Bad Education, by Phil Beadle

This is a mock-up of the forthcoming bookcover design I recently completed for a book entitled Bad Education by former Guardian Teacher of the Year Phil Beadle, to be published by Crown House.

Phil is a great teacher and something of a maverick and iconoclast. He wrote fantastic and insightful articles for the Guardian every fortnight or so a few years back, and I would provide the accompanying illustration each time.

The cover design is based on an original image I did for a piece Phil wrote about the instituationalised homophobia prevalent in most schools, from staff and pupils alike, and the misery of gay (or unsure) pupils who are forced to conform to a social 'norm'. The obvious metaphor was that of trying to force a square peg into a round hole. But as it related to homosexual adolescents in particular I figured a pink triangular peg was more appropriate!

For the book cover I had to remove the face and features of the peg, extend the mallet and extend the grid of round holes, plus create lettering consistant with the pink peg design.