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Behind the cover.
A special series that take you behind the design of our 'Power and Competition' research report covers. From the militarisation of the Arctic Circle to Chinese state interference in UK universities - there's a lot to explore.
Foreign Affairs
Healthcare
Education
Technology & Innovation
Energy & Environment
Economy & Finance
Justice & Human rights
Foreign Affairs. 'Breaking the Ice'
The research in the foreign affairs report covers the race for the Arctic Circle, and what can be done to slow it.The cover started life in a very similar form - the text would be displaced by the ice. What changed over time was the overall simplicity. We went from images of cracking ice with the same big bold font, to what you see on the cover: a much more simplistic, but undeniably clear, representation of the sea ice that features in the research.
Healthcare. How the patient-physician dynamic changes when we pay for healthcare
The research in the healthcare report covers the patient physician dynamic, and how it varies from public to private systems.The cover was always going to be about the public private distinction, therefore the receipt format was chosen. We decided to play around with the text that when to the receipt - landing on the final form which asks 'what does paying get you?'. The American system, featured in the research also heavily informed the text we added - "bankruptcy" "premiums" and "debt" are prominent features of the receipt, just as they are in the private American system.
Education. Foreign state interference
The research in the education report focuses on the increasing interference in the UK's higher education system by the Chinese Communist Party. This cover had multiple iterations, beginning with a Chinese flag obscuring the big bold text seen in the final design. Other designs slowly moved away from a flag and evolving into a heavily redacted paragraph of text. It evokes the more traditional way we view interference - selective viewpoints that narrow what we are taught, the final dark colour set applied evokes the chilling effect the research uncovers.
Technology & Innovation. The Future of Computing... is all to play for
The research in the Technology & Innovation report focuses on the increasing reliance the world has on a an ever shrinking product - computer chips (3nm chips are on their way to your smartphone soon). These chips come from a very concentrated part of the world, Asia - more specifically Taiwan. Taiwan, the self governing island claimed by China under the 'One China' policy is a global chip superpower. As a result the West and China are slowly fighting for supremacy in chips, AI and quantum computing. The cover began with a heavily cropped image of one of the chips everyone has come to rely on. It quickly evolved from an image to a illustrated design of the chips.
Energy & Environment. Insecurity and proxy competition in the ME
The research in the Energy & Environment report focuses on events in the Middle East. The region is under increasing strain, facing heatwaves coupled with a lack of water supply. For the cover it was interesting to just print the title of the research in a bold font, but this wasn't enough. After a while the colours and the addition of layered and less focused text brought the internal research into focus. It mirrors the fading of resources, while the land is barren and the reduced colour spectrum helps indicate such.
Economy & Finance. Tariffs, Tariffs, Tariffs
The research in the Economy & Finance report focuses on global trade, for this focus the report honed in on the Australia-China trade conflict. The idea behind the cover was simple and the first to be finished (taking the least amount of time to complete) - it evokes the idea of trade and what happens when trade barriers and friction begin to take hold between two countries. The wall of 'stickers' illustrates the speed at which these conflicts balloon. Almost as if two people had stood and slapped more and more stickers in retaliation to the other doing exactly the same.
Justice & Human rights. Trafficking in Sex, Organs and Labour
The research in the Justice & Human rights report is poignant, for this cover we had to think about how to best represent a topic like this. The idea behind the cover was to simply strip the cover of as much as possible creating a powerful cover to match the detailed research inside the report. We chose to place only the preamble on the cover - its powerful and speaks to the critical policy work that needs to be taken to solve such a damaging problem.
Behind the cover(s)
December reports
This year Warwick think tank published 7 different reports covering foreign affairs, healthcare, education, tech & innovation, energy & environment, economy & finance, and justice and human rights. This series gives a look at the process behind each report cover and how they fit the dedicated and detailed research inside each report.
Foreign affairs
The impact of institutions on perpetuating neo-colonial inequalities and inaccessibility in the 21st century
This cover follows the story of the United Nations and the security council which convenes with five permanent members. The cover started out with crops of five different flags each one representing a member of the permanent five but ultimately the cover lacked a distinct focus to the UN as an institution. So eventually the cover image was selected, one of the UN HQ itself. The challenge with a photo like this is its not designed for a cover, to overcome this problem unique crops were applied to the image. What you see is the building centring in the foreground with the text fitting around somewhat representing the inflexibility of the institution. It's an image crop that really draws the reader to look at the UN.
Healthcare
An examination of the socio-economic inequalities impeding effective female cancer care
The healthcare cover follows female cancer care and how medicine today is still letting women down when it comes to diagnosis and treatment. From the outset it was clear this cover would focus on the female role in healthcare. The cover takes a stethoscope and transforms the focus to female-centric care, with the addition of the symbol. Sometimes simplicity works best creating a powerful graphic to lead the reader into the amazing research done by the research team.
Education
Inequality within the British Education regime and the creation of a meritocratic education system
Again this cover takes an image and places it on the cover. Along with crops, treatments can be applied to images to better place the image on a cover design. The image treatment here helps depict the distortion that is being seen in the education system and side the classroom.
Tech & Innovation
Case Study: Does all new technology worsen inequality
The cover follows the involvement of emerging technologies in inequalities. The tech report gravitated towards the central theme of blockchain and crypto. The text and colours are applied in a deliberate way to mimic the code that will go into creating the future technologies that will power the global financial system. The reader gets to assess whether the cover is foreboding or not.
Energy & Environment
The inequalities perpetuated by climate change
Climate change is likely to be the defining issue of the next decade, this report looks at how it's shifting inequalities around the globe and how and if countries can combat the effects. The image pick for the cover is really resounding, simply a globe, it had many iterations but ultimately the cover ended up being a singular image with a simple treatment applied, one that highlights the Southern Hemisphere.
Economy & Finance
Assessing the successes and limitations of Microfinance programmes, and providing measures to increase the efficacy of these institutions.
The economy and finance report looks at money, specifically what happens when small amounts of money are leant to individuals who don't have access to credit through banks and other institutions. From the outset it was clear what the cover was going to focus on, the central tenet: money. The eventual image that appears on the cover is a really tight detail of a bank note. The eventual crop is one which draws the reader to the piece focusing on the eye and detailing seen up close. Other additions such as the font colours and other text details add to the resemblance and texture of a bank note.
Justice & Human Rights
Unequal Treatment of refugees: A crisis for the 21st century
For he justice and human rights cover the text relays the bold statement highlighted by the research. Along with the sizeable portion of the cover taken up with text the image selected speaks to the harsh conditions refugees face, even before entering the final country where work and healthcare are often remote possibilities. The remoteness of the image demonstrates such isolation.
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