Book Cover: PHASE ONE: Research

se·ries

1. A number of objects or events arranged or coming one after the other in succession.

se·quence

1. A following of one thing after another; succession.

2. An order of succession; an arrangement.

3. A related or continuous series.

Sign- an icon that resembles or looks like the thing it represents.

An example of a sign or icon is the trash can or waste basket on your computer desktop, which represents the folder for unwanted or deleted files.

Index- defined by some sensory feature, A, (something directly visible, audible, smellable, etc) that correlates with and thus implies or 'points to' B, something of interest to something else. Something that serves to guide, point out, or otherwise facilitate reference.

An example of an index is when the electrical stovetop is red it is hot and dangerous and when it is black and turned off it is okay to touch. This also reminds me of the psychological classical conditioning experiment. Pavlov.

This child is an index of a nerd.

Symbol- Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.

An example of a symbol is how a child would draw a person or a face. They shape of the eye is usually more like a football, which is symbolic of the shape of the eye, but not realistic.

A ying-yang is symbolic of positive/ negative or good/ evil.

A successful bookjacket is designed with the viewer in mind and a directed audience. It is compelling and speaks the audience, telling it to "pick me up!"

"A really good book cover has to work regardless of what it's about, on a visceral and emotional level." Chip Kidd

Book covers are hard to design and nice to look at. An effective book cover manages to catch human’s eye and convey the idea behind the book on one single page. However, it’s getting even harder: to make a book really hard to forget, designers need to design the cover in a unique, creative and striking way. That’s not that different from Web where it’s important to build a sound information architecture upon a rather restricted design layout.

Here are five examples of successful bookcovers.

The three books I am thinking about designing covers for are "Made Men," "Wise Guy," and "The Good Rat."

They are all from different authors, but tell stories of organized crime, the mafia, and the italian mob.

Title: Made Men

Subtitles: Seven Brothers

Author: Greg B. Smith

Genre: Crime

Title: Wiseguy

Subtitles: Life in a Mafia Family

Author: Nicholas Pileggi

Genre: Mafia

Title: The Good Rat

Subtitles: A True Story

Author: Jimmy Breslin

Genre: Mob

Information:

Made Men Blurb

Based on more than 1000 hours of secretly recorded conversations, this book tells the story of New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime family. Originally dismissed by the large New York City crime organizations, the DeCavalcantes sought the opportunity to move up in the crime world when their big-city counterparts began having legal troubles and when The Sopranos, which recounts the life of a fictional Jersey mob family, became such a hit on HBO. Unfortunately for the DeCavalcantes, they had been infiltrated by an FBI informant. Although the show's creator has denied it, much of The Sopranos is said to be based on this real-life crime family, and DeCavalcante members were even caught on federal wiretaps bragging about their similarity to the TV mobsters. But while Daily News mob reporter Smith draws many parallels between the DeCavalcantes and the fictional Sopranos, the book does not quite live up to its potential. Much of the writing seems disjointed and repetitious, and a few superfluous anecdotes scattered throughout seem to have little relevance to the rest of the story. Recommended with reservations for large public libraries where there is a strong interest in organized crime books.

The true story of the DeCavalcantes, the most powerful Mob family in New Jersey is told. Once dismissed by New York capos, the family finally came into its own because of the success of the HBO series "The Sopranos." Based on secretly recorded conversations, this account delivers the unprecedented and uncensored behind-the-scenes truth of a historically clandestine world. photos.

It wasn't until the success of "The Sopranos" that New Jersey's powerful DeCavalcante family became legitimized in the eyes of big city capos. But a higher profile meant higher risk. Member turned against member, and eventually one of them turned to reporter Greg B. Smith to expose the rise and fall of one of the most notorious families in America

Wise Guy Blurb

This is a riveting account of organized crime as a way of life. The "wiseguy" (mob parlance for a street-level hoodlum) is Henry Hill, 30-year veteran of a Brooklyn strong-arm branch of the Luchese crime family, who turned against and helped convict his former associates five years ago and entered the Federal Witness Protection Program. Pileggi, a crime reporter for New York writing here with Hill's cooperation, does a superb job of re-creating the gangster's career, from his early days as an errand boy (at 12) to racketeer Paulie Vario in Brooklyn's BrownsvilleEast New York section, to his pivotal roles in a Boston College point-shaving scandal and the $6-million Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport in 1978. Hill's story becomes an extraordinary vantage on a demimonde that lives a high, violent, score-to-score life in which car theft, hijacking-to-order, credit-card scams, cigarette smuggling, and other hustles and schemes are as workaday as 9-to-5 at the office. Literary Guild featured alternate. Foreign rights: Sterling Lord. January 30
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s Henry Hill aspired "to be a gangsterto be a wise guy." This book chronicles Hill's criminal successes beginning with his being a gofer for neighborhood mobster to his part in the 1978 $6-million Lufthansa Airlines robbery. Smuggling, hijacking, union racketeering, credit card fraud, robbery, bribery, drug dealing, prison, marriage, and assorted girlfriends take up most of Hill's time and this story. The author may have faithfully portrayed his subject but neither Hill nor any of his activities provokes much interest. The result is a plodding, episodic account which would have made a better magazine article than book. Hill's career ends with his becoming the ultimate wise guy as an informer under the Federal Witness Program. Jerry Maioli, Western Library Network, Olympia, Wash.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Good Rat Blurb

Breslin, renowned journalist and author of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, revisits a familiar wise-guy milieu in this collection of stories and anecdotes about the mob. His writing, like the Mafia itself, breezily transitions from humorous to horrifying as he regales the reader with loosely connected tales of mistaken identity, crooked cops, snitches and murder. Unlike the Sopranos and the many other touchstones of the American love affair with organized crime, for Breslin, there's good and there's evil, with little in between. As always, however, nicknames are half the fun, as Sammy The Bull Gravano, Tony Café and Gaspipe Casso take the stage in the Mafia hotspots of the five boroughs, including Greenpoint, in Brooklyn, and Ozone Park, in Queens, as Breslin delights with stories from the Mafia's heyday. Breslin's storytelling is set to the sweet background music of one of the mob's biggest canaries, Burton Kaplan, as he sings to a grand jury. The author's vernacular precision contrasts sharply with the plodding sterility of Kaplan's grand jury testimony, and as we find out, good guys can often tell ugly stories more authentically than the bad guys. The effect is tragicomic as Kaplan's testimony sounds the death knell for his associates. These stories unveil the strict code of conduct, often broken, of a dying breed. According to Kaplan, however, while illegal gambling and extortion may be waning industries, the myth of the American Mafia will never die. (Feb.)

Associated word list:

organized

crime

violence

dark

night

blood

red

guns

money

drugs

family

secrecy

chaos

death

lies

police

city

new york

italian

spaghetti

alcohol

cigarettes

mobster

mafia

intense

pins and needles

on edge

heart beating

warm

pain

loud

angry

aggressive

trickery

stealing

weapons

beautiful women

codes

rules

regulations

jail

rats

made men

insiders

greed

high

trust

honor

courage

Roman Catholic

fear

mind games

*The style of the Sherlock Holmes intro is interesting and could be useful in this sequence.

Secrecy- hidden, concealed, privacy, seclusion. From all the italian mafia movies i have seen the people are never one hundred percent honest. This could be a theme throughout the sequence. Secret deals, hand shakes, letters, jobs behind peoples backs, back stabbing.

Trickery- words are always a tool used in the mob to trick and confuse, they often use vague language when speaking to one another. This could be important in my design, the idea of being vague.

Intense- The mafia is very intense because the possibility of death is always there. It is very stressful.

Death- This would be the obvious route to take with a mafioso theme. Blood, killing, murder.

Lies- this word applies to the book entitled The Good Rat. It also goes along with secrecy because with the vague language used lies are always present. I dont know how to represent a lie using imagery though.

Warm- I chose this word when thinking about murder and death, blood, rushing to the head. It is a warm red color that you see. I could use a deep red, blood color.

Violence- with violence i think of weapons, such as knives, guns, clubs, pocket knives, punching, kicking, fighting

Crime- drugs and murder, stealing, killing, lying.

Dark- this word represents night time. a lot of mafia crime takes place at night, desolate locations.

Mobster- this word represents the glorified image of the mafia gangster. they are rich, powerful, respected, and important.

Tone

My books are serious, some are fictional and a few are based on true stories. The tone of this series is serious, but not as serious as the police or the law would take the mafia's crimes. It will be more serious in the sense that death is final and these crimes are big enough to send you to jail forever. It is going to be from the eyes of the made men, the insiders, not from the police, so no yellow caution tape or drug dogs, or hidden snap shots from behind the trees. It is going to be from the eyes of a Made Man, Good Rat, and Wise Guy.

To Suggest

To suggest a sense of suspense

To suggest a sense of tension

To suggest a feeling of being on the edge

To suggest looking into the eyes of a mobster

To suggest being trapped in the mob

To suggest having a gun to your head

To suggest being an insider, the smell of garlic on his breath

To suggest the sound of bullets and violence

To suggest walking into the NY or NJ italian mob family

To suggest being high from drugs

Ten Quotes

Quotes from Donnie Brasco:

Lefty: I never hear from my boss until he dies, then my whole life gets turned upside down!

Lefty: [talking to Donnie] When I introduce you, I'm gonna say, "This is a friend of mine." That means you're a connected guy. Now if I said instead, this is a friend of ours that would mean you a made guy. A Capiche?

FBI Technician: What's forget about it?
Donnie Brasco: Forget about it is like if you agree with someone, you know, like Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass, forget about it. But then, if you disagree, like A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it! you know? But then, it's also like if something's the greatest thing in the world, like mingia those peppers, forget about it. But it's also like saying Go to hell! too. Like, you know, like "Hey Paulie, you got a one inch pecker?" and Paulie says "Forget about it!" Sometimes it just means forget about it.

The Godfather

Bonasera: I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a "boy friend," not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boy friend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her. Like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered, held together by wire. She couldn't even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life. A beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again.
[He breaks down at this point, and the Don gestures to his son to get him a drink]
Bonasera: Sorry...
[He regains his composure and carries on]
Bonasera: I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool, and those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, "For justice, we must go to Don Corleone."
Don Corleone: Why did you go to the police? Why didn't you come to me first?
Bonasera: What do you want of me? Tell me anything. But do what I beg you to do.
Don Corleone: What is that?
[Bonasera gets up from his seat and whispers into the Don's ear; for a long moment the Don is silent]
Don Corleone: That I cannot do.
Bonasera: I will give you anything you ask!

Scarface Quotes

Tony Montana: I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.

Tony Montana: Is this it? That's what it's all about, Manny? Eating, drinking, fucking, sucking? Snorting? Then what? You're 50. You got a bag for a belly. You got tits, you need a bra. They got hair on them. You got a liver, they got spots on it, and you're eating this fuckin' shit, looking like these rich fucking mummies in here... Look at that. A junkie. I got a fuckin' junkie for a wife. She don't eat nothing. Sleeps all day with them black shades on. Wakes up with a Quaalude, and who won't fuck me 'cause she's in a coma. I can't even have a kid with her, Manny. Her womb is so polluted, I can't even have a fuckin' little baby with her!

The Departed

Frank Costello: I got this rat, this gnawing, cheese eating fuckin' rat and it brings up questions... You know, see, Bill, like you're the new guy. Girlfriend... Why don't you stay in the bar that night I got your numbers. Social Security numbers. Everybody's fuckin' numbers.
Billy Costigan: Is there something that you just wanna go ahead and ask me? 'Cause I'll give you the fuckin' answer, all right? Frank, look at me. Look at me. I'm not the fuckin' rat. Okay? I'm not the fuckin' rat.

Nas

My man put me up for the share, one-fourth of a square
Headed for Delaware, with one change of gear
Nothin on my mind but the dime sack we blazed
with the glaze in my eye, that we find when we crave
dollars and cents, a fugitive with two attempts
Jakes had no trace of the face, now they drew a print
Though I'm innocent, til proven guilty
I'ma try to get filthy, purchase a club and start up realty
For real G, I'ma fullfill my dream
If I conceal my scheme, then precisely I'll build my cream
the first trip without the clique
Sent the bitch with the quarter brick, this is it
Fresh face, NY plates got a Crooked I for the Jakes
I want it all, ArmorAll Benz and endless papes
God sake, what nigga got to do to make a half million
without the FBI catchin feelings

Rick Ross

We never steal cars, but we deal hard
Whip it real hard whip it whip it real hard
I caught a charge, I caught a charge
Whip it real hard whip it whip it real hard
Aint bought no funny sh*t still b*tches and business
Im on my money sh*t still whippin' dem benz's
Major league who catchin' because im pitchin'
Jose Cansaco just snitchin' because he's finish
I feed 'em steriods to strenthen up my chickens
They flyin' over pacific to be specific
Triple C's you know its back we holdin' sacks
So niggas go on rat
Run and tell 'em that
Mo Cars, Mo Hoes
Mo clothes, Mo blows

Good Fellas

Tommy DeVito: What the fuck are you doing? You're hanging around my fuckin' neck like a vulture, like impending danger.

Henry Hill: You know, we always called each other good fellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, :You're gonna like this guy. He's all right. He's a good fella. He's one of us.: You understand? We were good fellas. Wiseguys. But Jimmy and I could never be made because we had Irish blood. It didn't even matter that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member of a crew you've got to be one hundred per cent Italian so they can trace all your relatives back to the old country. See, it's the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and crew. It means that nobody can fuck around with you. It also means you could fuck around with anybody just as long as they aren't also a member. It's like a license to steal. It's a license to do anything. As far as Jimmy was concerned with Tommy being made, it was like we were all being made. We would now have one of our own as a member.

Color Chips: black, white, blood red, duct tape (binding), maybe a blue