The objective was to design the entire book of The Scarlet Letter from cover to cover. There were a few parameters to this project. The cover needed to be undercoded in its design, meaning that the book didn’t have any obvious elements relating back to the book’s story as well as not being generic. In addition, an end paper must be chosen or designed, a title page and chapter break must be designed, and margins for the book text must be established.
Since most book designs for the Scarlet Letter would have the letter A or depicting a woman wearing the letter A on her chest, that was not an option for a design direction. I chose to take the triangular shape from the Baskerville A. The triangle is to represent a love triangle between the woman and two other men. A cross was also chosen to represent the Puritan society the story takes place in. The pearl in the center of the triangle is to represent the daughter of the adulterer, who is a byproduct of the love triangle.
For an end paper, I chose to go with a cloth texture that was a red color. This is to tie back into the red A that Hester Prynne has to wear in the Scarlet Letter. The triangle element on the title page ties back into the system of the book cover.
The triangle element is present on the chapter breaks as well to tie back into the book's system.
