or not — I agree and think butter in a state other than a stick might be better — but the first thing I notice every time I look at it is that I really don’t like the title. The font, the color, the drop shadow. Also, as it is, the “and other essays” jumps out way too much. And I really, really like the leafy curlicue stuff. I don’t know if it fits or works but I still like it.
The concept is appropriate. To my way of thinking, the butter pad presents “fat” and decadence. Unfortunately, the art of decadence seems to be floushing in America ( north and south of the 49th parallel). Additionally, I think that DFW was alluding to the zero-sum game that is at the heart of modern-day capitalism; for my entertainment and enjoyment there must, by definition, be something I defeat. However,the pound of butter could have a much deeper meaning in that at the end of it all, we are all mere flesh and sinew. How different is the lobster from someone who has been “downsized”? A nice simple and clean design; very well done!