Book Covers and Movie Posters
Gordon Parks was a photographer and also an accomplished writer and filmmaker. Let’s look at some of the graphic material that was created for his work.
Go to
https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/writing
- Select one of the book covers (These were designed at different times, different languages and by different publishing houses).
- Then comment in terms of typography:
- The use of typography within the varied classifications
(Serif, Sans Serif, Scripts, etc) - Notice any use of variations (styles) of the typeface in terms of weight, width, posture.
- How is the main title aligned (FL, C, FR)?
- Is the leading (line height) loose or tight or comfortable?
- Is the tracking (word space) loose or tight or comfortable?
- The use of typography within the varied classifications
- Write your response in the comments section below.
- You can also view posters for his films here:
https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/gordon-parks/film
Other Resources
About the life and work of Gordon Parks
gordonparksfoundation.org
Gordon Park’s cover of “The Learning Tree” Spanish edition has a lot of variation to it. Parks used a Serif font that has a curved angle and is bracketed and he chose to write the cover in all lower case. The weight of the type seems to be regular however the posture and width varies. Every other letter in the title is in a smaller font size than the rest of the words and some of the letters have been obliqued. In addition to this the words are not aligned instead they are aligned baseline while other words such as the r in “arbol” and e in “saber” descend on the capline. The overall title is centered on the book but has more space on the top of the page than on the bottom. The leading is quite tight as the words are bordering the words underneath it. You can see how tight it is by looking at the b in “arbol” compared to the d and l in “del” as they hug the b above them. The tracking is also tight as some of the words are almost touching each other. Lastly, an interesting visual aspect of the book is that the cover photo complements the text as the face in the background almost aligns with the text. This can be seen in “el” as it matches the line of the nose, the “arbol” as the a and b match the curves of the nose and the “del” as the d align with the lips.
Gordon Parks’ book cover “Born Black” is a very minimalistic cover with the focus being on the hand. Even though the hand is a major part in the cover, the typography used gives it a nice clean look. For the authors name and title, Park uses a serif typeface called Bodoni. He uses this in a thick bold variation of the font as well. To differentiate the name from the title, he makes the title in all capital letters, but they are both centered. The leading in the title and author name does seem to be tight and so does the tracking. For the subtitle, he uses a typeface that has no serifs present. This text is smaller than the the title and authors name, and the leading and tracking seem to be comfortable as well. This typeface is also used in a thick, bold variation as well.
The Learning Tree – German Edition by Gordon Parks
The typography within this varied can be classified as a type of Serif due to the small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family. The different variations used of the typeface in terms of weight, width, posture is extremely noticeable on the cover. The way the line look pointed, jagged, and thick. The main title aligned condensed the line height was comfortable easy to read and eye catching. However, as for the tracking all the words seems to be to close together