Judging 50/50

At my first job out of RISD I used to take out the AIGA annuals on my lunch break and read each one cover to cover. The most intriguing part of the annual, hands down, was always the 50 books/50 covers section and most definitely was an inspiration to start my own book design career. I would see the same names over and over, and I developed a fair amount of hero worship for these book designers.

Fast forward many years. Last month I was at AIGA’s New York office judging the 50 books / 50 covers show. This was not only meaningful to me as a designer, but also because the show itself had been cancelled, then reopened. There has already been much said on the subject­­—good and bad—so I will forego that debate and highlight instead that there were a decent amount of entries this year. The number was slightly down from the prior year, but in comparison to the total amount entered into the 365 competion, it was a good showing and, in my humble opinion, definitely worth the time, money, and energy for AIGA to continue the legacy of this competition.

AIGA’s Gabriela Mirensky was our coordinator for the judging and the overall process went very smoothly with Chip Kidd as our chair (whose insistence on including 50 of each category I’m happy to report was fulfilled). Joseph Sullivan from the Book Design Review blog and designers Arthur Cherry and Barbara Glauber rounded out the jury and it was a pleasure spending two days with such talented people discussing book design. As Peter Mendelsund noted last year, the criteria for which pieces were selected had more to do with the need for consensus among all 5 judges rather than the any lack of quality among those pieces which were not selected. It was a rare treat to see the work of so many designers I admire all in one room, receiving the recognition each book designer deserves, but only a handful can receive each year.

Finally, I will say that in my mind, the 50/50 competition advances the work of all book designers and gives us a means of showcasing the talent in this field. Yes, we are constantly updating our blogs, twitter, facebook, etc. to get an immediate reaction to our work, but having a large selection at once across all subject matters and all design styles and documented is a good thing.

We are definitely up against many challenges in the coming years regarding the value of our profession. I’m happy there is a place where book designers are celebrated. I’m also hopeful that the annuals and now, the Design Archive, will provide other designers a place to find inspiration (though I’ll go ahead and note here that I miss the printed design annuals for which I don’t think there is a numerical way of evaluating how many times we open and close those pages as opposed to a website). Thanks to everyone who entered and hopefully the entries will increase next year.

Will Write for Food

I've noticed a sharp increase in covers with plates on them. I myself have two in the last couple of years and for the same publisher no less. Here is one of them...

Will Write for Food focuses on the art of food writing. When I received the brief to work on the paperback edition, my first thought was to go a bit more conceptual and playful since the title has a lightheartedness to it. The hardcover was effective, but it showcased the requisite plate which I was hoping to avoid for the paperback.

My first round of comps have more of an illustrative styling to them. Graphic & bold, with a little humor thrown in:









At first the comps were fairly well received. The top comp was the chosen one to revise and pursue. Overall the vector illustration wasn't quite working for people in-house though and maybe it was too busy? However, I was told they liked that the cover looked like a guidebook, but still had an elegant feel to it.

After revising the comp multiple times by incorporating actual photos of the fork and pencil, this cover comp was finally discarded.

So, we began a new round of comps where the direction was more straightforward: not so much about the writing, but all about the food, and elegant food at that, appealing to a general audience of foodies.

Taking this direction, here are two comps that came out of this round:





From this round, the final was chosen. Yes, a plate, but what a great vehicle for holding the type. The plate works every time...

Out of the Vinyl Deeps

At 14 I bought my first record player. It wasn't a good one, but somehow all my lo-fi records sounded perfect at that age. Some years later (ahem), getting to design with vinyl on a book cover is one of those jobs where you can't quite believe your luck.

Here is a brief description from my art director, Rachel Moeller:

A collection of rock criticism of Ellen Willis, a feminist cultural critic famous in the 60s and 70s. While the cover can definitely evoke the era, we'd like it to appeal to a mainstream audience that loves rock and appreciates that vinyl culture is alive and well today.

To update the look, I chose bright colors to even out the "vintage" subject matter. The first comp uses repetitive records to create a pattern, while the inset blue pen mimics the record needle, a nod to Ellen Willis.


The second comp, and the one that went to press is a bit more straightforward, showing a photo of a record and the colorful spines of the record covers. The type followed the form of the photo.


A highlight of this cover was setting the quotes on the back. Hey, wasn't I just 14 at a Bikini Kill show...?

AIGA PDA

Happy to hear the following covers made it into the AIGA Philadelphia Design Awards. Work is from the past two years. Looking forward to the show in June!

50/50

If you appreciate excellent book design, please consider signing this petition to save AIGA's 50 books/50 covers:

http://save5050.com/petition.html

To see 2009's inspiring work, check out this link:

http://designarchives.aiga.org/#/entries/%2Bcollections%3A%2250%20Books%2F50%20Covers%20of%202009%22/_/grid/relevance/asc/0/48/90

Dead Neon

It's always refreshing to get a title that breaks the mold of the typical genre of books I get. Dead Neon is a subject matter I rarely work on, science fiction writing. I was hooked with the first story and read the entire manuscript before sketching. The first concept that came to mind was a gas mask since many of the stories have an apocalyptic bent. The idea was to create the image out of Las Vegas icons. So I set out about the tedious task using poker chips, dice, playing cards and of course, the iconic Las Vegas sign.






Once I had this comp done I hit a wall. I had no idea where to go next since this one felt so spot on, but of course, 3 comps is what you have to submit so I wracked my brain searching for more concepts. Las Vegas burning, Las Vegas sinking, Las Vegas desolate and deserted...check:






I used a mix of vintage imagery, clip art and stock photos to create the collages used on these two comps. I had a fun time working up these pieces of art for the comps. Kind of an industrial/human merging perspective of the future:






The final design is shown below. Glad to see my first idea was my best. Thanks to Kathleen Szawiola, my art director at University of Nevada Press, who delivered my fastest approval ever in a mere 8 hours (including author approval).

If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This

Many times I receive a manuscript, read it through and just hope I can do the writing justice with a cover design. This is the case with Robin Black's beautiful If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This. As with all short story collections, the difficulty lies in finding imagery that can represent the tone of all the stories.

From the Random House website:

"Brilliant, hopeful, and fearlessly honest, If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This illuminates the truths of human relationships, truths we come to recognize in these characters and in ourselves."

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The title story is where I originally began. It centers on a woman who is dying of cancer addressing her neighbour, who wants to erect a fence that blocks her driveway. The fence became a visual icon for me in the first round of comps:





The second set of imagery I used was paint strokes, inspired by the story, Immortalizing John Parker. The main character, who is a painter, reflects on her own life while painting a portrait of an aging Alzheimer's patient.




The painterly feel of the comps was what I was asked to concentrate on and from there a series of painted comps was submitted for review. First warm, then cooler colors...






Towards the end, the focus shifted back to an earlier comp with the 9 paint strokes. From there, we adjusted the background color and the final jacket was complete. Seen below is the front cover, spine and back:



A small aside: Initially I used 9 paint strokes because the manuscript I received over a year ago had 9 stories. It wasn't until I showed up for Robin's book reading at Bryn Mawr College that I realized the book had 10 stories.