Novel Decision!

My Sister's Keeper is a novel written by Jodi Picoult in 2004. It tells the story of a young girl Anna who was conceived as a bone marrow match for her older sister Kate. Kate suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. By age thirteen, Anna has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that Kate can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. Anna has been willing to donate whatever Kate has needed, until, at thirteen, she is told that she will have to donate one of her kidneys. The surgery required for both Kate and Anna would be major, and dangerous for both girls. Kate could die during surgery, and the procedure could also have a serious impact on Anna's life. Anna petitions for medical emancipation with the help of lawyer Campbell Alexander, so that she will be able to make her own decisions regarding her medical treatment and the donation of her kidney.

There are eleven characters in My Sister's Keeper, and about half of them narrate throughout the book. Interestingly enough, Picoult has already chosen different fonts for each narrator. Over the next couple of days, my job is to think about why she made these decisions, and how they affect my initial impression of each character. This will maybe assist me in selecting my own fonts for each narrator. I'll also be thinking about which three of the narrators I want to create spreads for.

Dictionary Jacket (edited)

I decided to make some changes to the dictionary cover/flaps, in hopes of creating a stronger cohesion between the cover and the definition spreads.

2nd Definition: "baseless"

Dictionary Jacket

Definition: Juxtaposition

Gutenberg Brochure

Corrections to Early Letterform

After taking the suggestions of my classmates from the critique, I went back in to work on the first and last designs. 

With the first design, I experimented with adding and subtracting rectangles from the composition. I tried taking away the two larger rectangles, but decided the left side looked empty without them. Still feeling like the left margin was a bit too crowded, I then decided to move the Psi symbol over just a few spaces to the right, and lower the stroke of the two rectangles.

With the last design, I worked on repositioning the paragraph of text. Someone suggested taking it away completely, which I tried but didn't like after I ran a print test. Again, my problem was a crowded left margin, so I tried playing with the spacing of the paragraph, and the leading of the text. After decreasing the leading, I finally decided on about a quarter of an inch on the top and left side of the paragraph.