BD
the book design studio
Editor & layout design Emma J. Hardy Cover design Alice Tomlinson Article contributors Will Speed and Eric Wilder Copy editing Natalie Jones and Emma J. Hardy Copyright on book design images are held by respective designers and publishers All other content Š The Book Design Studio 2016 Published quarterly in February, May, August and November www.thebookdesignstudio.co.uk hello@thebookdesignstudio.co.uk Printed and bound by Mixam Ltd., Watford, UK
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This issue is dedicated to all the cover designers who have ever had their request for a spot gloss f inish denied – our thoughts are with you all
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Contents
From the Editor A NEW FORMAT
9
Fiction Showcase YOUR COVERS
11
Non-fiction Showcase YOUR COVERS
33
Interview: Kimberly Glyder BY ERIC WILDER
55
Life and Death of a Book Cover BY WILL SPEED
65
Grimm Covers BY EMMA J. HARDY
75
Contributor Bios SEE WHO THEY ARE
82
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Emma J Hardy
From the Editor A NEW FORMAT Welcome to issue four of Spine. In this edition we’ve switched up the format a little – something that we’ll be doing from time to time as we’re interested in exploring all the shapes and sizes that books come in. For issue four, we’ve chosen B-Format. This is one of my favourite sizes as it’s not too big but not too small; it can be placed in a bag without taking up too much room but equally doesn’t leave you with an achy arm on the tube. B-format has historically been associated with literary fiction and other ‘high-brow’ books, but publishers of other genres have caught on to that, so it’s not uncommon to see a B-format book that isn’t literary fiction these days. I’ve greatly enjoyed selecting the covers for this issue, and am extremely thankful to have been joined again by some fantastic contributors. Eric Wilder has an invaluable knack for hunting down talented book cover designers and getting them to agree to interviews; this month he speaks to Kimberly Glider about hand-lettered type, freelancing and her process. Also, Will Speed has contributed an interesting analysis of the covers for Hausfrau and ponders how the US vs UK difference in design style has come about. So without further ado: I hope you enjoy this issue!
Fiction Showcase
The Last Wilkie’s JON STEINER • Publisher Spineless Wonders
Design by Zoë Sadokierski
• The collage/cut and stick concept of this cover works well for a set of short stories. The over all effect is intriguing and invites the reader into the book’s world.
Bites
MEELIS FRIEDENTHAL • Publisher Mansards Apgāds
Design by Zigmunds Lapsa
• I love it when people mess with portraits – obscuring faces always creates a very interesting image. It works perfectly here.
The Noise of Time JULIAN BARNES • Publisher Vintage Publishing
Design by
Illustration by
Suzanne Dean
Vladimir Zimokov
• The dynamic cover duo Barnes and Dean made headlines once again with the latest cover design in their long history together. The design was brave choice, but one that has definitely paid off.
Not If I See You First ERIC LINDSTROM • Publisher HarperCollins
Design by Liz Casal
• Big, bold, bright; a great place to start, but the real clincher for me is the brail overlay – adding ‘clever’ to the list of this book cover’s virtues.
Gold Fame Citrus
CLAIRE VAYE WATKINS • Publisher Quercus Books
Design by Rachel Willey
• In print, the pink oil on this cover shines to create a cover which seems part-liquid when you walk over to it. The subtle texture on the typography is a nice touch.
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye TANIA DEL RIO • Publisher Quirk Books
Design by Will Staehle
• A children’s book that plays around with the historical style of engraved illustration is always going to win my heart – but I particularly love the typography layout on this too.
The World Without Us MIREILLE JUCHAU • Publisher Bloomsbury
Design by David Mann
• The delicate typography of this cover design is nicely balanced with the illustration. There’s foil blocking on the ‘hive’ pattern in the printed version, adding to the effect wonderfully.
Human Acts HAN KANG • Publisher Portobello Books
• This cover is beautiful and understated, so that even before you’ve picked up the book you know you’re in for something heartbreaking and poignant.
A Doubter’s Almanac ETHAN CANIN • Publisher Random House
• Quirky and colourful, I imagine that this design matches its contents perfectly.
Superabundance HEINZ HELLE • Publisher Profile Books
Design by Jamie Keenan
• Big block typography is hard to execute and sometimes even harder to pull off. It works fantastically here though, and practically leaps off the shelf.
Non-f iction Showcase
The Yarn Whisperer CLARA PARKS • Publisher Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Design by John Gall
• This one’s a little old (2013) but when I saw it in the bookshop, I liked it so much that I’ve decided to include it regardless. The idea to bind a book in yarn is wonderful.
My Father, the Pornographer CHRIS OFFUTT • Publisher Atria Books
Design by Jamie Keenan
• A pretty original cover design! The variety of typographic styles works extremely well in this context, and most importantly, the cover made me laugh.
The Cabaret of Plants RICHARD MABEY • Publisher Profile Books
Design by Peter Dyer
• I love botanical books, and the cover for this one doesn’t disappoint. The title has been subtly incorporated into the illustration too, adding a nice touch to the overall aesthetic.
The Little Big Number DIRK PHILIPSEN • Publisher Princeton University Press
Design by Amanda Weiss
• Maps are pretty commonplace on book covers, however the way in which Weiss has incorporated the typography is unique, and immediately stands out as something special.
Being a Beast
CHARLES FOSTER • Publisher Profile Books
Design by Peter Dyer
• This is the second appearance of Profile Books’ Peter Dyer in this issue, and not without good cause. Nicely chosen illustration and well-placed typography.
Feminist Political Theory VALERIE BRYSON • Publisher Macmillan Higher Education
Design by Kerry Squires
• Lots of books about feminism get carried away in stereotypical symbolism and can occasionally just be plain offensive. But this cover design is clear and strong – everything you’d want for this subject matter.
Raptor
JAMES MACDONAL LOCKHART • Publisher HarperCollins
• The designer here has used a very clever type layout and combined it with an showing a fairly common subject matter in a very uncommon and pleasing way.
Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? VERSTYNEN & VOYTEK • Publisher Princeton University Press
Design by Lorraine Donneker
• It’s easy to over-work the cover for a book about zombies, but Donneker has struck a good balance between the zombie genre and a (somewhat) serious academic book.
The Life Courses STEPHEN J. HUNT • Publisher Macmillan Higher Education
Design by Alex Connock
• This design captures a rite of passage that many of us have experienced: sitting with your friend(s) inside a photo-booth. Without pushing its concept on you heavily, this cover delicately hints at the kinds of moments which appear in all our lives.
The Politics of Inequality
JENSEN & VAN KERSBERGEN • Publisher Macmillan Higher Education
Design by Alex Connock
• The title creates a physical divide between two very different lives. The typography is both bold and delicate – a very difficult combination to master, but Connock has done it perfectly here.
visual impact and strong conceptual information. I had been mulling over a career in book cover design, but out of school and in need of supporting myself, I had some brief stints at a couple print design firms, as well as a museum exhibit design firm. Eventually, I was hired at Da Capo Press by Alex Camlin, and finally began my career as a book designer, leaving a couple years later to strike out on my own. CAN YOU WALK THROUGH YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FROM BEGINNING TO END? HOW DOES YOUR ARTWORK GO FROM INITIAL IDEA TO FINAL COVER? I begin all of my projects by reading the manuscript (if available) and taking notes. I also look over the tip sheets that publishers send along at the beginning of a project. This helps to pinpoint the major themes a publisher wants to highlight in their marketing, and also what to avoid. My notes range from specific visuals that stand out (such as a hair color, or the color of a house) to “big pictures”; concepts such as celebration or loss…anything that might give insight into the tone of the writing. Occasionally, the author will weigh in and their ideas for a cover will be passed along to me. After reading and note-taking, I’ll move on to sketching. This is an important part of my process as it distills my notes and allows me to begin translating the concepts into visuals. At the same time, I may be doing font and photo research. If appropriate, this might be when I begin painting letter-forms or other visual elements. Finally, I open up InDesign and begin the process of piecing all of my research, sketches, and imagery together. WHAT UNIQUE CHALLENGES HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED? When I first began freelance cover work, I did try to incorporate more hand painted elements, but it was tough. The feedback would be that the comps veered too YA. It’s been a nice change
in the last few years to see a resurgence in hand lettering and illustration on covers. This has allowed me to present multiple directions and styles for comps rather than sticking to the more limited, photo-driven designs I was primarily working on before. Since it seems to be the norm to go through many design rounds these days, having the option to use hand painted elements opens up the possibilities for creative design solutions. I’ve noticed while freelancing that it’s easy to be pegged for specific genres. I’m assuming in-house it might be easier to put yourself forward to design a variety of genres, but I tend to get the same kinds of books from certain publishers. Not sure if this is a product of art directors associating existing covers on my portfolio site to titles on their list, or if it has to do with assumptions about women designers being paired up with women’s literary fiction. Either way, I’m happy to get a variety of subject matters to challenge these norms. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF COVER DESIGNS IN WHICH YOU HAVE USED HAND LETTERING, SUCH AS ‘THE EMPATHY EXAMS’ AND ‘FRIENDSWOOD’. CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW YOU DETERMINE LETTER-FORM FOR EACH PIECE? As I’ve created more and more covers using hand lettering and added them to my website, I’m increasingly asked to work on projects where the Art Director has hand lettering in mind for the cover they’re assigning. The Empathy Exams is an astonishingly intimate collection of essays. The rawness of the watercolor letter-forms was a good match for the writing. Friendswood was a tough title to work on with sensitive subject matter; one of those books where you can’t really depict the subject successfully on a cover (in this case a town dealing with buried toxic waste), so you have to be more evocative rather than representative. My approach was to translate the emotional interactions of the characters into expressive hand lettering. In this case, something a teenager might be drawing (some of the main characters are teens) and the
corresponding flower stems hint at the oil seeping down into the earth. The way the type decreases in size has an air of tension to it as well. If I do use hand drawn type, I’m trying to do so in a more inventive and, hopefully, distinct way from cover to cover. Like digital fonts, there are so many avenues to uniquely create letterforms for a book cover, so my approach is the same: I read the manuscript, get a feel for the setting, any cultural references, etc. and then do font research. From there I will begin painting various letter-forms over and over until I feel I have enough to work with. Sometimes I scan the paintings and begin to manipulate them. How they are used depends on the design. For instance, I broke up the painted type on Sweetgirl, which is integral to the design (and thankfully it was approved this way). The large, painted strokes of the letter-forms create a bold pairing with the hushed stillness of the photograph. If I had kept the title on one line, the impact of the design would not have been as strong. CAN YOU EXPLAIN YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEPHEN FRY SERIES FOR SOHO PRESS? Soho Press contacted me to work on Fry’s back-list of titles. The Art Director, Janine Agro, had referenced a couple previous book covers I worked on (Woke Up Lonely & The Tin Horse) as a starting point for the style they were after. I focused on The Liar first and presented the comps, with caveats for how we might address future titles such as font placement, color palettes, etc. to make this a successful series design. The Liar came together very quickly and was approved in the first round. From there, I was able to continue the theme of the slightly irreverent series of designs using a flat, graphic illustration style. I use two fonts for each cover and the colour palette is purposely limited to create uniformity across the titles.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY FASCINATED BY AND HOW IS IT FEEDING INTO YOUR WORK? Recently I decided to make more of an effort to focus on painting, something I’ve had less and less time for since I began freelancing years ago. As I’ve created more personal work and posted work online, Art Directors have approached me to use more hand lettering and illustration on book covers. It’s a welcome progression of my interests; combining design and fine art. I’ve been looking through the work of Sonia Delaunay, an artist/designer who created inventive pattern designs. Also, the paintings of Hilma af Klint, a Swedish painter who created a series of abstract, geometric paintings which relate well to graphic design. I’m particularly obsessed with the catalog for the Wm. H. Page & Co.’s type specimens. I began a series of type paintings after being inspired by the unusual letter-forms and ornamentation showcased in this online collection. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COVER THAT YOU DID NOT DESIGN? My “favorite” designs are constantly changing as my work has evolved over the years. Here is a current list of favorite covers and designers: The Virginia Woolf covers illustrated by Vanessa Bell for Hogarth Press (The Waves, Mrs. Dalloway, and To the Lighthouse). Roberto de Vicq’s work (The Descendants is a favorite). Jon Gray’s body of work – often a mix of hand lettering, illustration and design – is constantly fresh and inspiring. Jamie Keenan’s recent cover for Metamorphosis.
Jaya Miceli’s work is incredibly varied and perfectly executed. Jenny Carrow’s smart designs (Against Happiness). Miriam Rosenbloom’s work (The Faber Poetry series designed in collaboration with British printmakers and Chronic City). Paul Buckley’s creative direction and the various illustrators whose work is featured on the series designs for Penguin Threads Deluxe Classics and Penguin Classic Graphic Deluxe Editions.
US HARDBACK
Will Speed
Mixed Messages?
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A BOOK COVER Each year publishers release literary fiction titles with beautiful eye-catching cover designs. These covers let us know that we should care about these books, that they should win awards and that these are titles of quality. Hausfrau, a book about ex-pat American Anna Benz – a bored wife and mother of three, made a splash in the cover design world this time last year when Random House released the short film, Life and Death of a Book Cover featuring the covers of Hausfrau, written by Jill Alexander Essbaum. Life and Death of a Book Cover explores the possibilities and might-have-been covers before it arrives at the final design. We cycle through many design styles: Illustrative, bold, minimal, photographic, flowery, abstract yet sexualized, hand written titles and even versions displaying signs of a strong Swiss influence. The film shines a light on the enormous effort that publishers go to get it right – to both capture the spirit of the book and appeal to the right audience. Robbin Schiff, the executive art director at Random House, worked with a team of five designers, one illustrator and two
letterers on more than a hundred versions of the jacket. “The final design,” says Schiff in an interview with Mashable, “with its stark Swiss typography against the moody and lush floral grouping, conveys a sensual but claustrophobic atmosphere”. The most interesting concepts behind book cover design will often hint at the content with out giving to much away. Going against accepted literary wisdom, Robbin Schiff tells us “you absolutely can judge many things about the book by its cover”. When it came to designing the cover for UK release, publishers Pan Macmillan commissioned studio Maricor/Maricar to create a beautiful hand stitched cover that sends out intriguing hints of being trapped in domesticity. The reader can see a hidden house in the diamond ring and the strong sans-serif typography invites you to look closer. If you do, you’ll discover the broken wine glasses and shards of glass scattered in the floral pattern. Pan Macmillan only shared two of the prototype designs they gave to studio Maricor/Maricar. We could assume that they had already made up their minds after learning from Random House’s experience, but it’s difficult to know whether any communication between the teams occurred. Both the UK and US final cover designs are beautiful but in different ways: the American cover is bright and eye-catching whilst the UK cover is more understated and delicate. However, it begs the question: why do the UK and US markets need different covers? The answer which designers are told again and again is this: the cover has to appeal to a vastly different audience – a shared language does not equal a shared aesthetic All of this develops an intriguing layer when we look at design approaches which come with the paperback editions. Let’s start with the US paperback cover. Aesthetically it’s a well designed cover, but is its underlying literary message correct? After all, it seems to be about sex. The strap line, Anna is a good wife, mostly, is accompanied by a photo of a woman’s chest; her shirt buttons straining to contain what’s within. We get the message that this book is a sexualized thrill.
UK HARDBACK
UK HARDBACK – CONCEPT
UK HARDBACK – CONCEPT II
US PAPERBACK
UK PAPERBACK
Interestingly, this is not the first time this cover has been applied to Hausfrau. Life and Death of a Book Cover tells us that this was vetoed as a hardcover design. Seemingly, the publishers intended the hardcover design to tell us we could respect the book, and worked to convey literary merit, whereas the paperback’s message was that we can read this with a glass of wine and indulge in an erotic fantasy. If you look at the UK cover, you might be surprised to see that it’s nearly identical. This challenges a lot of what we have been made to believe about the US/UK markets in regard to book cover design. American book covers are usually seen as being bigger, bolder & brasher compared to the more delicate, concept driven designs of their UK counterparts. Counter-intuitively, the paperback designs we’ve just looked at are the reverse: the UK’s is much bolder in its typographical approach than the US. So really, where are these preconceptions about how we should be designing coming from? There is seemingly no, or very little, objective research on how a book cover relates to the sales of the book. Such a subjective matter is inherently difficult to gather objective information on, after all. Hausfrau is a great example of the life and death of a book cover. We can see how different publishers approached different audiences, and how actively they try to manipulate readership appeal. Perhaps book cover designers should challenge the preconceived notions and assumptions that sales, marketing and editorial teams make about what audiences want – at least until there is firm scientific evidence to support their claims.
RACE POINT PUBLISHING
Emma J. Hardy
Grimm Covers
DESIGNING FOR GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES As a species we’ve held a fascination with fairy tales, folklore and mythology for as long as we’ve been able to communicate. Stories that were told around camp-fires then passed down and repeated for generations had the advantage of being excellent entertainment for a pre-Netflix era, but also allowed both ethical and practical lessons to be taught to the young and naïve. Perhaps currently the most popular collection of fairy tales in England is the Grimm’s Fairy tales. Due to the sometimes gory and mildly traumatising nature of the older stories that were originally published in the collection, one might not immediately associate these as nice traditional tales for children – my grandfather would read these to me at night and I found out later he would change some of the more grisly bits as he went – some modern versions have now been sanitised, but their popularity doesn’t seem to have waned. The Grimm’s fairy tales as a collection originate from Germany. Brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm (but you may know them as the ‘Brothers Grimm’) published Kinder-und Hausmärchen in 1812 after collecting established folklore stories from across Germany.
Kinder-und Hausmärchen roughly translates in English as ‘Children’s and Household Tales’, but in England the books simply became known as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Designing a cover for the Grimm’s Fairy Tales presents its own unique set of challenges. There can be anywhere between 80 and 210 stories in a modern translation of the book, meaning there is a huge variety of themes and symbolism to choose from. Over the years, many designers have chosen opted to represent Little Red Riding Hood to feature on the cover, presumably as it’s the one they assume readers will be most familiar with. Others go for woodlands – a pretty common theme throughout the stories, and some go for slightly more obscure symbolism. Across the next few pages we take a look at a few of our favourites, although as this title has been in the public domain for quite some time, there are hundreds of covers out there – it would have been very easy to fill the whole magazine just with Grimm’s Fairy Tales covers.
PUFFIN
PENGUIN: MATTHEW YOUNG & CHEONG-AH HWANG
VIKING BOOKS
PUFFIN: SARAH COLEMAN
ROCKPORT: YAN LEGENDRE
Contributors
Eric Wilder Eric is a regular contributor to Spine magazine, so far in his interviews he has unearthed fascinating design processes and given us invaluable insight to the varying ways book cover designers are working.
• Alice Tomlinson Alice designed this issue’s cover for Spine. You can usually find her in a swimming pool or designing book covers in her role as Designer for Palgrave Macmillan – but not usually both at once.
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Will Speed Will has designed covers for both US and UK audiences in his role as Designer for Palgrave Macmillan. This has piqued his interests about what – and why – differences across US/UK book cover designs are expected.
If you would like to contribute to the next issue of Spine please send an email proposal to: hello@thebookdesignstudio.co.uk