Book cover designs

Over the years I’ve had the chance to design a variety of book covers ranging from fiction to non-fiction for Knopf, Vintage and Anchor Books at Penguin Random House and also for Oxford University Press. My process has varied from cover to cover, but I love starting from scratch and when possible creating custom art after reading the manuscript to fully understand the narrative the author is conveying.

My Role

Design and Concepts

Client

Knopf Doubleday, Penguin Random House

Who Named The Knife

A true story about a 1978 murder in Hawaii. The suspects are two young mainlanders on their honeymoon. The author, Linda Spalding, is chosen as a juror for the suspect’s trail. I read the manuscript and designed over 30 cover comps. I worked closely with the Knopf photo editor to track down the original photographs of the trial. The first cover in the slideshow was the final chosen and the others are selected alternates.

Client: Knopf Doubleday, Penguin Random House

The Actors Art and Craft

William Esper, one of the leading acting teachers of our time, explains Sanford Meisner’s legendary technique in this book, offering a clear, concrete, step-by-step approach to becoming a truly creative actor. The design had to be clean and cater to an audience of film and stage actors. The repeated yellow boxes on the final cover take on the idea of a film strip and the black background with stage lights caters to the theatre. The first in the carousel below is the final with two alts shown.

Client: Anchor Books, Penguin Random House

The Double Game

A slipcase book cover design for Dan Fesperman’s The Double Game, a thrillingly inventive novel about spies and their secrets. The photograph shows a closer look at the development of the project. The front and back cover contains my hand lettering. I put together the art with rope and a brown paper bag that I photographed to convey a package.