• A$340

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Graphic Design Brief

Background:
I have written a historical novel set in the Shanghai International Settlement in the 1920's and 1930's. My working title is 'Servants of the Empire'. The story is primarily set in Shanghai with a young Irishman as the main character. There is a back story set during the Irish War of Independence.

A Hollywood movie style pitch for this story might say
'Shanghai Triad' meets 'Michael Collins' or
'The White Countess' meets 'The wind that shakes the barley'

Here is the back cover promotional blurb I have written for the novel. Both the novel title and the cover design should simply, memorably and colourfully capture the vibe of this story:

"Logline - Love won and lost as civilisation dies

Shanghai 1927 – a city surrounded by warlord armies and run by gangsters. The wealthy international elite, sip cocktails in hotel bars, watching, amused, as armies wage war a street away. While they enjoy the cabarets, jazz clubs and taxi dances beneath lies a cesspool of vice, opium dens and fermenting revolution.

A young Irishman, Michael Gallagher, joins the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP), the transnational force protecting the Shanghai International Settlement. He carries the tragic memory of Fiona Burleigh, the aristocratic girl he loved as a boy in Ireland, during the War of Independence. After Fiona's death - or presumed death, her body was never found - he gravitates to China, a place he and Fiona dreamed of visiting.

This haunted past confronts him anew when he unexpectedly meets his boyhood hero – Great War veteran Major Jamie Flyte - who was present at Fiona’s apparent death. This reconnection ultimately leads to the truth of Fiona’s disappearance and Michael once more has love in his grasp.

Servants of the Empire is a sweeping story of corruption, revolution, war and love lost and found again, until tragedy has the final say. It unites the grand forces of history with the grand passion of two people’s forbidden love."

Target market:
Adult readers. age: 20+years
People who loves historical fiction, books about China, books set in the 1920s
People who buy novels on Amazon

Task:
To create a cover for this novel. The cover needs to have the following information:
Title: "Servants of the Empire"
Author: "Gerry O'Sullivan"

I would like to incorporate an imagery/icon that is representative of Shanghai in the 1920s (a city of jazz and opium, gangsters, spies, refugees, etc.) in the cover. I like the idea of using the silhouette of an opium pipe as well as silhouette of a man. Feel free to play with these two ideas and come up with different concepts.

Colour scheme:
Red, yellow, gold

Look and feel:
Modern, clean, simple, Art deco inspired design
Vibe of Shanghai in the 1920's - a city of jazz and opium, gangsters, spies, refugees, etc.
Simple typography, the title should not dominate the cover although it is helpful to have it recognizable from a distance

Note
This novel will be self e-published on Amazon Kindle, iBooks, etc. The cover book design needs to look good as a small thumbnail on a computer screen, or smartphone or iPad. The book cover should not be cluttered with text, or be too dark so that it makes an unattractive thumbnail on Amazon or similar e-book sellers page. The full size cover should look good but when it shrinks down to thumbnail size it still looks good.

Attached with this brief are samples of novel covers that we would like you to use as inspiration. Please note how the icon/image dominates the cover while the text is still legible. I would like the cover of this novel to be different, unique and distinct when displayed with other similar books.

Shanghai in the 1920's and 1930's was an international city, controlled by various western powers. There was an international military presence, a multinational police force, many refugees from the Russian Revolution and later from Germany and Austria. It was a sophisticated city with 5-star hotels, fashionable nightclubs, jazz bands, a huge movie industry with many stars, gossip magazines, etc. It was a centre for cutting edge design, art and literature. So images that suggest a hip, between the wars Art Deco city would be more appropriate than say peasants working in rice fields. (Having said that, there was also great poverty in Shanghai, with street people and workers such as rickshaw pullers sharing the same space as movie stars and jazz musicians and gangster bosses).

Please check this link:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=images+of+1920%27s+shanghi&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Target Market(s)

people who buy novels on Amazon. People who love fiction, historical fiction, books about China, books set in the 1920's

Industry/Entity Type

Computer

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Look and feel

Each slider illustrates characteristics of the customer's brand and the style your logo design should communicate.

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Requirements

Must have

• 
  A great book cover that is simple and eye catching and suitable for a computer screen thumbnail.

Should not have

• The book cover should not be cluttered with text, or be too dark so that it makes an unattractive thumbnail on Amazon or similar ebook sellers page.
  The full size cover should look good but when it shrinks down to thumbnail size it still looks good.

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Files

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