To celebrate 90 years of Penguin Publishing, I was challenged to create a bold new cover system for a special edition of the Penguin Cover Design Award. My solution is a modular illustration system that layers visual storytelling on the cover itself — highlighting key plot points and themes before the book is even opened.
Drawing from Penguin’s classic tri-band design, I developed a fresh genre-based color scheme:
Pinks for fiction, reds for classic fiction, and blues/teals for non-fiction.
The result is a flexible, future-facing identity that honors Penguin’s legacy while inviting a new generation of readers.
At the heart of this concept is a suite of stackable illustrations—modular icons that allow each cover to feature three visual elements. Together, they offer a meaningful glimpse into the story before a single page is turned.The colour palettes draw inspiration from the original Penguin and Puffin tri-band designs, creating distinct visual cues that separate fiction, classic fiction, and non-fiction—honouring the past while speaking to today’s readers.Each layout pays tribute to the iconic tri-band structure, with a modern twist: three stacked pictograms take centre stage, placing the story at the core of the cover.
Clean, purposeful typography supports fast recognition, even for fleeting attention spans.
Celebrating a new chapter for Penguin, I have created a launch campaign to introduce the visuals to the world and celebrate the new cover deisgn system.
