Redesigns by Crush Design - Stickers!

Crush also redesigned The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams for Pan Macmillan. On Crush's website they explain, “As part of the redesign we developed a limited edition DIY cover complete with a sticker sheet, so fans can decorate their own book.”

I have noticed that a lot of redesigns, for old books especially, have been adding extra elements to make their covers more unique. See my old blog post about including 3D glasses with books, for example. Designers need to find a way to make these old books appeal more to the modern audience and they do this completely through the design of the book. The Hitchhiker's redesign was created to celebrate 30 years of this series and so this adds an extra push for the designers to make this a creative book that stands out.

And, again, the designers do this by introducing physical aspects that can be played with. The idea of including stickers could be seen to appeal only to children... and yet, I bet this book would also appeal to adults, for it is not overly child-like in appearance and the front cover, without the stickers, still holds a more sophisticated appearance.

I love the idea that they have created: make your own book cover! It's an idea that I don't think I have seen done and this is probably why it works so well; it's so completely different. The stickers, which can be found inside the book, relate to stories and objects (and miserable androids!) which are written in the book. This could also interest someone who hasn't read the books before. They are able to see objects that relate to the written words of the book and are therefore encouraged to read the book to find out how they relate. And the stickers are also nudge to the old fans of the series.

"We knew the key for this would be to make the books attractive to the Hitchhiker's newcomer, but also have some hidden or cryptic element for the die-hard fans," Chris Pelling of Crush said. "The books themselves are farcical (and possibly a bit psychedelic), so the simple comic style set against the real life photo of space seemed to fit the slightly surreal style of writing."

He went on to say, "Even though book covers do use lots of nice printing techniques like foil blocks, embossing, varnishes etc, that's usually where it stops. So for us to get a sticker sheet approved felt like a real coup."

I love how more designers are thinking outside the box when it comes to how to make the most of the physical aspect of the book - and stickers is such a fun way to do that. It's something that could never be replicated through an ebook.

 

Furthering the digital campaign, Crush also created a website and advertisement for the new book covers. Not only that, but they also got involved with creative media by creating Marvin the Paranoid Android's depressive Twitter campaign: Marvins Moan. 

References:
http://crushed.co.uk/bookcovers/pan-macmillan-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy/
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/august1/dont-panic
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2009/03/18/hitchhikers-guide-be-reissued-create-your-own-cover-crush-design
https://twitter.com/marvinsmoan