PENGUIN BOOK DESIGN COMPETITION

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

'A glittering parable of good and evil' The New York Times Book Review

Boisterous, ribald and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s and has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.

Highly acclaimed on publication, adapted into a multi-award-winning film starring Jack Nicholson, this powerful book is as bracing and insightful today as it was in the 1960s.

The brief

The story is well known both in celluloid and print, so it is essential to come at it from a fresh angle. Try to design a new cover for a new generation of readers, avoiding the obvious clichés and steering clear of the film promotional graphics. Originality is key.

Audience: all readers both familiar and unfamiliar with the text, male and female.

Message: there are many themes within the book – political, social, victim, antihero, madness, sanity, affection, violence and many more. Read it and discover what the book means to you.

Your cover design needs to include all the cover copy as supplied and be designed to the specified design template (B format, 198mm high x 129mm wide, spine 18mm wide)

What the judges are looking for:

We are looking for a striking cover design that is well executed, has an imaginative concept and clearly places the book for its market. While all elements of the jacket need to work together as a cohesive whole, remember that the front cover must be effective on its own and be
eye-catching within a crowded bookshop setting. It also needs to be able to work on screen for digital retailers such as Amazon.

The winning design will need to:

• have an imaginative concept and original interpretation of the brief
• be competently executed with strong use of typography
• appeal to a contemporary readership
• show a good understanding of the marketplace
• have a point of difference from the many other book covers it is competing against

I aim to take one day on this brief, it will let me experiment with quick concepts and think about connections and audience.