Penguin Modern Classics, first issued in 1961, is one Penguin Book’s most popular specialized series of literary works. Today, almost four decades later, the series has maintained a bold and confident aesthetic throughout their designs, with increasingly international titles that introduce readers to the greatest writers of the last century.
These three editions are design proposals towards a new look for Penguin House’s Modern Classics through the collective works of Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, and John Steinbeck. Taking reference from the first book jackets designed for Penguin Modern Classics by typographer Hans Schmoller, these cover designs utilize a select palette of grey, orange, black and white. In order to achieve a design that would continue to reflect the confidence and success of the art direction presented by the Modern Classics’ series through the decades, cover designs were approached in an almost minimalist manner allowing for the design to remain timeless. Simple shapes and lines are attentively combined with principles of design such as perspective, repetition and movement to create a clean yet captivating image that plays off of the stories’ title or themes/imagery within each work.
