Dream of the Red Chamber

Book Cover design

Progress and thoughts

The piece of jade is consistent throughout the whole book, as a miracle, Jia Baoyu (main character) was born in his mouth with it. At the end of the novel, Jia Baoyu lost the piece of jade and he was mentally disturbed, his family went to decline, too.

Progress and thoughts

The very thin rope tied to the jade symbolizes Jia's extremely unstable life, as well as his family. Jade represents not only Jia baoyu, but also his family. It uses a red color and a golden cord to express the absolute status and authority of men in ancient Chinese feudal society in this book. The entire book cover is a rectangle, which is to follow the principle of picture balance and indicates that all the characters in the book could not break free from the imprisonment of the times. Though the book is a classical literature, I choose modern Founder's serif fonts to highlight the contradiction.

Graphic / Typography design

Progress and thoughts

The calendar uses twelve different flowers to represent the twelve girls in the Book who have different relationships with Jia. The color of the flowers on the calendar contrasts with the jade with low purity powder gray, which shows that those twelve girls, although with aristocratic family backgrounds, cannot escape the fate of being accessories.

A Dream in Red Chamber is based on the rise and fall of four feudal aristocratic families. The story begins with the hero’s (Jia Baoyu) tragic love story with two girls and then depicts the late Chinese feudal society in the eighteenth century. I have designed covers, posters, and a calendar to introduce the book.

A Dream in Red Chamber is a classic novel, but this traditional culture is getting further and further away from today’s society. Therefore I intend to express it in a modern way and make it easier for young people to understand and appreciate its culture. I have drawn a very modern cover and a jade pendant by using simple geometric elements.

I have adopted a combination of Chinese calligraphy with modern fonts in the posters.

The calendar is based on the 12 prominent girls’ stories in A Dream in Red Chamber. They are lovely and talented girls who have different personalities and destinies. The twelve months represent their identities with 12 different flowers. Different from the book, the color of the calendar is more pastel which sets off the girls’ lives with a modern approach: although with a seeming luxurious and carefree life, they cannot deny their tragic fate in feudal society. The digit for each month is also specially designed. The style of the calendar is echoing with the book and is served as a gift.