OWC Shakespeare Redesign

In this article, the Academic Design team reflect on their work on the reimagined set of Oxford World's Classics Shakespeare titles, including the design process, working with an illustrator, and their learnings throughout.

Overview

In May 2022, we were briefed with the task of redesigning the OWC Shakespeare titles. The New Oxford Shakespeare’s will have updated texts and new introductions from up-and-coming scholars, and with over 40 titles in the series, the team needed to ensure we chose a theme that would work cohesively across all the titles, as well as convey an updated, more modern approach.

With multiple suggestions for potential design routes, we set up a meeting for Design, Picture Research and Editorial to try and narrow down a design route for cover visuals.

With over 40 titles in the series, the team needed to ensure we chose a theme that would work cohesively across all the titles.

The process

We soon settled on the idea of using Early Modern style woodcuts and engravings, sympathetic with the period in which Shakespeare wrote his plays and sonnets, with the intention to bring in bold and bright colours to give these images a modern twist.

With over 40 titles in the series, the team needed to ensure we chose a theme that would work cohesively across all the titles. We wanted the cover designs to convey a ‘fresh take on old subjects’ by merging a woodcut style as a nod to ‘the folk aspect of Shakespeare’ but convey a modern approach using vibrant colour palettes.

However, it became apparent when our Designer, Jo, made some early cover mock-ups, that using traditional woodcuts and engravings would become quite limiting.

Finding existing woodcuts to suit individual titles and their plots would be a challenge, and from a technical/design standpoint, there was an inconsistency in style, shape and quality of these traditional woodcuts. This meant that the covers looked a bit mismatched – potentially diluting the overall series.

[Sarah] used strong and slightly restricted sets of colours within the illustrations. These colours reflect the genres but can be used in a fluid way where needed.

Rethinking the design

We decided this would be an excellent opportunity to commission an illustrator to create bespoke woodcut style illustrations for the series. This way, we could ensure a consistent and cohesive style across the series, while having unique covers made especially for each title.

Debbie, Senior Picture Researcher, sourced several illustrators for us to consider, and after exploring their work with the wider Marketing and Sales teams, we were all impressed by the imaginative and colourful work of Sarah Young.

Choosing an illustrator

Sarah is an artist and printmaker based in Brighton, England, whose work has ranged from setting up a puppet theatre to illustrating Greek myths.?

For these covers, she loosely based her illustrations on a stage, with moveable players, backdrops, and scenery flats, using different types of printmaking, including lino prints, card cuts, and some mono prints using found objects.

In addition to a different background colour for each genre – comedy, history, and tragedy – she also used strong and slightly restricted sets of colours within the illustrations. These colours reflect the genres but can be used in a fluid way where needed, for instance when a ‘comedy’ is also a bit dark.

Reflection

We’re all so excited to see the next collection of beautiful bespoke illustrations Sarah creates and adding these to the growing titles publishing into this reimagined set of OWC Shakespeare titles.

Art Direction: Clare Hofmann; Designer: Jo Stanley; Senior Picture Researcher: Debbie Protheroe; Illustrator: Sarah Young; Editorial: Emma Varley, Luciana O’Flaherty, Kizzy Taylor-Richelieu.