The Outsiders: Existing Covers and what they tell me

To start off my research, I started to look at existing book covers for The Outsiders and analyse why and why not they are successful and what the content of them tell me about the book as someone who has not read it.

The first result I found was someones existing entry for the competition, which did nothing for anyones confidence!
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Puffin-Design-Awards-The-Outsiders-Book-Cover/11775265

Example 1

This first example tells me both a little and a lot about the book. Firstly, the comb that forms the exclamation mark gives a clue towards the type of characters the book has - proud & confident (of themselves and their appearance) - specifically of their hair. The characters, or the main character, obviously has a significant attachment to the comb, so it is perhaps something they're always using or always seen with - is their hair a signature style? An exclamation mark has specific connotations too - surprise, shock, strong feelings, emphasis on a point etc. The fact that the comb forms part of the shape of an exclamation mark tells me the person/s that this comb represents find themselves involved in something that provokes shocked feelings and surprises people. 

The colour orange is associated with energy and adrenaline. It's a less intense version of the colour red, but does not connote danger and negative emotions the way red does. Stereotypically, teenagers are the ones looking for adrenaline and excitement in the form of things that are generally acknowledged as unacceptable or "rebellious", and they are also interested in their appearance and being portrayed as attractive. Research into orange

The colour black starkly contrasts the orange and simulates a 'silhouette' style - this reminds me of how teenagers desire to be just like everybody else - e.g. have the same silhouette. As a summary, this book cover tells me that the book is about teenagers who have found "themselves" so are confident in their fashion sense, overall appearance and each other, and who seek out rebellious activities that shock the people that know them.

Example 2

This example is similar to the first in the way it does not feature a face, so we cannot immediately identify a character in the book. What we do see though, is part of their outfit. The outfit is of a certain style - a leather jacket and white round neck vest/t-shirt - which is significant of the 50's fashion style for teenage boys (e.g 18/19 years old). This tells us the sorts of characters the book is based around and their attitudes. Like I said for example 1, they're proud of their appearance and feel that they look good, so their is a feeling of confidence with a slight air of arrogance. We do not see their face, but we can gather that it is a male and assume that their clothing is what identifies them. Perhaps it's just the 1 person who wears that style of clothing? Or, an entire group can be recognised simply by their jackets and t-shirt - it's their signature style.

1950's teen boy style - what we recognise as that era instantly.

The authors name is larger and positioned in a more noticeable spot than the actual title of the book. It's in a very thin, sans-serif font, though, and the use of the colour red with this means it does not stand out quite as much as the title (which is bold and in white) - there is not enough of the red, because the font is so thin, to make it stand out overwhelmingly.

The title of the book is written in lowercase letters - as just 'the outsiders' - in a very standard, sans-serif font. Viewing this cover now, in 2013, it reminds me of the TV show "the inbetweeners" and how that title is written in lowercase letters too. Whilst "the outsiders" is an older book, I immediately related it to "the inbetweeners" and the general theme of that show - teenagers that don't fit in that try anything to do so. The fact that the book cover features such a basic font reiterates how "normal" and "unnoticed" the teenagers featured in it may be - are they the literal "outsiders"?.

This cover is quite dark. There are no bright colours, and even the use of the red in the text is very discreet and not overpowering. The "brightest" colour is white and that is used for the book title and matches the white t-shirt. The colours hint towards a "graytone" colour scheme and this connotes a feeling of darkness, isolation (reiterated in the literal meaning of "the outsiders"), and slight un-friendliness.

Example 3

This cover features the most obvious amount of information out of all 3 I have chosen.

The group of 5 boys are wearing typical 50's fashion, so this communicates to us that the book is set in that era. They're positioned against a brick wall which features graffiti. Their positioning against that wall makes us relate them to it and make assumptions - e.g. they're the ones who did it. The boys have confident stances, as if they always stand against that wall - they hand out there? - and their surroundings are normal to them. We associate graffiti with 2 main things: illegal, and gangs and their tags. Their clothing and location gives us clues to their personalities, specifically that they're rebellious and suggests that part of their rebellion is that they're in a gang. 

"S.E HINTON" is written in a style reminiscent of old street name signs.

This tells me more about the boys featured - they hang around the streets, around places they shouldn't and reiterates the idea of them being rebellious. The style of the font used, and the black on white colours are significant to the typical British street sign, although they could be American too. 

Once again, the title of the book is not highlighted in the same obvious way that the authors name is. Here, the title is written just above the graffiti on the wall, and in the same colour too. This further communicates to me that the "outsiders" is the name of a gang or references to a gang, and the positioning and colour slightly simulates the title of the book being part of the graffiti on the wall too.