Classic Penguin Formats

Horizontal Grid (1935)

The first Book cover template design that was used by penguin from 1935. This very simple cover makes good use of displaying the publishing name and the author and novel of the book at a time were book covers had not yet become popular or had even begun to be taken seriously.

Pelican Cover Re-design (1949)


This was the cover of the Pelican book cover from 1949 which makes use of a very thick border and the use of repeating the publishers name several times. This was very much the style of the time and is something that can be found across book cover design through the 1950's.

Penguin Vertical Grid (1951)

This vertical grid is similar to the Pelican re-design of 1949 in the fact that it makes use of very thick borders. The colour of the book is still orange, however there is still no cover illustration design in the mass of white space that surrounds the name of the novel and author.

Marber Grid (1962)


Penguins re-design of their book cover saw illustrations of artwork reflecting the content of the book for the first time. This gave the books more character and personality, rather than being standardised. Necessary space was still given to the title and author of the book along with iconic orange colour of the book.