Cadets
Cover & Interior Design | Kevin Ullrich
Cover Photograph | Dave Rice
Image Research | Todd Ullrich
Published as an alumni fund raising project for the Garfield Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps, the paperback cover design uses the iconic maroon and gold uniform that the corps wore for the vast majority of its history. While the cover image concept was never in doubt, the design challenge was what to do with the cross belt buckle? The highly polished metal reflected the photographer, camera, lights, and the background of the photo studio. The issue was immediately solved by overlapping an image taken in the 1930's of several cadet drummers, “The Ghosts”, over the buckle. The small image helps to convey the long history of the corps. In existence until 2023, The Cadets were the oldest continually operating competitive drum and bugle corps in the United States when the book was published.
Cadets Title Page
Photograph | Scotty McGarry
In an effort to keep the book per unit cost reasonable and to maximize the net fundraising income, the Cadets book was printed in black-and-white but on a high-quality gloss paper stock. I was able to insert a color image, printed on vellum paper and bound into the book before page 1, which created a ghostly effect with the book title. The color photograph of the drum corps, taken in Boise, Idaho, was the visual counterpoint to the "ghosts" image on the cover.
