Before Starting: Create a "BOOK_COVER" folder on your network space. Each of your canvases will be saved into this folder when completed.

The Interpretation of Dreams is a book by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. The first edition describes his work thus:

In the following pages, I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique, every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state. Further, I shall endeavour to elucidate the processes which underlie the strangeness and obscurity of dreams, and to deduce from these processes the nature of the psychic forces whose conflict or co-operation is responsible for our dreams.

The book introduces Freud's theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation. Dreams, in Freud's view, were all forms of "wish fulfillment" — attempts by the unconscious to resolve a conflict of some sort, whether something recent or something from the recesses of the past. However, because the information in the unconscious is in an unruly and often disturbing form, a "censor" in the preconscious will not allow it to pass unaltered into the conscious. During dreams, the preconscious is more lax in this duty than in waking hours, but is still attentive: as such, the unconscious must distort and warp the meaning of its information to make it through the censorship. As such, images in dreams are often not what they appear to be, according to Freud, and need deeper interpretation if they are to inform on the structures of the unconscious.

Further Research:  Students are strongly encouraged to spend some time actually reviewing some of the writing in the book, which is available online from the following sources:

• Full Text Version from bartlebys.com.
• Google Books online reproduction of the 1913 printing.

Students could also refer to online "study guides" regarding the work, such as the two below (pay particular attention to areas having to do with "Wish Fulfillment"):

• enotes.com summary of "The Interpretation of Dreams"
• Sparknotes.com summary of Freud and the Psychoanalytic Movement, including "The Interpretation of Dreams"
• Short summary of "The Interpretation of Dreams" from Bookdrum.com

Research into Book Cover Design:  It is difficult to know what might make an effective or interesting book cover design without studying the look and layout of some modern book covers.  To do so, students will do a little bit of research into the look of some books from the New York Times Bestseller List.  Please complete the "Book Cover Design Research Questionnaire" before moving on to your design ideas.

Pay close attention to the sections at the end of the Questionnaire that pertain to your ideas for your designs of your book cover.

Research into Past Editions of the Book:  This book has been around for 100 years, so there have been many editions of the work published in the past.  It is perfectly acceptable to check out some of these works to help with the creativity process, as long as you don't directly copy the look of another edition.  Here is a list of all of the available editions of "The Interpretation of Dreams" from amazon.com.  You will notice that many of the past editions of the work simply have a picture of the author, Sigmund Freud.  For this project, you can incorporate a picture of Freud if you wish, but your publisher would like to see a more artistic representation of the work than just a portrait of the author.

Preliminary Work:  Using colored pencil and paper, sketch out your preliminary ideas for your book cover.  Accurately reproduce as many of the colors, images and letterforms as possible.  Put your name onto this and turn it in, it is worth points towards your final grade.

Required Elements of the Cover Design:  Make sure to include the following three items VERBATIM in some form on your cover:

• The Interpretation of Dreams
• Sigmund Freud
• Freud's seminal work on understanding the human mind.

Things You Should Also Consider:  Please take into account some of the "Unity/Emphasis" Design Techniques and the "Balance" Techniques that we talked about last semester when creating your design.

At Your Disposal, Should You Wish:  If necessary, feel free to see Mr. B. about the use of a camera to take photographs that you might need for your cover.  (finding specific photographic subjects, especially people, using our network filtration system can be very difficult.) 

An Interesting Note:  When Ms. Resnick gives this project to her Graphic Design classes at The Massachusetts School of Art, it is a THREE WEEK project.  I expect the effort given by students in the completion of this version to be roughly equivalent to 3-4 class periods of work.

1. Save your file as a .JPG File, call it "lastname_book_cover.jpg". Save this file to the DROPBOX.
2. Make sure that your Preminary Pencil Sketch is also turned in with your name on it.

• Thorough and thoughtful completion of the Book Cover Design Questionnaire= 50 points.
• Thorough and thoughtful completion of the Preliminary Pencil Sketch= 50 points.
• Aesthetic qualities of the final Book Cover Design= 100 points.
• Failure to save final product as a .JPG file= -50 points.