Penguin - The judges

Analysing the judges of the competition will help create a rough guideline if what the judges are looking for in a winning submission. 
 
John Hamilton has an illustration interest which would mean he favours a more illustrative approach to book design. On the other hand however, he may be a harsher critic of the illustration due to his probably extensive knowledge. Most importantly he was the driving force behind Penguin book's removal of the iconic orange spine. This will encourage more radical ideas of the Penguin brand, book cover design and the reading experience as a whole. 

Janna Prior's experience in the Marketing & Publicity side of the Penguin brand will mean the designs have to have a marketable design that communicates to its target audience which will help drive sales of the book. Therefore it would be good to demonstrate how the book will sit in situ amongst other book covers. 

Jim Studdart's experience in music design and redesigning the penguin classics are an important factor to consider. This indicates that he is open to new interpretations of what the Penguin brand should be. However because of his experience, he will be highly critical of designs that attempt to do this. Furthermore looking into his cover work, Stoddart has formed a unique design identity that is associated with Penguin.

Stoddart's book design is recognisable through his explicit use of typography and grid systems that form the clean and structured compositions. In some examples even, the grid he uses is remisicent of the Marber grid. By showing the annotations next to his book designs, it demonstrates the intricasies of designing a professional book cover and the level of detail he pays attention to. Transferring these qualities into In Cold Blood's new design would help appeal to Stoddart's judging. These design processes result in book covers that are clean, structured and communicate the books title with little subjectivity.