AnaSofaLpez

Ms.Lutyens
EnglishP.3
August25th

BookCoverDesignRationale

TheelementsIincludedtothecoverofAmyTansTheJoyLuckClubbetterfitthe
conventionsofthePostmoderngenre.Forexample,IaddedchinesewritingandaChinese
floweredbackgrounddesign.Postmoderngenreemergedinthesecondhalfofthetwentieth
centuryandithasbeengreatlyinfluencedbyeventsandelementsthattookplaceduringthat
timelikeWW2.Duringthisevent,theChinesesufferedtheattackoftheJapaneseandmany
femalefromtheChineseculturetriedtomaintaintheirtraditions.Ichosetoaddthewordsin
chineseandthefloweredbackgrounddesigntoillustratetheChineseculturethatwasalsoan
importantfactoramongtheeventsthatinfluencedthePostmoderngenre.Inaddition,Iuseda
floweredshapelabelaroundthetitle.AnothercharacteristicofthePostmoderngenreisthatit
rejectstobepartofpopulartasteanditcombinesdiversecontent,makingitamore
sophisticatedwriting.Thedelicacyandsimplicityoftheflowerlabelindicatethesophistication
foundonthecontentduetoitsgenre.Giventhesepoints,theelementsIhaveincludedtothe
createdcoverhaveaclearerconnectiontothegenreandtothecontentaswell.

ThechangesImadetothebookcover,communicatethecontentmoreeffectively.Firstof
all,Iaddedthewordmothersanddaughtersinchineseandseparatedthemwitharedthick
line.Inthenovel,theprotagonistsmotherhastomakethepainfuldecisionofgivingher
daughtersawaytoprotectthemfromthedangersoflivinginChinaduringthewar.Therefore,
theadditionofthisredlinerepresentsthewideseparationbetweenthemotheranddaughters.
Thecolorredsymbolizesthepainthemotherfelt,whichisclosertothewordmotherbecause
shesufferedmore.Secondly,IhighlightedthewordsJoyLuckwiththeredthickline.The
experienceofleavingherdaughtersmadethemotherappreciatetheonlyluckshehad.She
startedtogatherwithladieswhohadsufferedthesameandstartedtheJoyLuckClub.Thered
ontopofthewordsJoyLuckillustratesthedistanceandthesufferingthemotherfelt,which
beganthisclub.Inaddition,IcopiedthesametransparentChinesewordsbehindthem.The
motherofthemaincharacterwasnttheonlyonewhohadtoleaveherdaughtersbecauseofthe
war.Thetransparentcopiesrepresenttheirolderrelativeswholivedthesamesituation.Ashas
beennoticed,thechangesmadetothebookcovertransmitsitscontenttothetargetedaudience
inamoreadequatefashion.

Factorsillustratedonmybookcoverworkappropriatelyforthespecificaudience.To
begin,Idecidedtousea"girly"font.Thenovelisnarratedbycollegegraduatedfemale
characterswithChineseroots.Thisallowsthefemaleaudiencehaveabetterconnectionand
betterunderstandingsincethenarrationsarefromtheirsamegender.Thisgirlyfontisintended
toattractfemalereaderssincetheywillenjoyandrelatemoretothenarrationofthestory.
Furthermore,IselectedwordsinChineseandaChineseflowereddesignforthebackground.
EventhoughtheauthorofthenovelisAmerica,herChineserelativeshaveinfluencedherwith
theirtraditionsandspeciallywiththelanguage.Finally,factorsportrayedonthebookcover
attractthespecificaudienceinamoresuitableway.