I started to research some information about the book and researched the blurb of agatha Christies book so I could try pin point from the blurb what the key factors are about the mystery.
I also then started it research Agatha's other books that she has produced so i could see what colours and type of layout that she uses, I wanted to know if there was percific typefaces that she used or if there was similarities in her books.
From this I found that the common colours that she uses in her books are: Blue , reds, greys,blacks, browns, she also uses some pasta colours. I also found that on most of her book she likes to have big text which often shouts her name big and bold on the front covers and has the name of the book quite subtly below the heading or at the bottom of the page. I also noticed in her book covers there quite vintage in her style and that she leaves subtle clues of mystery.
From taking this information in I then began experimenting with ideas on photoshop, here are some of the ideas i began to com cup with:
In this book cover idea I used the colour'a grey, red, brown and white as I thought they would work well together as colours. Personally the colours brown and grey I think are quite mysterious which works well with the book being a murder mystery.
I tried to simplify this next design down above as I felt there was to much going on the poster above, this time I used the colour red for text, as i was thinking of murder and the colour red which symbolised blood. Although I still feel that this book cover still does not work as I feel it's un-attractive to look at.
I then tried simplifying it down even further, as the simpler a piece of design the better. Again I used the colours grey,red and brown, but this time i darkened the grey of the man in the background. The reason why I choose to put the man in the background is to add a sense of mystery as he has know face and you can't see what he looks like,which is mysterious.
Here again I began to darken colours, as I've found thriller/crime books always tend to use darker colours rather than lighter, I think that's because there quite harsh and deep and dull so it immediately makes you look at it and see negativity.
I then tried an idea where I didn't use much colour to simplify it more, i also think simple makes it more mysterious as you'd want to know more about the book. In all of these ideas i've used large text for Agatha Christe's names as i've noticed that in most of her book she has her name in big bold letters across with page, which are the main image on her books, following from this i tried to make the image be faint in the background so the text could stand out more. Also the idea of the mystery man fading away in the background of the book cover, is almost showing that he is hiding.
I then began to think of new ideas in how to make it simple, thinking what imagery I could incorporate into it, so I created this image trace of a gun which I liked. However I wanted it to be a mystery in how the crimes have been committed, so for that reason the design doesn't work.
I then began to experiment more typographically, considering the Agatha Christie likes a bold type, So I thought I should have ago at creating a bold/old fashioned typeface to go along with her traditional book covers. I also thought the use of the gap between the upper and lower characters could almost look like the characters have been stabbed almost like a murder.
This is a typography idea I came up with which I quite like as it's almost like the lines are hiding parts of the characters which shows mysteriousness and the use of the brown links to my book name 'The Man In The Brown Suit'. These lines could also stand for prison bars which links to the book as when the villeins are captured they would go to jail. This image below is the typeface which I created:
Talking to my piers and getting inspiration, a member of are Graphics told me to try using a moustache instead of a suit figure, so i began by tracing a moustache that i found online using illustrator.
From my previous experimentation I remembered how I liked the use of the typography that I had created so I kept the typography. However speaking to my piers also they thought i should go in the complete opposite direction and not use the colour brown at all and completely redesign the book. To do this I changed the colour scheme by using a misty blue/grey colour as it's quite a mysterious colour and I used the colour white as its quite a cold colour, I also used black as it's bold which I was keeping the thought of Agatha Christies big bold text. Placing just a moustache as the main image in the centre of the page has a sense of mystery because all you know is that he has a moustache.
From designing this idea I then started to mess round with the layout of the moustache. The reason why i placed the moustache on it's side is because I thought that it looked like a question mark, which in relation to the book communicated because characters in the book are using who the mystery man is. Also I began to change to colours to see which colour would work best and so far I personally think that the white works the best so far.
I also thought of the idea to change the text to red as during my research I found that murder mystery books often use the colour red as it links to the colour of blood. In this case the colour red on this book cover design doesn't work as it's to bright and stands out to much, when I want the main focus to be on the bold 'Agatha' type and the moustache.
From experimenting with the text colour I thought that it would be worth experimenting with the moustache using a brown colour to see if it looked pleasing. To my suspicions I discovered that it didn't work as well brown as it did when it was black.
From carrying out a series of experimentation, I finally decided that this book cover below would fit the best. The reason for this is because it's simple, mysterious because of the moustache and intriguing as it doesn't give to much information away.
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