This was an assignment.
Cupcake Cookbook Cover Design
Contents.
What should be included in a cookbook? The generic list of writing a cookbook according to ingramspark is the table of contents, for example, meal types, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. Your own recipes should also be considered and of course, standardising the measurements. You would also need great-looking photos or illustrations paired with the ingredients to showcase the steps and keep the customer at ease and let them know what they’re doing right or wrong through looking at the pictures. Put ingredients in order which is pretty self-explained. And then add in extras to make your book stand out.
https://www.ingramspark.com/blog/8-tips-for-writing-a-cookbook
For my scamps I’ve created a series of cook book designs in inspiration from my mood board and many other cook books. I have designed based on cupcakes, tools used in baking and such. I’ve incorporated logos I’ve designed onto the cookbook so it has a form of corporate identity. The design of the front cover will also tie in to the pages as the style will be the same all throughout the book. I’ve designed a list of logos, most of them have some sort of hidden meaning that connects with the logo branding such as “happy cake” whilst having a slight smile at the bottom to indicate that it’s happy. Here is how I would design the inner pages of the book, tying in with the logo and the whole theme and style of the book.
Logo Designs.
Here are a few logos I’ve created based on my scamps. I have made them in a specific style based on my target consumer, I have made them vibrant, cartoony, introduced depth by adding dark and light areas which help bring out the logo more. I plan on making the whole book cover based on the style of these logos because it’ll tie in everything and make the whole thing more visually appealing to children and hopefully encourage them to bake a cupcake which is the whole goal of this book.
Not only does the front have to be aesthetically pleasing, however, but the same also has to be done for the inside of the book. To make it kid-friendly I would be introducing bold fun typefaces to motivate them to read further and make it easy for them to read and understand paired with photos or illustrations of the instructions.
The main logo I’m interested in using is the “I BAKE” logo because it’s easy to read when scaled down, easier to implement and has a more memorable visual image. This will help in building the brand.
Mock-Up.
This is a mock-up of the cook book using the “Sweet Danger” logo, the logo is a cactus but in a cupcake holder which is how I came up with the name sweet danger. I made this cookbook cartoony and simple, the text is bold, big and easy to read keeping my target audience in mind. Looking back at it, I realised that everything looks out of place and doesn’t fit in well such as the kitchen equipment in a desert.
This is my second mock-up, I’ve changed up the colour theme and used red instead with a white border at the top to separate the colour of the cherry from the background and also leave room for a header at the back. The text is bold and big which will make it easy to read. I’ve made the spine a darker red than the front cover to give it contrast and with that white text, it’ll be easier to read and identify when it’s on a bookshelf.
I’ve made this cookbook simple, using shades of blue and white for the text, to make the cupcake illustration pop out, I’ve added a highlight behind the logo so that it’s easier to identify and doesn’t blend in with the background.
I’ve used techniques such as warp and perspective in order to create the cupcake vector, for the shading at the top I’ve piled circles on top of each other to give it the effect. For the text, I’ve used warp to wrap around the cupcake holder so the text looks like it’s on the vector as supposed to be on top of it.
I’ve made this cookbook bright and eye-catching by using a yellow background. The text is super easy to read when it’s sized big, It’s important for my customer base to have a large text so it’s not straining to their eyes and relaxing to read. This will also make it easier to bake since it’ll be a very intuitive experience. I’ve stylized the background by using a splatter paintbrush which I’ve used on the illustration of the cherry and the whipped cream.
I’ve tried a new technique with the blurb cover, I’ve overlapped the blurb text on top of the blurb with an opacity of 30% so that it has a cool readable effect whilst maintaining clarity for the text. On the front cover, I’ve created an illustration with space for text. My design choice for the white border is based on many cookbooks I’ve found on the internet. The border adds an interesting window-like effect.
The text, however, isn’t really that readable on the back since the shade of colour on the back is really bright and doesn’t really work well with white.
To make the baking tray I’ve used basic shapes, rectangles and circles.
Next, I’ve added a gradient to display that it’s a metallic reflective material. I’ve then added an inner shadow on the circle to separate it blending into the tray and also to create a 3d effect. I’ve also added a stroke around the baking tray to give it an edge.
Furthermore, I’ve added a lighter colour to the back of the background to give it a highlight so the background isn’t plain and added a bold cartoony font so that viewers know it’s a kids cookbook.
I’ve then added a chocolate chip cupcake using the circle tool and added gradients to make it pop and look like it’s in the tray, to further add detail to the baking tray I’ve added another depth on the circle holders so it looks like it’s 3 dimensional. I’ve then used the “knick-knack” font at the bottom which is cleaner and compliments the first font “blow”. To add creative input I’ve highlighted the chocolate chip part so it’s more of a fun approach.
Instead of a logo illustration, I thought it would be more interesting to do an illustration of a baking tray with a chocolate chip cupcake on it to really summarize the whole theme and design of the contents throughout the cover page. The pages will be really simple with a basic illustration and all the ingredients and info on it.
Yellow is a neutral colour, set apart from blue and pink which is usually associated as boy or girl so by using yellow it’s a gender-neutral colour as well as a great eye-catcher which works very well on a cookbook and will be suitable for any gender rather than having it set to one gender specifically.
Mock Up.
Here is an idea of how the cookbook would look like. Left pages will be images and the right side will be information. I’ve chosen this type of layout because the eye focuses from top left to bottom right so the first thing the user would notice is the visual representation and then the information after so it’s more of a smoother experience rather than looking at the information and then the image.