I entered the 2021 Penguin Student Design Awards for the Children’s Fiction category. The book was Talking Turkeys by the Rastafarian poet Benjamin Zephaniah. 

His poetry is funny and playful, whilst also addressing serious topics such as animal rights, race and climate change. His voice is strong and distinct, with a message of love and respect for the planet, people and animals. With that in mind, I wanted to place him as centre stage in the design. I made sure the colours were warm and inviting with a nod to the yellow, green and red Rastafari colours. I illustrated some of the playful imagery that represent his texts well, like turkeys rapping and eating cake.

Final jacket

Layout and typography experiments