Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Moveable Feasts

No, not the classic Hemingway book, but a book about the ways food travels from one place to another. From Amazon: Moveable Feasts takes a novel look at the economics, logistics, and environmental impact of food, and brings new perspective to debates about where we get our meals.

Henry from Picador sent this to me with the direction to incorporate more of the “travel” element into the cover somehow. Since many of the chapters deal with systems and technologies throughout the centuries, I thought using historic elements such as vintage illustrations and ornaments was appropriate. One of the chapters deals with Salmon being imported from China. On the first comp, I manipulated a couple illustrations to create the fish on the ship. A little humorous and ironic.





The second comp is more straightforward, a contrast of where the fruit began and where it ended up.



The salmon again, this time he's moving upstream with all the port stickers as evidence of his travels.


And the final. Henry said it has a bit of a Schott's Miscellany vibe to it, which I see after he pointed it out. A literal depiction of the title:


As much as I am happy with the final, those fish on the ship still give me a laugh. Thanks for sending this to me Henry.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A History of Hurricanes

A title for Northwestern University Press.

This small book of poems came to me last year. The title of course brings particular imagery to mind so I made reference to hurricanes in an understated way. As the author said about the cover: "I think it fits the book perfectly, capturing its essence yet extending its implications in provocative new directions." (Emails like this make me happy).








Coincidentally, this cover was the last one I worked on before the birth of my daughter, so it stands out in the flood of work that came right before I took off for a couple months. Happily, the final cover came out beautifully when printed.