2/16/09

Quarrel & Quandary


http://covers.fwis.com/quarrel__quandary
Designer: Barbara De Wilde, book cover

I think this is an excellent typographic solution for a book cover. The crispness and boldness of the design are quick to grab the viewer's attention. The red exclamation point and question mark framed by the bold black ampersand create a very eye-catching graphic element. I like the way the shared red dot seems to ground the whole design.
The typeface is a very unique decorative serif which I didn't have any luck identifying. All of the typefaces that were similar had upturned tails on the "Q"s. I like how the designer chose to use the regular font for "quarrel" and the italic font for "quandary". The regular font gives the word "quarrel" a solid concrete appearance while the italicized "quandary" kind of plays on the definition of quandary as being unfirm and wavering. Since "quandary" is in a true italic font, it offers enough contrast to "quarrel" to actually work and creates a sense of turbulence between the two words.
And back to the punctuation marks—the exclamation point emphasizes the word quarrel with its definitiveness while the question mark reinforces the uncertainty associated with a quandary. The bold red color emphasizes the stress between the two ideas and the black ampersand seem to tie the two concepts together. This design easily meets all design requirements: unity, balance, emphasis, rhythm, and depth.

2 comments:

Miriam Martincic said...

Good analysis. i agree with you. it's nice on how many levels this works. The "questlataion" mark also looks like a dingbat, and has a decorative flour-de-lis feel. This goes well with the elegant type. I love the two pairings:
quarrel + regular type + !
&
quandary + italic + ?

Anonymous said...

You do a wonderful job of breakdown and analysis of the design.