Sketches: Fifties Blondes (Continued)

I think my basic concept was sound, but I quickly came to the conclusion that the design might be too busy.

(This was something I put together quickly — each of the photos would have been of a different actress, of course.)

Simple is better. I tried experimenting with a version that had just one photo, but I was concerned that it wouldn't represent the book properly. (There are more than fifty different entries, and well over a hundred photos.) So I went back to my original concept, somewhat simplified.

This is when indecision began to set in. I want the "50s" element to serve as a background element — but it still has to read as a unified whole (rather than a "5" and an "s".) And, of course, the photo has to look good. As much as I liked the white type (I even tried a version with the photo in black-and-white, set in a white circle), it drew more attention to itself than I wanted.

(That, and the partial image at the top didn't really work, either.)

Yellow-on-yellow, while suitably subdued, presented an entirely different set of problems — it took time to find just the right combination of highlight and shadow to define the shape of the "5." But it's still not working — the effect is now too subtle. (You can see that it doesn't read at this small size.) I'll have to try something else tomorrow.

My original concept has survived more or less intact on the back cover, at least. (Again, each of those photos will be of a different actress. And that's dummy copy, as well.)