Having found a suitable crowd shot, the motel sign version was created and both concepts were presented, along with a few alternates.

FEEDBACK: The publishers were concerned that the sardine version might be confusing (is it a book on fish?), but were interested in pursuing it further. They asked for a variation that would impose people's heads on the fish bodies, or else replace the fish with people crowded into the can.

I thought the concept might become less clear, and suggested we choose between "the planet compared to a can of sardines" or "people compared to sardines crowded in a can" without the planet reference. If we filled the can with people, would it still be obviously a sardine can?

Finding appropriate stock shots would once again be difficult. Back to the dilemma of race, age, etc. — with the additional problem of finding them in an appropriate pose. With neither the time nor the budget for a photo shoot, these two comps were sent to the authors for their comments.

< back :: next >