Llosa Series
Author: Mario Vargas Llosa
Designer: Philip Pascuzzo
In Death in the Andes, two civil deputies travel to a village in the Andean mountains to investigate the disappearance of three men. Death, starvation, local militias, evil spirits, and alcoholism are prominent themes within this book. Not an easy read. Mario Vargas Llosa’s remarkable writing tells a brutal story of modern Peruvian culture.
Designer "What resonated the most with me, were the beliefs of the locals who thought that evil spirits and pishtacos (vampires) were responsible for the disappearances. The investigation sends the two deputies to question a palm reader who had predicted a grim fate for the missing men in her cocoa leaves."
Getting the right tone for this series was very important. My first attempt at the cocoa leaves was too literal and so with the great art direction of Henry Sene Yee, we tried to make the imagery a little less obvious. I feel that my long relationship with Henry and the editor at Picador, Frances Coady, fostered the trust to explore this design and the series as a whole. There were no initial constraints, we just all felt it had to be strong and iconic. Since book covers are viewed from a distance at a bookstore or at no more than 200 pixels online, I feel it is very important that they work tiny as well as up close. Almost like mini posters.
In the end the illustration was digital, executed in Photoshop and Corel Paint. Using a Wacom tablet for the past six years has really streamlined my workflow and allowed me to integrate the hand done with digital. Allowing me to scan in wood type, as I did for this series, and manipulate with postscript type to fit my needs. The simplicity and boldness of Paul Rand’s cut paper work came to mind when working on this project. So I did actually cut out some of the images, like the woman on Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, and then photograph for the final illustration.
A Fraction of the whole
Author: Steve Toltz
Designer: Nathan Burton
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton imprint of Penguin
Treatments: Die Cut, Printed Case.
I was an inhouse designer for Penguin, looking after the Hamish Hamilton imprint when I worked on this cover. Like most of the HH books I worked on there was no brief, just read the book and come up with an idea.
At some point in the narrative the main characters live in a house surrounded by a maze of hedges. I thought this could make a great cover image and spent a lot of time noodling about with mazes and type. Great fun but in the end it was decided that it wasn't quite right for the book.
Chekhov Series
Chekhov SeriesAuthor: Anton Chekhov
Designer: Ben Wiseman while at Rodrigo Corral Design
Art Director: Albert Tang
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Typeface: Custom
YES! —Jason Gabbert
What was the process in creating the final covers?
Before I started working, I pulled tons of images. Old posters, old costume designs, vintage book covers. Probably, I pulled too many things, because when I started designing, I had no clue what to do, and none of my initial covers seemed as good as my research.
My first round of sketches involved a stitched pattern and framework that was inspired by an old textile. I thought for sure everyone would love these (I did!), but turns out, they didn't. So, I had to start over. Eventually, I came up with using images and textures as silhouettes to reflect the content and mood of each play. I hand cut out each silhouette and scanned them so the covers had a softer, craftier feel. The type is stacked in as to evoke old play posters.
La Casa de los Amores Imposibles
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La Casa de los Amores Imposibles
Author: CRISTINA LÓPEZ BARRIO
Designer: FERRAN LÓPEZ
Publisher: PLAZA & JANES, AN IMPRINT OF RANDOM HOUSE MONDADORI
Genre: Family Saga/ Romance Drama, with touches of Magic Realism
Typefaces:Neutra Text Demi SC, Bodoni Book, Bodoni Roman
Image: The image is by the German illustrator, Olaf Hajek
Specials: Matte lamination with a gloss varnish on the red band
Ferran is doing some great work. I love this cover. The illustration and colors are beautiful. Thanks to Ferran for sharing with us.
—Charles
What is the genre/audience? What is the book about?
This is a family saga, a romance drama, with touches of magic realism, whose target audience is mostly women.
The story is about a lineage of woman who live in a Castilian rural town and who have to cope with a terrible curse: one after another suffer from heartaches and they are bound to give birth only to girls as the fruit of those doomed relationships. But after decades of unfortunate passions, one of them finally gives birth to a boy, giving hope that the spell is finally broken
PROCESS AND MEANING:
I started the visual concept beginning with the type, designing a very ornamental lettering that later would be supported by an image. Soon I realized that was not the way to go. I needed a mighty image to be able to tell the suffering of these women. Not a photo, but an illustration that would help to keep the cover away from the real and the ordinary. Olaf Hajek came to mind, he has a very particular vision of reality and womanhood. I got in touch with him to commission an illustration but he was going out of town at the moment and would not be back in time for my deadline.
Before giving up on him I decided to search among his finished works, and there it was: the perfect image. There was just a little drawback, there was no way to make the lettering legible. Again I did not give up, finally I wrapped the whole cover with a red band to place the text. This created some arguments for its approval process because in the Trade Commercial Books, we at RHM, are used to large lettering for the titles. There were times I though it would not make it but the illustration was so superb that no one could resist it.
The message I wanted to enclose in this design was that when somebody suffers with the intensity that these women did, everything that surrounds that person is touched by sorrow: the animals, the plants, even the air and the soil itself. When feelings are intense as these they go beyond the skin.
