Given that the design is specifically for the book cover, it may prove useful to look at film posters for A Clockwork Orange to try and distinguish what sort of aesthetic to try and avoid.
The original movie poster is quite iconic for it's obscure typography and the high contrast between the image and the background.
Obscure typography and high contrast images are themes across many of the alternate movie posters I found as well (above). Some of them use the same typography, whereas others take inspiration from movie poster designers from around the same period, such as Saul Bass.
Avoiding this sort of obscure typography is probably a good idea given the brief specifies that the cover should "appeal to a contemporary readership", it's particularly important to avoid the specific typography from the original poster to try and loosen the link between the book and film, as the two are separate things.
This brings up a problem with iconic imagery, using iconic imagery from the film such as the bloodshot eye being clamped open and the white clothes is probably avoidable too, as they might be described differently in the book.
Book Covers
The original cover for the book is shown on the left. The use of purple as the main colour is an indication that the word orange in the title isn't primarily referring to the colour orange. This is also suggested by the David Pelham cover for a version published in 1972, shortly after the release of the film. It uses bright colour sparingly but excludes orange. The 1972 colour uses iconic imagery from the film, but I feel like this is acceptable because when it was briefed it probably had to have some sort of link to the film given the date of it's publishing.
More recent covers have reverted to obscure imagery that's not necessarily representative of the imagery in the film, or have been a lot more minimalistic in their use of image, if indeed any is used at all.
The use of the colour orange seems to be something that's creeping into the designs, and I feel like this is something which is, to some extent, unavoidable if you're not using iconic imagery, as without it there's not obvious initial link between the design of the cover and the story itself. The selective use of orange against a plain background, while not linking particularly to the story, draws connections between the book the iconic film poster, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as most readers will probably have already seen the film.
Conclusions
- Avoid obscure typography
- Avoid iconic imagery from the film
- It's ok to use colours other than orange
- Any imagery should be obscure or really basic
- If using the colour orange, use it selectively against a plain background
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