I wanted the type on this cover to convey "improvisation" and thought reflecting it in the trombone would be interesting.
Improvisation
Edward W. Sarah
I wanted the type on this cover to convey "improvisation" and thought reflecting it in the trombone would be interesting.
I wanted the type on this cover to convey "improvisation" and thought reflecting it in the trombone would be interesting.
Pure Product
Quill and Quire, which is our version of Publishers Weekly, does a regular feature on the process of developing a cover. They asked me to do this for a recent poetry cover - Pure Product by Jason Guriel.
(A)
When I am designing a poetry cover I try and find images in the poems that lend themselves to visual expression. Pure product is a line in Guriel’s poem “Thinigness.” It is not always easy for me to describe the process I go through to create an image but there was just something about these old fashioned sprinklers I found in a hardware catalogue that seemed to fit for the notion of thinginess. Unfortunately it made for an unintended connection with the word “product” in the title – as if the sprinklers were the product. If the title had been “Thinginess” it might have worked.
(B)
This is an evolution of the previous direction. I thought that maybe the placement of the type could remove the connection between product and sprinkler but it just created another issue. Water could be interpreted as the “Pure Product”.
(C)
This image comes from another poem in the book “Shopping Cart, Abandoned on Front Lawn”. The shadows cast by the cart on the lawn create “subdivisions the ants won’t obey” I don’t think I ever presented this one because it still made an unintended connection with the title – shopping, consumerism.
(D)
I thought the idea of using a bell jar might be interesting – isolating the pure product. The press liked the image but felt something was missing - no “ahh” moment.
FINAL
From the poem Thinginess
“the necessary tubing
that defines
the nothing blowing
thru ducts.”
The image is an allusion to Magritte's “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”. By opening the straw it solves the problem I encountered with (A) and (B). The straw is not the product. It just defines the nothing blowing thru it.
I worked on the shadows of the shopping cart option (C) for almost an entire day but couldn't get it to work. It reminded me of a point earlier in my career when I was working in Montreal for a design company. I was leaving the office at the end of the day and noticed another designer was hard at work on a logo - it wasn't working and the deadline was the next day. When I came back to work the next morning she was still at work and had been there all night struggling with the same version. It made me realize that you have to listen to your inner designer voice that tells you to put it aside and try something else. It doesn't matter how much effort you have put into any given solution, if it isn't working clear your desk and start again.
This raises another issue that we as designers are always asking ourselves - is it any good? If you work alone you can't bounce ideas off your fellow designers. It sounds a little silly but I work on a solution until I like it and then I present it. You almost have to be your own audience and trust your own reaction to the work.
I was backing up my files and found this rejected cover for a poetry book. I was actually the one who rejected it. It wasn't the right fit for the book but interesting nonetheless.
This one is another challenge and brings up a common problem for cover designers. When you are presented with a multitude of images to use on a history book - which one or ones do you choose to best represent the book? I almost always try to avoid a collage approach, which author's seem to always suggest, and if possible find one or two that work well together. This book deals with different cultures within Canada as well so that required an added degree of sensitivity. The first sketch with the frying pan was rejected because it seemed to focus too much on the Anglosaxon-Canadian experience. I worked all morning on the new sketch (top), with the Batman soundtrack on full throttle for motivation, and opted for more of a type only approach with a cooking pot that isn't too culturally specific.
approval pending
approval pending
Catamount April, 29
One of the benefits of living on the US border is that the Adirondacks are literally in your backyard. Probably should have been working but it was such a beautiful day.
The Summit
The Summit
Enter the Chrysanthemum
Fiona Tinwei Lam
Even though I have baked a lot of loaves of bread in my life I still get the same thrill each time I open the oven and see finished product. The same is true for book covers. I just received this in the mail. The poet sent me a video of her reading one her beautiful poems - Chrysanthemum.
Even though I have baked a lot of loaves of bread in my life I still get the same thrill each time I open the oven and see finished product. The same is true for book covers. I just received this in the mail. The poet sent me a video of her reading one her beautiful poems - Chrysanthemum.
This one was a tough one. Paraphrasing the author: The thesis of the book is that a distinction can be made between two types of objects: one (objects of natural science) can sustain magnification; the other (objects typical of humanistic inquiry) cannot. This means that humanistic inquiry cannot match scientific inquiry. Because the objects of natural science permit magnification, we can dissect them into smaller and smaller pieces, each time discovering new, important information about them. Cultural objects, such as a photograph, will not yield to microscopic study - we generate noise, not signal.
I will admit it is kind of an odd image but I thought it made for an intriguing cover.
I will admit it is kind of an odd image but I thought it made for an intriguing cover.
Fall 2009 catalogue cover
I love doing catalogue covers. Because they are more ephemeral than book covers you can push the limits a little further.
Thurston is one of Canada's best know nature poets. I added in the tree branches on the edge at the last minute. I was actually closing up the file when I accidentally deleted one of the of masks from another concept that I didn't present and the tree branches overlapped onto this sketch. I really like it when these kind of accidents occur. It makes you stop and look at things in a new way. I posted the other sketch that the branches came from below.
The Watch that Ends the Night
There was no budget for stock photography on this one so I shot it myself. I ran over to a friends house this morning to photograph his canoe strapped to the roof of his barn. I borrowed his lovely daughter Vanessa's hand made paddle and asked my daughter to photograph me from above in a paddling position. As I said in an earlier post this cover really resonates with me. I spent many hours canoeing in the Laurentians when I was growing up. One of my father's many gifts to me was the art of paddling a canoe.
Anatomy of a cover
Anatomy of a cover
This is a recently approved cover for a poetry book. Boxing the compass refers to the ability to memorize all 32 points on a compass. It also refers to the action of a rudderless boat which will eventually rotate in a full circle hitting all the points on a compass. The title poem deals with a father on his death bed.
Note that this is just the sketch so it is still a little rough.
So I wait with you in a crowded dark
where ageing men must revive or perish,
and wonder, my father, what under morphine
your dreams are? The old man on his ship’s deck
and you a boy among the ropes and canvas –
that hour’s sunlight over all the days you’ve seen.
I thought it would be interesting to present a small boat on the cover which also resembled a coffin. For my first sketch I actually took an image of a coffin and put in on water. It was interesting but there was something not quite right about it. It needed to be more ambiguous and the water didn't look right for Newfoundland. I found another image of an actual boat that struck the right balance.
Note that this is just the sketch so it is still a little rough.
So I wait with you in a crowded dark
where ageing men must revive or perish,
and wonder, my father, what under morphine
your dreams are? The old man on his ship’s deck
and you a boy among the ropes and canvas –
that hour’s sunlight over all the days you’ve seen.
I thought it would be interesting to present a small boat on the cover which also resembled a coffin. For my first sketch I actually took an image of a coffin and put in on water. It was interesting but there was something not quite right about it. It needed to be more ambiguous and the water didn't look right for Newfoundland. I found another image of an actual boat that struck the right balance.
This one proved tougher than most. It is a novel about a dystopian future where livestock have become extinct. The final chosen solution is the one with the broken plate. I added the cows into the design. I think the problem with a cover like this is that when you try and approach the subject matter head on it doesn't work. The trick is to find a lateral way to approach it leaving more to the imagination of the viewer. I really liked the option with the fence and the partially obscured "i", but it was maybe a little hard to decode. A bit of a homage to Paul Rand.
Just coming up for air. What a last couple of weeks!! This is a recent cover I worked on. Not sure it will be accepted but there was something I really liked about it. The book is about risks of globalization for the U.S. These kind of covers are always a challenge. How can you express this in a new way when there has already been so much done on this subject. I went for the world as a fish bowl with the U.S. which oddly enough looks like a gold fish when coloured orange. Maybe I am fixated on dead gold fish which I tried on another cover as well.
I am working on this one right now. The book deals with the fact that Freud didn't have the benefit of the all the advances that have been made in neuroscience than can now be used to complement analysis. I liked the fact that the brain scanning table resembled an analysts couch. It makes a nice contrast it with a victorian armchair.
Amnesty International
This is a t-shirt design I am working on. The only stipulation is that I have to use the barb wire element from their logo.
Sins of the Flesh
Rod Preece
This cover was one of several that won in the AAUP (Association of American University Presses) book and jacket show. The version on the bottom is the way the cover looked at the final stage of mechanical production. I spent about a day drawing the pig but it just wasn't working. At the eleventh hour I looked for an image in one of my royalty free books of line art and found a new pig. Thankfully the client agreed that it was an improvement. There was a time when those trusted line art books were put to good use as university presses don't usually have budgets for images. I think I will do a future post that just features those covers.
This cover was one of several that won in the AAUP (Association of American University Presses) book and jacket show. The version on the bottom is the way the cover looked at the final stage of mechanical production. I spent about a day drawing the pig but it just wasn't working. At the eleventh hour I looked for an image in one of my royalty free books of line art and found a new pig. Thankfully the client agreed that it was an improvement. There was a time when those trusted line art books were put to good use as university presses don't usually have budgets for images. I think I will do a future post that just features those covers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
