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Tag: sara wood

Published December 14, 2016

The Rest of the Best

When it comes to choosing the year’s best book covers, it seems that everyone is at it these days…

Against Everything by Mark Greif; design by Kelly Blair (Pantheon / 2016)
Private Novelist by Nell Zink; design by Sara Wood, art by Evgenia Loli (Ecco / 2016)

“These covers are challenging without being impenetrable and playful without being precious — none of which is an easy task for a designer. If good design might lure us into an experience that makes us smarter, then we’ve hit the jackpot when the book allows us to spend time within the head space of a stranger.”     

I always look forward to Matt Dorfmann’s selections for the New York Times Book Review. Matt is the NYTBR‘s art director and a cover designer in his own right so he knows what he’s talking about, and his choices are always interesting. If I am honest, I think this is the list the designers (American designers at least) really pay attention to. And it’s worth noting that half of Matt’s choices this year were designed by women. 

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple; design by Kelly Blair; cover art by Geoff McFetridge (Little Brown & Co / October 2016)
I’m Supposed to Protect You From All This by Nadja Spiegelman; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / August 2016)

Slate’s list of Best Book Jackets of 2016 includes notes from the designers about each cover.  

Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood; design by Matthew Broughton; illustration by Vladimir Zimakov (Hogarth / October 2016)
Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra; design Jonathan Pelham (Granta / October 2016)

Vyki Hendy and Eric Wilder have chosen  — with input from designers Erin Fitzsimmons and Stuart Bache — 25 of the year’s covers for SPINE Magazine. 

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders; design by Will Staehle (Tor Books / January 2016)
Sex Object by Jessica Valenti; design by Lynn Buckley (Dey Street / June 2016)

Jarry Lee chose 32 “of the most beautiful book covers of 2016” for BuzzFeed.

The Night Cyclist by Stephen Graham Jones; cover art by keith Negley
The Vegetarian by Han Kang; design by Christopher Brand

And last but not least, Paste’s selections includes “a few novelette and short story covers.“

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Published March 15, 2016

Book Covers of Note March 2016

Much later than usual, here are this month’s book cover selections…

Cambodia Noir design Alex Merto
Cambodia Noir by Nick Seeley; design by Alex Merto (Simon & Schuster / March 2016)

Heads design by Alex Camlin
Heads by Jesse Jarnow; design by Alex Camlin (Da Capo / March 2016)

House Full of Daughters design Cressida Bell
A House Full of Daughters by Juliet Nicolson; design by Cressida Bell (Chatto & Windus / March 2016)

How To Slowly Kill Yourself design Greg Heinimann
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / March 2016)

Insignifica design Alban Fischer
Insignificana by Dolan Morgan; design by Alban Fischer (CCM / March 2016)

Knockout design by Matt Dorfman
Knockout by John Jodzio; design by Matt Dorfman (Soft Skull / March 2016)

Latecomer design Doublenaut
The Latecomer by Dimitri Verhulst; design Ross Proulx / Doublenaut (Portobello Books / March 2016)

Lonely City
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing; design Henry Sene Yee; photograph by Jerome Liebling (Picador USA / March 2016)

Love Like Salt design Nico Taylor image Sarah Gillespie
Love Like Salt by Helen Stevenson; design by Nico Talyor; image by Sarah Gillespie (Virago / March 2016)

lover design Neil Lang
Lover by Anna Raverat; design by Neil Lang (Picador / March 2016)

Lust and Wonder cover design Olga Grlic
Lust & Wonder by Augusten Burroughs; design by Olga Grlic (St. Martin’s Press / March 2016)

Paper Tigers design Alban Fischer
Paper Tigers by Damien Angelica Walters; design by Alban Fischer (Dark House Press / February 2016)

Mademoiselle S design Gabriele Wilson
The Passion of Mademoiselle S. edited by Jean-Yves Berthault; design Gabriele Wilson (Spiegel & Grau / February 2016)

Seeing Red design by Anna Zylicz
Seeing Red by Lina Meruane; design by Anna Zylicz (Deep Vellum / March 2016)

Socialist Optimism design Emma J Hardy
Socialist Optimism by Paul Auerbach; design by Emma J. Hardy (Palgrave / March 2016)

Sudden Death design Rachel Willey
Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / March 2016)

Trees design David Mann
The Trees by Ali Shaw; design by David Mann (Bloomsbury / March 2016)

Two Family House design Sara Wood
The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman; design by Sara Wood (St. Martin’s Press / March 2016)

Weve Already Gone this Far design Lucy Kim
We’ve Already Gone This Far by Patrick Dacey; design by Lucy Kim (Henry Holt / March 2016)

What is Yours design Helen Yentus
What Is Not Your Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi; design by Helen Yentus (Riverhead / March 2016)

When Everything Feels Like the Movies design Ceara Elliot lettering Martina Flor
When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid; design Ceara Elliot; lettering and illustration Martina Flor (Atom / February 2016)

XX design Sara Wood
XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century by Campbell McGrath; design Sara Wood (Ecco / March 2016)

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Published May 5, 2015

Book Covers of Note May 2015

This month’s post is very heavy on illustrated and hand-lettered covers for some reason, but it’s all the prettier for it…

all-this-has-nothing-to-do-with-me-design-Justine-Anweiler-illustration-Daphne-van-den-Heuvel
All This Has Nothing To Do With Me by Monica Sabolo; design by Justine Anweiler; illustration by Daphne van den Heuvel (Picador / April 2015)

ANWWIC
At Night We Walk in Circles by Daniel Alarcón; design by Jonathan Pelham (Fourth Estate / May 2015)

b-and-me-christopher-lin
B & Me by J. C. Hallman; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster / March 2015)

bees-design-by-sara-wood
The Bees by Laline Paull; design by Sara Wood (Ecco / May 2015)

The jacket for the US hardcover of The Bees, designed by Steve Attardo, was a book cover of note in May 2014.

black snow cover design keith hayes
Black Snow by Paul Lynch; design by Keith Hayes (Little, Brown & Co. / May 2015)

boo-design-isabel-urbina-pena
Boo by Neil Smith; design by Isabel Urbina Peña (Vintage / May 2015)

conviction-design-maria-elias-cs-neal
Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert design by Maria Elias; illustration by Christopher Silas Neal (Disney-Hyperion / May 2015)

eden-west-design-matt-roeser
Eden West by Pete Hautman; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / April 2015)

AlexisLandau_EmpireOfTheSenses_3
Empire of the Senses by Alexis Landau; design by Janet Hansen (Pantheon / March 2015)

herzog design by Lynn Buckley
Herzog by Saul Bellow; design by Lynn Buckley (Penguin / May 2015)

how-to-clone-a-mammoth-design-jason-alejandro
How to Clone a Mammoth by Beth Shapiro; design by Jason Alejandro (Princeton University Press / April 2015)

kl-design-alex-merto
KL by Nikolaus Wachsmann; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2015)

life-and-death-of-sophie-stark-design
Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North; design by Spencer Kimble (Blue Rider Press / May 2015)

lifted-by-the-great-nothing-art-cs-neal
Lifted by the Great Nothing by Karim Dimechkie; design by Katya Mezhibovskaya; illustration by Christopher Silas Neal (Bloomsbury / May 2015)

Further proof, were it needed, that Christopher would do a great covers for Harper Lee.

Mislaid design by Allison Saltzman
Mislaid by Nell Zink; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / May 2015)

my-documents-design-illustration-sunra-thompson
My Documents by Alejandro Zambra; design & illustration Sunra Thompson (McSweeney’s / April 2015)

nightmare-and-geezenstacks-art-ms-corley
Nightmares and Geezenstacks by Fredric Brown; design by M. S. Corley (Valancourt Books / April 2015)

odysseus-abroad-design-o-munday
Odysseus Abroad by Amit Chaudhuri; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / April 2015)

ohey design by Alban Fischer
Ohey! by Darby Larson; design by Alban Fischer (CCM / May 2015)

schlump-design-suzanne-dean-illustration-clare-curtis
Schlump by Hans Herbert Grim; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Clare Curtis (Vintage / May 2015)

smoke-gets-in-your-eyes-design-pete-adlington
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty; design by Peter Adlington (Canongate / April 2015)

The US edition, designed by David High, was a book cover of note in September 2014.

upright-thinkers-art-tom-gauld
The Upright Thinkers by Leonard Mlodinow; cover art by Tom Gauld (Allen Lane / May 2015)

visiting-hours-spencer-kimble
Visiting Hours by Amy Butcher; design by Spencer Kimble (Blue Rider Press / April 2015)

wake-up-sir-illustration-jamie-keenan
Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames; design by Jamie Keenan (Pushkin Press / May 2015)

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Published July 9, 2014

Book Covers of Note July 2014

As well posting great cover designs for books released in July, I’ve taken this month’s round-up as an opportunity to catch up on a few I missed earlier this year. Enjoy!

adam
Adam by Ariel Schrag; design by Christopher Moisan (Mariner June 2014)

american-blonde
American Blonde by Jennifer Niven; design by Sara Wood (Plume July 2014)

9780307594792
The Arsonist by Sue Miller; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf June 2014)

california
California by Edan Lepucki; design Julianna Lee (Little Brown & Co. July 2014)

cartwheel
Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubois; design Eileen Carey / photograph by Kniel Synnatzschke (Random House May 2014)

cubed
Cubed by Nikil Saval; design by Oliver Munday (Doubleday April 2014)

fourth-july-creek
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson; design by Allison Saltzman, cover art Bryan Nash Gill (Ecco June 2014)

9780374158613
Friendship by Emily Gould; design by Jennifer Carrow (FSG July 2014)

gottland-300dpi
Gottland: Mostly True Stories from Half of Czechoslovakia by Mariusz Szczygiel; design by Christopher King (Melville House May 2014)

how-to-be-danish
How To Be Danish by Patrick Kingsley; design by Andrew Smith (Atria February 2014)

9780670786107
A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain by Adrianne Harun; design by Kristen Haff (Penguin February 2014)

the-martian
The Martian by Andy Weir; design by Eric White (Crown February 2014)

8128E2fJSjL
Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey; design by Charlotte Strick; illustration by Patrick Leger (FSG Originals, July 2014)

no-country
No Country by Kalyan Ray; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster June 2014)

My Fellow Skin

Shutterspeed by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)
Marcel by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

My Fellow Skin / Shutterspeed / Marcel by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press July 2014)

night film
Night Film by Marisha Pessl; design by Shasti O’Leary Soudant (Random House July 2014)

out-of-time
Out of Time by Lynne Segal; design by David A. Gee (Verso July 2014)

panic
Panic in a Suitcase by Yelena Akhtiorskaya; design by Helen Yentus / Photograph by Emine Ziyatdinova (Riverhead July 2014)

string

The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones; design by Keith Hayes (Mulholland Books July 2014)

dueling-neurosurgeons
The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons by Sam Kean; design by Will Staehle (Little, Brown & Co. May 2014)

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Published November 12, 2010

Something for the Weekend

Traditional/Digital — An interview with book designer Sara Wood at nonslick (via Henry):

I’ve always used a variety of media, but my stand-by tools are my pencil (lately I’ve been using grease pencils as well), trace paper, my scanner, and a small library of textures that I bring into Photoshop. My work is most definitely a traditional/digital Frankenbaby. I like juxtapositions of smooth against rough, of lines that are refined against those that are just a little bit more spontaneous, and bringing my physical drawings into Photoshop gives me a great deal of flexibility for exploring that.

Literary Immersion — Writer and über-litblogger Maud Newton featured at From The Desks Of…

For several years, Twain has been my standby when I’m really stuck.  I read him and remember that if I’m bored by what I’m writing, the reader will be, too. Basically, he reminds me to entertain myself first, and to assume that if I feel like what I’m writing is bullshit, the reader will see right through it.

The Colour of Cthulhu — Rick Poynor at Design Observer on the difficulty of visually realizing the work of H. P. Lovecraft:

Lovecraft has always posed a problem for anyone trying to turn the writer’s nightmares into visual imagery. The stories’ peculiar pleasure lies in the fully developed mythology that interconnects them, and in the morbidly refined vocabulary Lovecraft uses to evoke cosmic horrors too awful to describe, monstrous things from out of space and time too unfathomable to name, treading a fine line between an exquisitely apt descriptive style and embarrassingly purple prose. Lovecraft’s warped psychology and aberrant obsessions are best savored within the limitlessly accommodating theater of your own imagination. The risk with any attempt to make his spectral inventions literal and solid is that they will just look silly.

And finally…

Some amazing vintage book cover designs from the 1940’s and 50’s by Spanish designer and illustrator Manolo Prieto (via Words and Eggs):

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