This book jacket design for Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar is an exploration in three-dimensional type. I aimed to convey the novel’s tone and themes through my composition, carefully considering the physical elements used, the lighting, and the angle from which I photographed my set.

The Bell Jar Book Jacket
Fall 2018
Hand-sculpted dimensional type from modeling clay; photography

I used a makeup palette to reference Esther’s—The Bell Jar’s narrator's—internship at a fashion magazine. In this seemingly glamorous position she is showered in material gifts that really don’t mean much to her. I also included the palette to reference traditional perceptions of womanhood and femininity, something Esther is continually at battle with.

When brainstorming ways to convey the suffocating nature of womanhood in the 1950s, Saran Wrap came to mind. Saran Wrap is used to create a barrier and to block out air, so by stretching it taut I felt I could incite a feeling of suffocation. Additionally, Saran Wrap was introduced in 1949—right around when the novel takes place—and was commonly advertised alongside women in the kitchen; it now felt even more appropriate to use Saran Wrap as a means of demonstrating how stifling these traditional notions of womanhood could and can be.