We’re often told that we “cannot judge a book by its cover”, but that’s not always true. Especially not when it comes to the elaborate book jackets created by Professor Rachelle W. Chuang’s graphic design students.

Kenley Tiesmeyer presents her book jacket designs and display case for The Secret Garden.

These students participated in a rigorous process to research, redesign, and physically produce two conceptually different book jackets for a single work. A particularly challenging aspect of this project consisted of creating original designs based on the literary work, rather than relying on the visuals that one may already associate with the book. Students also designed the interior of their book to a minimum of 100 pages using advanced Adobe InDesign functions. This collection of work shows how new approaches, innovative typography, original art, and design skills can inspire audiences with the joy and value of reading.

Claire Furukawa installing the display of her book jacket designs for Howl’s Moving Castle.

This is the second time the Leatherby Libraries has exhibited work from upper division graphic design students from Professor Chuang’s book design class at Chapman University, however, this is the first time that the library is hosting this exhibition in the Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives. Each student was given space in an exhibition case in order to design the display of their book jackets.

Julie Ramirez shares more insight into her display and book jacket designs for Game of Thrones.

Exhibition Dates: December 07, 2017 – February 28, 2018

Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections & Archives Hours:
Monday – Friday • 10am – 5pm
Saturday & Sunday CLOSED

Be sure to stop by the Library of Special Collections & Archives to view the exhibition, but in the meantime, enjoy the details of these impressive book jacket designs:

As a result of the previous Reading Revamp exhibition, Audrey Chang’s The Kite Fighters is being published. Check out the blog post for the previous “Reading Revamp” exhibition hosted in the Leatherby Libraries.

If you have any questions please contact Esther Shin at eshin@chapman.edu or 714-532-6027.