In cold blood, book cover analysis

- By S. Neil Fujita
- Known for this avant-garde style
- Trained as a painter
- Also well known for God Father book cover as well
Extract from an interview with Fujita about designing book covers:

" I liked working with authors because it's usually the author that sells the book. That's why I always wanted to have the author's name as big as the title... I showed Truman Capote my ideas for In Cold Blood. I thought of a red hatpin that I stuck into the title of the book to suggest death or something like that, but he didn't like the color. "It can't be red, because it wasn't a new death, it didn't just happen," so I changed the color to purple and added a black border to suggest something more funereal. Capote loved that."

- The cover represents death in a very subtle way. The only imagery present is the hat pin which reminded Fujita of death. To me it looks like both the combination of a drop of blood and a pin which is very clever as it suggests a painful death. Also the fact is is a hatpin refers to something that would be worn around/ close to the head which is where all victims of the murder were shot. There are no clues given away in this cover as the title is very self explanatory itself, the audience will be aware it is about a murder. Overall,  I like the bold use of typography and having this as the main focus as it leaves more to the imagination. I also like the use of this dark red/ purple as it represents dry/ old blood which is what Capote wanted Fujita to represent. 

Published in 1970, designed by David Pelham

The four bullet wounds on the front cover represent the four murders that happen in the book, each of the victims is shot once in the head. The cover sold really well. 

I think in terms of an idea, there is a good one there. However I think the design is a bit too crude and insensitive, it could've been done in a much subtler way. I also much prefer the colour use in the previous design as I think the bright red that is used here is too harsh, a much darker colour would've been nice. 

This cover was first published in 2013 by Modern Library. The front cover uses what looks like a newspaper clipping which pays reference to the fact that 'In Cold Blood' was first publishes as a newspaper article before Capote published it as a book. I think this front cover gives the book a new modern lease of life. The bright fresh colours are not what you would expect to find amongst crime novels therefore it stands out from the rest. The torn paper adds a sense of mystery that this title is part of a much bigger picture that the reader must find out about.