Ben Buttles' Bookjacket Design

This series, created by media arts major Ben Buttles, reimagines three films by Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Volume I) as bookjackets. Tarantino is known for his extensive use of pop music scores, which guide his films narratively and stylistically. Following suit, these designs echo the would-be vinyl soundtrack for each film with a close-up of the record's center label.

Pulp Fiction: the label's round shape to evokes the iconic face (and unforgettable perm) of hitman Jules, the film's central character. The typography of "Pulp Fiction" depicts three of the letters as parallel dotted lines, echoing the film's three intersecting storylines.

Jackie Brown: As Tarantino's twist of the blaxploitation genre, the rainbow color stripe echoes the warm nostalgia of the "Polaroid rainbow" used in 1970's advertisements. The "A" in "Jackie" is formed by a femme fatale silhouette (a nod to lead actress Pam Greer), and the "O" in "Brown" is replaced with a cherry (a nod to Pam Greer's supporting character, Max Cherry).

Kill Bill: While the lower half of this design echoes the Bride's iconic tracksuit, the upper half highlights the film's influence from Japanese samurai films, evoking the look of the traditional "rising sun" flag with blood-splattered typography.

Finally, each book spine includes another of Tarantino's major motifs, a significant food element from each film: the Big Kahuna Burger (Pulp Fiction), coffee (Jackie Brown), and sushi (Kill Bill).