Howl's Moving Castle final development and outcome

Following the encouraging email from Jessica, I carried on with the development using the second typeface. Once Some slight issues with individual characters and kerning had been ironed out, it was time to experiment with placement a little with the placement of the text. I was given full freedom with the layout of the next also but I assumed it would be required in the same blue and that it should fit into the negative space somewhere for legibility. The illustration, however, takes up most of the available space so I had to be inventive with where I put it. Inside the head feels most natural and if the largest space so allows for the title to be as big as it needs to be. I think elsewhere with the composition in question would be too small. 

Probably shouldn't be on two lines like this, looks like I've run out of space

Use of the little circles that feature throughout heightens continuity and provides nice spacing but it's possibly still too small here.

Once the layout of the title text had been played around with a little bit it was time to work on the author name next. I decided that leaving it in the same typeface as the title would look very boring and cause some confusion about the hierarchy of text. Another option was to have it in a fairly neutral san serif for a clear conveyance of information, an edited Helvetica or something similar would also provide a good body text incase I am later asked to do a blurb or something. However, I decided that this seemed too much like the easy option and for a typography-based brief an original face would be far more rewarding. In the end, I went with expanding and evolving the script-y face from my initial ideas, I had mentioned it would be a better heading or author name face in my previous blog post so this feels like a natural progression. A few letters in the name proved slightly problematic such as J which went through a number of different orientations and had to have a custom made bottom segment. Likewise, D features a custom flick that goes very slightly against the general rules but does conform to the general aesthetic. Certain letters such as s and i are deliberately slightly oversized on the x-height to give a variation in form. If you look at the word Jones for example then I think it's very effective how the x-height goes slightly up and down from o-n-e-s, giving a sense of play that conforms to the general tone.       

Possible heirachy problems here. The viewer may read the author name before the book title but this is necessarily a problem.  

Top text and information in general way too small 

Upon feedback from Jessica, she chose the design below. I think keeping the text within the head is definitely the right decision purely due to size and prominence. The author name tesselating nicely in below it is a very effective use of space and tying it in the two circles is either side is aesthetically appropriate. I have also mocked it up using an illustrator template that Jessica sent me, instead of the photograph mockups that I received before. 

After Jessica's decision, I revisited the arrangement of the type to reimagine what the logotype may look like with large letters at the start of each work. I think this progression is both good and bad as it disrupts the overall form of the text but the variation does allow for greater visual stimulation. I will send these off to Jessica to see what she thinks.