A book of firsts for art and literature students

A Graphic Design student at the University of Chester (@uochester) has seen her work chosen for the cover of a fellow student’s first published book.

Marie Audemard, 24, a PhD candidate in Gender Studies approached Programme Leader in Graphic Design, Andrew Hooper, to ask if any of his students would be interested in designing the artwork for the cover of her book. Second year Graphic Design student Jasmine Menear, 20, from Holyhead in North Wales, accepted the challenge and is now enjoying seeing her work in print for the very first time.

Marie, from Nîmes in France, based the book on her dissertation which explored clothing and how Western women face pressures on what they can and cannot wear. Bra Wars (Published by Peter Lang) is described as a ‘thought-provoking exploration of the double standards faced by women’.

Jasmine said: “I knew this project would be so fun for me as soon as Andrew had reached out. This was set in stone after reading Marie’s early extracts. I related to her literature and adored her writing style. My design was inspired initially by Florence Given, a feminist artist and writer. I sent Marie an email asking if she had ever heard of her and luckily for me, she loved her. Instantly I got to drawing, sending Marie sketch after sketch of cover designs.

“To have my design on a book honestly feels surreal. It gives me hope and the drive to do more design work, see my work in the wild and be able to meet people as lovely as Marie. This whole project has been my favorite throughout my three years here. I cannot thank Andrew and Marie enough for this opportunity.”

Marie added: “I knew that Jasmine’s views were very much a match with mine when she said she was inspired by the design of Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given, which was exactly the kind of design I loved. We spent a lot of time talking about it, every night at 11pm I would receive Jasmine’s emails with her new ideas, it had become our ritual during the day. Once I saw the email where she had added the writing on the bra I was so impressed by her work and had that ‘this is exactly what I envisioned’ moment. Unsurprisingly, my publishers absolutely loved it, and straight away said they would go ahead with it.”

Jasmine was inspired to use the image of the bra on the cover being burnt, from the bra burning protests in America in 1968.

Andrew said: “Marie approached us in Graphic Design with this great opportunity to support her work with the creation of an appropriate cover design. The challenge was offered up to several students across the programme and Jasmine’s piece resonated with Marie’s narrative the most. The opportunity for our students to see their work in a real-world context is crucial to their understanding of future career potential.”