New Penguin covers for classic Manga titles

Japanese manga and Penguin Books are two of UK designer Richard Gray's favourite things to read. So in this fun design project he imagines how his favourite titles from the former would be presented by the latter.

"I've always been fascinated by Penguin Books' use of minimalist flat design and clean typography to convey elements of a narrative in a visually concise manner," he explains. "In translating classic manga to the Penguin style, I aimed to use bold illustrations and suitable colours to suggest factors of the story, be it a particular character or story element.

"The 'Classic Manga Series' artwork was created predominantly in Illustrator CS6, before being imported into Photoshop CS6 to create the book mockup designs," he adds.

With the controversial publication of Smiths frontman Morrisey's recent autobiography as a 'Penguin Classic', it seems the well-known publisher is increasingly willing to be flexible with its imprints. So maybe a Manga imprint isn't as off the wall as it sounds. How about it, Penguin?

Has Gray done Death Note, Full Metal Alchemist et al justice? Share your views in the comments...