This psychological thriller by Steig Larsson, focuses on the tormented genius hacker Lisbeth Salander, a woman in her twenties with a photographic memory and indigent social aptitude, and Mikael Blomkvist, an analytical journalist. This series depicts a Sweden in which corruption of various forms is widespread; both Lisbeth and Mikael seem to find themselves in the mist of it.
Murder, rape, physical abuse, global financial fraud and organised crime. The series tells a story not just for fictional purposes, but to draw attention to what people did not see about the society that Larsson lived in.
Target demographic is aimed at young adults over the age of 25. However, the target audience is both men and women between 17-34 as well as psychological crime readers.
A Series.
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For my analogue series design, I focused on themes of moral and ethical issues exemplified within the series, such as physical abuse, organised crime and financial fraud. I was able to illustrate these themes through stark contrasting black and white photos, presuming a dark and mysterious crime scene while at the same time not giving too much away about the character.
I settled on a shadowy and gloomy aesthetic, indoctrinating the reader through issues of concern towards the girl staring back through the photo.
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The image making techniques I explored were first through analogue photography and dark room processes, allowing my images to gather the right amount of exposure to create a strong contrast between both strong blacks and whites.
The second image making technique I developed was through a ripping technique, where I printed my analogue images several times, and explored covering certain aspects and features of the face with white ripped paper, allowing the reader to explore the eyes of the subject, yet not giving away the plot of the book.
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To explore the themes of the book, I selected a dark red, blue and green to display the book’s titles, as these colours were dark, yet bold, attracting the viewer to the cover and exploring themes of crime and fiction at the same time.
The paper stock would be matt coated, as I believe this textural paper stock would not take away from my image’s intention, as the main part of my concept are my images, rather than a shiny plastic cover. I would line both sides with matt finish, allowing my books to be smooth, flat and compact, yet heavy as the plot has a heaviness about it too.
