The Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Joel Nieman

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The Digital Public Library of America amplifies the value of libraries as Americans’ most trusted sources of shared knowledge. They do this by proactively collaborating with partners in the field to accelerate innovative tools and ideas that empower and equip libraries to broaden digital access to information. Recovering The Classics is a crowdsourced collection of original book covers for some of the greatest works in the public domain, where anyone can contribute.

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Design By: Joel Nieman

My name is Joel Myles Nieman. I am currently a graphic design student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. I plan on graduating in the Spring of 2017. In my free time I like to look at Behance and design things. When I am not designing I enjoy watching/playing any type of sports and being with friends. I have lived in Cincinnati my whole life, and love it here. However, I will go wherever graphic design takes me, not only will it be a great experience to travel to other parts of this country, but it will broaden my horizons on different types of design across the nation. My goal is to co-op and start my career with a company in Utah specializes in environmental graphic design.

 

Design By: Joel Nieman

My name is Joel Myles Nieman. I am currently a graphic design student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. I plan on graduating in the Spring of 2017. In my free time I like to look at Behance and design things. When I am not designing I enjoy watching/playing any type of sports and being with friends. I have lived in Cincinnati my whole life, and love it here. However, I will go wherever graphic design takes me, not only will it be a great experience to travel to other parts of this country, but it will broaden my horizons on different types of design across the nation. My goal is to co-op and start my career with a company in Utah specializes in environmental graphic design.

 

Artist Statement

I designed a book cover that represents Poe as a human and an author. I wanted to create a cover that was as abstract as the workings of Poe's brain. In following that theme came the dynamic angle that Poe himself is on as well as an excerpt from The Fall of the House of Usher that lies beneath the skull that underlays the portrait of Poe. The font used for the excerpt is American Typewriter. The skull that has a transparency to represents the deaths that plagued Poe's life and the sinister stories/poems he wrote. Erupting from Poe's shoulder is a raven, from his poem The Raven and the raven is spewing blood from its mouth. This was a symptom of Tuberculosis, from which all of his dearest relationships had passed away from. There a 5 red blood splats in this book cover, three coming from Poe's hair, one on his chest, the spew from the raven...symbolizing the five deaths in his family from Tuberculosis. The negative space in his shirt creates an outline of the Washington Monument in Baltimore, Poe's final resting place. The tower began construction when Poe was at the age of 6. The title of the book is done in the font Absinthe, a type face that carries the theme of abstraction and mystery and also has the feel of calligraphy. Calligraphy and feather and ink were common means of writing during Poe's short life. This image cover was created in raster and vector (Photoshop/Illustrator). The portrait and raven and all editing and brush strokes were done in Photoshop, and the text was done in Illustrator and then copied over to Photoshop as a Vector Smart Object. The face of Poe is created out of shadows and midtones. — Joel Nieman