For my graduate Conceptual Communication class, I had to do a project that would depict the idea of “compare and contrast.” I decided to do a genre study and create a set of book covers that showed the classic story of Red Riding Hood in six of the biggest genres on the market.

Genre: SCIENCE FICTION

With Red Riding Hood being such a classic fairy tale, I wondered what it would look like as a science fiction novel. I tried to take all the extreme tropes of a classic, kooky ten-cent paperback—harsh colors, high contrast, 80s styles—and come up with a wacky design that screamed “sci-fi.” Clearly mutant wolf clones was the way to go. The clone tanks were made from a photo of a water glass, and the clones themselves are slightly modified divers.

Genre: YA Thriller

YA novels are intended for a teenaged audience and are often colorful, dark, and frequently have female characters on the covers. Thrillers—YA or otherwise—almost always have massive title or author text with a character running to or from the viewer. When designing this cover, I imagined Red’s grandmother living in a giant estate with ties to power and influence—not your typical grandmother, but helpful if you’re on the run.

Genre: SPY

Spy novels are popular in adult fiction, and they tend to have relatively simple covers because many of the notable titles have been reprinted and distributed for decades. I designed my cover to be a cross between a classic James Bond and design trends of the Bauhaus and Avant-garde (san serif, reds, simple shapes, and slanted design). Interestingly enough, Ian Fleming was alive for much of this particular art movement before it was eventually overtaken by the nazis. I like to think of Red Riding Hood fighting nazis as a super spy, with her enemies represented as the Big Bad Wolf.

Genre: ROMANCE

Growing up, I would frequently confuse Robin Hood with Red Riding Hood, since they both began with the letter “R” and ended with “Hood.” As a result, I would sometimes say “Little Red Robin Hood.” But what if the two actually met? And managed to hit it off? Romance novels—especially Christian romance—tend to have warmer colors that make me think of Hallmark movies. They also tend to have swirly typefaces and at least the female protagonist on the cover. It’s not a genre I particularly enjoy, but I’d be down for a Hood crossover.

Genre: EPIC FANTASY

Epic fantasies are expansive fantasy stories often with their own worlds, people groups, cultures, and languages. J.R.R. Tolkien is probably the king of epic fantasy. Oftentimes I see this genre written by well-known authors like Terry Brooks, so their author name is usually much larger than the title of the novel, since it’s more important. Also, the more epic the subject matter, the larger the scale of the scene on the cover. In this case, the protagonist is incredibly small compared to the massive wolf.

Genre: MIDDLE GRADE

Middle grade is for children aged ten to thirteen, with Diary of a Wimpy Kid setting major trends in this genre. A large number of popular middle grade novels feature a main character in a school setting or writing thoughts directly to the reader. I combined the trends of this genre for a story about fairytale characters all going to school together, with Red Riding Hood as the narrator.