Noughts and Crosses- more sketches

The problem I'm having with this brief is that i want to keep it quite simple and use bold symbolism but their have already been a number of iterations of covers for this book that have use the same idea. most if not all the precious versions have depicted the noughts and crosses, usually in black and white. When the books title and narrative use symbolism the design ideas for the cover tend to be fairly route one, definitely in this case anyway.
I thought about the division depicted in the book could be depicted using the mathematical symbol. One of the noughts could be replaced by a cross and the bar through the middle can clearly represent the divide between them. This simple, bold basis could them be added to and experimented with textures and elements from the story. I did think of adding a noose but that would most likely be giving away too much information about the story.

things to do
- experiment with colour and composition
- could make the symbol into a face/character
- change the bar into a knife to symbolise backstabbing and deceit
- add text