Grand Theft Grandma: A Senior Narrative Book Jacket by Maxwell Weber (2016)

Grand Theft Grandma is a hilariously thrilling story that tells the tale of a dangerous old lady. Iris Tsunemori, a spunky woman with a great sense of style and expensive taste, plots to fix the overwhelming issue of her boredom while trapped in the Alabama State Senior Center. This short story takes place in one of the most bland and boring settings one could think of, but Iris manages to spice things up with daring actions, stealth, and criminal activity. Iris is a bold, intense, and exciting character.

The book cover reflects Iris' story through its elegant design and intensity. Although Iris Tsunemori can be rough on the edges, she is surprisingly slick and cunning when she manages to put her mind to it. I tried to represent this aspect of my character through the predominantly black and white color scheme used on the book cover. The black and white aspect of the book cover gives the book a more mature feeling at first glance. The first glance aspect is also another huge aspect of my design. Much like Iris herself, the book cover is highly deceiving at first. A lesson to be learned from the story is that appearances are in no way related to what lies inside. I managed to recreate this idea with my book cover by making it seem innocent, mature, and elegant, much like the general appearance of Iris. But on the inside, both are exciting, hilarious, and incredible. Another major aspect of the book cover involved multiple close up images of fire. I used texture filters and transparencies, through the use of Adobe Photoshop, to give the images of fire a rough and chalky feeling. The fire represents Iris Tsunemori's inner intensity. It displays her bravery, will to take risks, and hot headedness. The roughness of the book cover represents her tough personality. At points, she is known to be bold, abrupt, and at points, a pain.