Tag: Typography

Published January 8, 2021

Notable YA Covers of 2020

My first post of 2021 is a look back at some of the young adult covers that caught my eye last year. I’m sure that I have missed a lot of great work (waves hands at everything that went on in 2020), so apologies if your favourites aren’t here. Happy New Year!

Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams; design by Marcie Lawrence and Jenny Kimura; illustration by Tom Bagshaw (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / June 2020)

All Our Worst Ideas by Vicky Skinner; design by Katie Klimowicz (Swoon Reads / August 2020)

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson; design by Theresa Evangelista; illustration by Stephanie Singleton (Nancy Paulsen Books / September 2020)

Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir; design by Regina Flath; illustration by Jen Bartel (Random House Books for Young Readers / December 2020)

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown; design by Carol Ly; illustration by Noa Denmon (Henry Holt & Company / January 2020)

The Burning by Laura Bates; design by Philip Pascuzzo (Sourcebooks Fire / April 2020)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas; design Liz Dresner; illustration by Mars Lauderbaugh (Swoon Reads / September 2020)

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Bijou Karman (Quill Tree Books / May 2020)

Cloak of Night by Evelyn Skye; design by Alice Wang; illustration by DOFRESH; lettering by Vasava (Balzer + Bray / February 2020)

Coming Up For Air by Nicole B. Tyndall; design by Casey Moses; art by Pedro Tapa (Delacorte Press / December 2020)

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Dial / August 2020)

The same team also created the cover for Darius the Great is Not Okay:

The Easy Part of Impossible by Sarah Tomp; design by David DeWitt; art by Samantha French (HarperTeen / April 2020)

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri; art direction by Elizabeth Parisi; illustration by David Curtis (Levine Querido / August 2020)

Fable by Adrienne Young; design by Kerri Resnick; photograph by Sveltana Belyaeva (Wednesday Books / September 2020)

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender; design by Chris Kwon; illustration by Alex Cabal (Balzer + Bray / May 2020)

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee; design by Laura Benton; illustration by Charlie Bowater (Page Street Kids / June 2020)

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez; design by Laura Williams; illustration by Rachelle Baker (Algonquin Young Readers / September 2020)

The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett; design Diana Sousa; Illustration by Kaethe Butcher (HarperTeen / December 2020)

Goodbye from Nowhere by Sara Zarr; design by Alice Wang (Balzer + Bray / April 2020)

Grief Angels by David Owen; design by Leo Nickolls (Atom / March 2020)

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Rachelle Baker (Katherine Tegen Books / September 2020)

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke; cover art by Karl J Mountford (Chicken House / April 2020)

*Inkspell* by Cornelia Funke; cover art by Karl J Mountford (Chicken House / April 2020)

It’s My Life by Stacie Ramey; design by Kerri Resnick (Sourcebooks Fire / January 2020)

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; illustration by David Curtis (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / March 2020)

Lobizona by Romina Garber; design by Kerri Resnick; illustation by Daria Hlazatova (Wednesday Books / August 2020)

Nobody Knows But You by Anica Mrose Rissi; design by Molly Fehr; illustration by Hokyoung Kim (Quill Tree Books / September 2020)

Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles; design by Molly Fehr; illustration by Jor Ros (Quill Tree Books / January 2020)

Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky; design by Cassie Gonzalez; illustration by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / November 2020)

Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Pauline Boiteux (HarperTeen / June 2020)

See No Color by Shannon Gibney; design by Chelsea Hunter; illustration by Bee Johnson (Holiday House / July 2020)

Shielded by KayLynn Flanders; design by Regina Flath; art by Alex Dos Diaz (Delacorte / July 2020)

The Silence of Bones by June Hur; design by Katie Klimowicz; art by Kasiq Jungwoo (Feiwel & Friends / April 2020)

Smash It by Francina Simone; design by Gigi Lau; illustration by Benjamin Wachenje (Inkyard Press / September 2020)

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown; design by Jessie Gang; art by Tawny Chatmon; lettering by Martina Flor (Balzer + Bray / June 2020)

The Stepping Off Place by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum; design by Catherine San Juan; Illustration by Michaela Goade (Quill Tree Books / July 2020)

The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee; design by Chloë Foglia; Illustration by Pedro Tapa; lettering by Danielle Davis (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / June 2020)

Ten Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon; design by Sarah Creech; photograph by Jacob Pritchard (Simon Pulse / July 2020)

I think this works well with the covers for Menon’s previous books, especially 2017’s When Dimple Met Rishi, designed by Regina Flath.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / May 2017)

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherin Laurin; design Elita Sidiropoulou (Inkyard Press / September 2020)

This is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes; design by Alice Wang; illustration by Francesco Bongiorni (HarperTeen / November 2020)

Tigers Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry; design Laura Williams; art and lettering by Beatriz Ramo / Naranjalidad (Algonquin Young Readers / March 2020)

Traitor by Amanda McCrina; design by Faceout Studio (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2020)

Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Pippa Young (Dutton / September 2020)

The Whitsun Daughters by Carrie Mesrobian ; design by Samira Iravani; lettering by Maricor/Maricar (Dutton / August 2020)

A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens; design by Dana Li (Razorbill / July 2020)

Winter, White and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore; design by Hana Anouk Nakamura; illustration by Ruben Ireland (Amulet / October 2020)

The Year After You by Nina de Pass; design Casey Moses; art by Elena Pancorbo (Delacorte / March 2020)

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Published December 18, 2020

Notable Book Covers of 2020

I didn’t blog much this year. It felt strange to be posting about something as trivial as book covers during a deadly pandemic. 2020 has been a tough year. I feel lucky that my family are safe and well, and I have kept my job and my health. I know others have not been so fortunate.

It has been hard.

I haven’t read much and I’ve struggled to keep track of new work. Toronto has been in lockdown for most of 2020. Browsing bookstores hasn’t been possible, and I didn’t spend as much time as usual trawling for covers online. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of covers in this year’s post are featured here for the first time.

Looking back at last year’s post, I was apparently feeling gloomy about the state of things in 2019 too.¹ If I remember correctly, I was — in the midst of everything — trying to get through sales conference, wrap up a big project before the holidays, and feeling more than a little stressed. Somehow I still managed to write a little bit about the trends I was seeing. A few things — painterly covers for example — seem to have continued into 2020. Lydian certainly hasn’t gone away. It felt so common, in fact, I stopped keeping track of individual examples. On the other hand, I did see less Avant Garde for which I am quietly grateful (although I’m not sure that’s a popular sentiment).

At The Literary Hub, Emily Temple declared 2020 to be “the year of enormous pink lady faces on book covers.” While at Spine Magazine, Viki Hendy collected together examples of covers with type around the edges. I don’t know that I have a lot to add that. There were a few new meta, books on book covers this year, which is always a delight. And I think perhaps collage might be having a moment too, which is fun. Although we may be overdoing the half-face compositions.

*Suppose A Sentence* by Brian Dillon; design by Katy Homans; art by John Stezaker (NYRB / September 2020)

There is, of course, a lag. Trends always bleed over from one year to the next. One of this year’s “big books”, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, which featured a bright and bold cover designed by Vi-An Nguyen, was published in the US on December 31, 2019. A lot of 2020 books have been delayed until 2021. But I wonder how the changes in the way we work and consume brought on by the pandemic — designing in isolation for an audience that is now browsing predominantly online — will change things in the next couple of years. Will we see more experimentation or less? Will there be demand for beautiful tactile objects, or will we more fully embrace digital reading experiences? There’s a lot to ponder…

Anyway, thanks to all the folks who have supported the Casual Op this year and encouraged me to keep it going. I’m sorry that I have not responded to all the emails I have received. I’m going to try to be a bit better with that in future. Hopefully there have been some silver linings for you in 2020, and you can still find some joy in a few good book covers…

Afterland by Lauren Beukes; design by Lauren Wakefield (Penguin / July 2020)

Also designed by Lauren Wakefield:

*The Driftwood Girls* by Mark Douglas-Home; design by Lauren Wakefield (Penguin / April 2020)

The Age of Skin by Dubravka Ugresic; design by Jack Smyth (Open Letter / November 2020)

Also designed by Jack Smyth:

*Scabby Queen* by Kirstin Innes; design by Jack Smyth (Fourth Estate / July 2020)

All Men Want to Know by Nina Bouraoui; design by Holly Ovenden (Viking / August 2020)

Also designed by Holly Ovenden:

*Blue Ticket* by Sophie MacIntosh; design by Holly Ovenden (Hamish Hamilton / August 2020)

Analogia by George Dyson; design by Tom Etherington; illustration by Andy Bridge (Allen Lane / August 2020)

Also designed by Tom Etherington:

Poor by Caleb Femi; design by Tom Etherington (Penguin / December 2020)

Anger by Barbara H. Rosenwein; design by Alex Kirby (Yale University Press / July 2020)

Also designed by Alex Kirby:

*Culture in Nazi Germany* by Michael H. Kater; design by Alex Kirby (Yale / April 2020)

The Art of War by Sun Tzu; design by Jaya Miceli (W. W. Norton / January 2020)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

*Afterlife* by Julia Alvarez; design by Jaya Miceli (Algonquin Books / April 2020)

Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham; design Nicole Caputo (Catapult / February 2020)

Also designed by Nicole Caputo:

*Godshot* by Chelsea Bieker; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / March 2020)

Nicole talks about book covers and her design process in this video for Belletrist from earlier this year.

The Book of Eels by Patrick Svensson; design by Allison Saltzman; illustration by Grady McFerrin (Ecco / May 2020)

Also designed by Allison Saltzman:

*Days of Distraction* by Alexandra Chang; design by Allison Saltzman; illustration by gg (Ecco / March 2020)

Carry by Toni Jensen; design by Emily Mahon; illustration by Carmi Grau (Ballantine / September 2020)

Also designed by Emily Mahon:

*With or Without You* by Caroline Leavitt; design by Emily Mahon; painting by painting Clare Elsaesser (Algonguin / August 2020)

Cesare by Jerome Charyn; design by Elsa Mathern (No Exit Press / November 2020)

Companions by Katie M. Flynn; design by Laywan Kwan (Scout Press / March 2020)

The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / July 2020)

You can find a recent interview with Peter at InsideHook, and he has a big new book out called The Look of the Book with David J. Alworth.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / August 2020)

Also designed by Grace Han:

*The Beauty of Your Face* by Sahat Mustafah; design by Grace Han (W.W. Norton / April 2020)

Los Falcón by Melissa Rivero; design by Adalis Martinez (Vintage Espanol / April 2020)

Sadly, Adalis unexpectedly passed away in July 2020. I only knew Adalis through her work, but she is such a huge a loss to our community. There is a GoFundMe page if you wish to donate to her family.

Also designed by Adalis Martinez:

*losi* by Molly Ball; design by Adalis Martinez (Henry Holt & Co / May 2020)

Figure It Out by Wayne Koestenbaum; design by Michael Salu (Soft Skull Press / May 2020)

Also designed by Michael Salu:

*The Ice Cream Man & Other Stories* by Sam Pink; design by Michael Salu; art by Benjamin Styer (Soft Skull Press / March 2020)

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / October 2020)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:

*Be My Guest* by Priya Basil; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / November 2020)

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor; design Jamie Keenan (New Directions / March 2020)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:

*You Will Never Be Forgotten* by Mary South; design by Jamie Keenan (Picador / August 2020)

Hysteria by Jessica Gross; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / August 2020)

Also designed by Jaya Nicely:

*A Certain Hunger* by Chelsea G. Summers; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / December 2020)

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / October 2020)

The Hype Machine by Sinan Aral; design by Steve Leard (HarperCollins / September 2020)

Indelicacy by Amina Cain; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2020)

Also designed by June Park:

*The Family Clause* by Jonas Hassen Khemiri; design by June Park (FSG / August 2020)

Insomnia by John Kinsella; design by Sarahmay Wilkinson (W. W. Norton / November 2020)

Also designed by Sarahmay Wilkinson:

*Inner Coast* by Donovan Hohn; design by Sarahmay Wilkinson (W.W. Norton / June 2020)

Lakewood by Megan Giddings; design by Stephen Brayda; art by Yulia Bas (Amistad / March 2020)

Also designed by Stephen Brayda:

*The End of the Ocean* by Maja Lunde; design by Stephen Brayda; art by Scott Naismith (Harpervia / January 2020)

Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford; design by Lucy Kim; photograph by Pari Dukovic (Little Brown & Co / July 2020)

Also designed by Lucy Kim:

*The Mercies* by Kiran Millwood Hargrave; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown & Co / February 2020)

Ledger by Jane Hirshfield; design by John Gall (Knopf / March 2020)

Also designed by John Gall:

*Weather* by Jenny Offill; design by John Gall (Knopf / February 2020)

You can find a short interview with John in which he discusses his cover for Red Pill at Bear Books, and you can read about his design process for Weather by Jenny Offill at Spine Magazine.

The Light Ages by Seb Falk; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / September 2020)

Is it just me, or were star charts on book covers a bit of thing this year?

Life of a Klansman; design by Rodrigo Corral; illustration by Matt Buck (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2020)

Also designed by Rodrigo Corral:

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener; design by Rodrigo Corral (MCD / January 2020)

Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin; design by Na Kim (Riverhead / May 2020)

Also designed by Na Kim:

*Luster* by Raven Leilani; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2020)

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / May 2020)

Moss by Klaus Modick; design by Alban Fischer (Bellevue Literary Press / August 2020)

Alban recently talked to the folks at Faceout Books about his design for Moss, and you can read about his design process for Four By Four by Sara Mesa at Spine Magazine.

Also designed by Alban Fischer:

The Clerk by Guillermo Saccomanno; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter Books / September 2020)

Natural History by Carlos Fonseca; design by Pablo Delcan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / July 2020)

Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell; design by Matthew Young; art by Joe Webb (Granta / April 2020)

Of Color by Jaswinder Bolina; design by Jude Landry (McSweeney’s / June 2020)

Oligarchy by Scarlett Thomas; design by Kelly Winton (Counterpoint / January 2020)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac; design by Moker Ontwerp (De Bezige Bij / July 2020)

The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / July 2020)

You can read about Stephanie’s design process for The Party Upstairs at Spine Magazine.

Pew by Catherine Lacey; design by Luke Bird (Granta / May 2020)

Also designed by Luke Bird:

*Earthlings* by Sayaka Murata; design by Luke Bird (Granta / September 2020)

Prosper’s Demon by K. J. Parker; design by Christine Foltzer; art by Sam Weber (Tor / January 2020)

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue; design by Sara Wood (Little Brown & Co / July 2020)

Also designed by Sara Wood:

*The Book of Longings* by Sue Monk Kidd; design by Sara Wood (Viking / April 2020)

Rendang by Will Harris; design by David Pearson (Granta / February 2020)

Also designed by David Pearson:

Cover design by David Pearson and original lettering by Ken Garland

Sensation Machines by Adam Wilson; design by David Litman (Soho Press / July 2020)

Also designed by David Litman:

*The New American* by Micheline Aharonian Marcom; design Dave Litman (Simon & Schuster / August 2020)

Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran; design Henry Sene Yee (Flatiron Books / April 2020)

Also designed by Henry Sene Yee

*Burning the Books* by Richard Ovenden; design by Henry Sene Yee (Belknap Press / November 2020)

Soot by Dan Vyleta; design by Mark Swan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson / February 2020)

The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter; design Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / November 2020)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:

*Antkind* by Charlie Kaufman; design by Tyler Comrie (Random House / July 2020)

The Topeka School by Ben Lerner; design by Gray318 (Granta / September 2020)

Also designed by Gray318:

Too Much by Rachel Vorona Cote; design by Jennifer Carrow (Grand Central / February 2020)

Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey; design Sinem Erkas (Serpent’s Tail / February 2020)

You can read about Sinem’s design process for Topic of Conversation at Spine Magazine.

Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah, translated by Deborah Smith; design by Suzanne Dean; photograph Marta Bevacqua (Jonathan Cape / January 2020)

Also designed by Suzanne Dean:

*Sisters* by Daisy Johnson; design by Suzanne Dean; photograph Simon Kerola (Jonathan Cape / August 2020)

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / June 2020)

Verge by Lidia Yuknavitch; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / February 2020)

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings; design by Kimberly Glyder (Scribner / January 2020)

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:

Dark Mother Earth by Kristian Novak; design by Kimberly Glyder (Amazon Crossing / January 2020)

For those of you that don’t know, the name of the blog comes from a joke about my general lack of enthusiasm for anything. ↩

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Published October 28, 2020

Book Covers of Note, October 2020

As it is almost the end of October this is going to be my last monthly round-up for 2020. I will endeavour to put together a post on the book covers of year soon, but I am sure a lot of great work skimmed under my radar, so designers please drop me a line if I have missed a cover (or two!) you really loved working on (the book has to have been published this year), especially if it was for an independent or university press. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this month’s selections.

The Acrobats of Agra by Robin Scott-Elliot; design by Holly Ovenden (Everything with Words / October 2020)

The Age of Skin by Dubravka Ugresic; design by Jack Smyth (Open Letter / November 2020)

Always Brave Sometimes Kind by Katie Bickell; design by Tree Abraham (Touchwood Editions / September 2020)

Anger by Barbara H. Rosenwein; design by Alex Kirby (Yale University Press / July 2020)

Be My Guest by Priya Basil; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / November 2020)

Cesare by Jerome Charyn; design by Elsa Mathern (No Exit Press / November 2020)

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata; design by Luke Bird (Granta / September 2020)

Hitler and Stalin by Laurence Rees; design by David Pearson (Viking / October 2020)

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / October 2020)

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher; design by Chelsea McGuckin (Saga Press / October 2020)

Infrastructures of the Apocalypse by Jessica Hurley; design by Matt Avery / Monograph Studio (University of Minnesota Press / October 2020)

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab; design by Will Staehle (Tor / October 2020)

Kreminology of Kisses by Barbara Bleiman; design Alex Kirby (Blue Door Press / November 2020)

They’re really not all that alike (it’s funny how memory constantly plays this trick on me), but the colour palette and the typographic approach of Alex’s cover reminded me Luke Bird’s 2017 cover for Vivek Shanbhag’s Ghachar Ghochar:

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / April 2017)

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam; design by Sara Wood; art ‘Night Swimming’ by Jessica Brilli (Ecco / October 2020)

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow; design by Lisa Marie Pomilio (Redhook / October 2020)

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark; design by Henry Sene Yee (Tor / October 2020)

Selected Poems of John Berryman edited by Philip Coleman and Calista McRae; design Jaya Miceli (Belknap Press / October 2020)

The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter; design Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / November 2020)

Talking Animals by Joni Murphy; design by Na Kim; photograph by KOEKKOEK (FSG / August 2020)

Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify by Carolyn Holbrook; design by Kimberly Glyder (University of Minnesota Press / July 2020)

Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Pippa Young (Dutton / September 2020)

Interestingly, two previous covers designed by Samira for Nina Lacour titles have featured illustrations by Adams Carvalho.

We Are Okay by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Dutton / February 2017)

Worked Over by Jamie K. McCallum; design by Chin-Yee Lai (Basic Books / September 2020)

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Published October 9, 2020

Penguin Great Ideas Volume VI

You can tell that I am not at all on top of things because it has taken me almost a month to post about the return of the Penguin Great Ideas series. Apparently it’s been 10 years since the last set was released, and the 20 new titles include works by Audre Lorde, Sojourner Truth, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Martin Luther King among others.

Jim Stoddart continues to art direct the series, and David Pearson has once again designed many of the typographic covers with the help of Catherine Dixon, Phil Baines, and Alistair Hall. There are, needless to say, some absolute belters.

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Published October 1, 2020

The Lord of the Rings covers by Johan Egerkrans

I don’t post a lot of fantasy covers here (less than I should, no doubt), but I rather like the look of these reissues of The Lord of the Rings trilogy available in the US from HMH this month. The covers were designed by Christopher Moisan with illustrations by Swedish illustrator Johan Egerkrans. There’s something about the cover of The Return of the King in particular that reminds me of classic pen and ink fairy tale illustrations by likes of Arthur Rackham and John Bauer.

The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King are available October 6, 2020.

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Published September 25, 2020

Book Covers of Note, September 2020

Another rather rushed update this month I’m afraid, which is especially disappointing given how many new books there out at this time of year. I’m sure I’ve missed more than a few great covers here, but hopefully I will catch them before the end of the year…

Carry by Toni Jensen; design by Emily Mahon; illustration by Carmi Grau (Ballantine / September 2020)

The Clerk by Guillermo Saccomanno; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter Books / September 2020)

The wobbly text here reminded me of Janet Hansen’s cover for Beyond the Sea by Paul Lynch from earlier this year.

Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; design by Mark Melnick (Theatre Communications Group / August 2020)

Howdunit edited by Martin Edwards; design by Steve Leard (HarperCollins / September 2020)

You can see the rubber stamp Steve used for this design on Instagram.

The Hype Machine by Sinan Aral; design by Steve Leard (HarperCollins / September 2020)

Lobizona by Romina Garber; design by Kerri Resnick; illustation by Daria Hlazatova (Wednesday Books / August 2020)

Ordinary Matter by Laura Elvery; design by Design by Committee (University of Queensland Press / September 2020)

The gradient and colour palette reminded me of the cover for Sensation Machines by Adam Wilson, designed by David Litman, featured in July.

Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley; design by David Fassett (IVP Academic / September 2020)

Red Pill by Hari Kunzru; design by John Gall (Knopf / September 2020)

This cover is bonkers. The cover of the UK edition of Red Pill published by Scribner (also bonkers but in a different, laser eyes, way), was designed by Craig Fraser.

Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan; design by Owen Gent (Doubleday / August 2020)

This is very pretty. Obviously.

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherin Laurin; design Elita Sidiropoulou (Inkyard Press / September 2020)

The Topeka School by Ben Lerner; design by Gray318 (Granta / September 2020)

When My Body Was a Clinched Fist by Enzo Silon Surin; design Zoe Norvell; painting by Carlos Rancaño (Black Lawrence Press / July 2020)

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Published August 28, 2020

Book Covers of Note, August 2020

A quick update for August…

All Men Want to Know by Nina Bouraoui; design by Holly Ovenden (Viking / August 2020)

Analogia by George Dyson; design by Tom Etherington; illustration by Andy Bridge (Allen Lane / August 2020)

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / August 2020)

Must I Go by Yiyun Li; design by Gray318 and Richard Bravery (Hamish Hamilton / August 2020)

The Last Great Road Bum by Héctor Tobar; design by Rodrigo Corral; illustration by Matt Buck (MCD / August 2020)

Life of a Klansman; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2020)

I believe this illustration is also by Matt Buck.

Luster by Raven Leilani; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2020)

Moss by Klaus Modick; design by Alban Fischer (Bellevue Literary Press / August 2020)

The New American by Micheline Aharonian Marcom; design Dave Litman (Simon & Schuster / August 2020)

Scabby Queen by Kirstin Innes; design by Jack Smyth (Fourth Estate / July 2020)

Sisters by Daisy Johnson; design by Suzanne Dean; photograph Simon Kerola (Jonathan Cape / August 2020)

The cover of the US edition of Sisters, published by Riverhead this month, was designed by Jaya Miceli. The painting is by Jeremy Olson. (Thank you to the folks on Twitter who helped me with this!)

You Will Never Be Forgotten by Mary South; design by Jamie Keenan (Picador / August

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Published August 5, 2020

David Pearson’s Penguin Camus

David Pearson has designed three new covers for the Penguin editions of Albert Camus’ novels The Plague, The Outsider, and The Fall. The typeface is apparently Portrait, designed by Berton Hasebe for Commercial Type, and the covers are printed on Colorplan Dapple embossed paper from G. F. Smith. The new editions were published July 30, 2020.

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Published July 23, 2020

Book Covers of Note, July 2020

And here we are… This month’s collection of book covers and occasional notes…

Antkind by Charlie Kaufman; design by Jack Smyth (Fourth Estate / July 2020)

The cover of the US edition of Antkind, published by Random House this month, was designed by Tyler Comrie.

In the Beggarly Style of Imitation by Jean Marc Ah-Sen; design by Charlotte Gray; photograph by Ally Schmaling (Nightwood Editions / April 2020)

(Because I am of a certain age, this cover immediately made me think of Lady Miss Kier and her shoes in the video for ‘Groove is in the Heart’)

Beyond the Sea by Paul Lynch; design by Janet Hansen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2020)

The End of Everything by Katie Mack; design by Tom Etherington (Allen Lane / July 2020)

The Englishman by David Gilman; design by Ben Prior (Head of Zeus / July 2020)

Fraternity by Benjamin Nugent; design by Rodrigo Corral; lettering by Michael Schmelling (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / July 2020)

Lampedusa by Steven Price; design by Ami Smithson (Picador / February 2020)

Last One Out Shut Off the Lights by Stephanie Soileau; design by Lucy Kim; photograph by Marc St. Gil (Little Brown & Co / July 2020)

Maybe someone has done this before and I didn’t notice (or, more likely forgotten), but it’s great to see a photograph from the EPA’s remarkable DOCUMERICA Project — available through the US National Archives on Flickr — on a book cover.

Natural History by Carlos Fonseca; design by Pablo Delcan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / July 2020)

I love this cover. It reminded me Peter Mendelsund’s bonkers cover for C by Tom McCarthy:

On Nostalgia by David Berry; design by Raymond Biesinger (Coach House Books / July 2020)

The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / July 2020)

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue; design by Sara Wood (Little Brown & Co / July 2020)

The cover of the UK edition, published this month by Picador, was designed by Ami Smithson:

Putin’s People by Catherine Belton; design by Chris Allen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / June 2020)1

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld; design by Jo Thomson (Doubleday / July 2020)

It’s interesting that the US cover of Rodham is essentially the same as the UK one. I would’ve thought for sure that they would take different approaches.

Sensation Machines by Adam Wilson; design by David Litman (Soho Press / July 2020)

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Published July 10, 2020

Why Cooper Black is Everywhere

For Vox, Estelle Caswell talks to Steven Heller and Bethany Heck about the history of Cooper Black and why it’s been pop culture’s favorite font for so long.

(via Kottke)

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Published June 29, 2020

Book Covers of Note, June 2020

After Australia edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad; design by Design by Committee (Affirm Press / May 2020)

A Burning by Megha Majumdar; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / June 2020)

The cover of the UK edition, which will not be published until 2021(!), was designed by Craig Fraser. It has a very vintage Faber feel… maybe it’s just the type?

The Dragons, the Giant, and the Women by Wayétu Moore; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / June 2020)

Inner Coast by Donovan Hohn; design by Sarahmay Wilkinson (W.W. Norton / June 2020)

The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine; design by Elena Giavaldi (Hogarth / June 2020)

The Myth of the American Dream by D. L. Mayfield; design by David Fassett (IVP / May 2020)

News Parade by Jospeh Clark; design by Matt Avery (University of Minnesota Press / May 2020)

Night, Sleep, Death, the Stars by Joyce Carol Oates; design by Jamie Keenan (Fourth Estate / June 2020)

The cover of the US edition, published by Ecco, was designed by Sara Wood:

Nothing is Wrong and Here is Why by Alexandra Petri; design by Jim Tierney (W.W. Norton / June 2020)

(I really don’t know how I feel about this cover)

The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels; design by Luke Bird (Hub City Press / May 2020)

Luke wrote about the design process behind the cover at Literary Hub.

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen; design by Lucy Kim (Back Bay Books / June 2020)

The Second Home by Christina Clancy; design Olga Grlic; art by Elizabeth Lennie (St. Martin’s Press / June 2020)

Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis & Jon Wiener; design by Matt Dorfman (Verso / April 2020)

Soot by Dan Vyleta; design by Mark Swan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson / February 2020)

Soot is the sequel to Dan’s novel Smoke (which I liked a lot). The cover of the UK edition was also designed by Mark:

Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen; design by Jason Booher (Riverhead Books / June 2020)

This reminded me of the cover of the similarly themed American Manifesto by Bob Garfield, designed by Richard Ljoenes and published earlier this year by Counterpoint….

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / June 2020)

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Published May 27, 2020

Book Covers of Note, May 2020

A quick update this month. Enjoy…

The Book of Eels by Patrick Svensson; design by Grady McFerrin (Ecco / May 2020)

Broadway for Paul by Vincent Katz; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Beat Streuli (Knopf / April 2020)

Brown Album by Porochista Khakpour; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / May 2020)

This cover immediately reminded me of Helen Crawford-White’s cover A Half-Baked Idea by Olivia Potts published last year…

And then I thought maybe it was a nod to the cover of The White Album by Joan Didion, published in 1979 (the reissue below uses the original cover), and which Fonts in Use informs me uses the typeface Pistilli Roman. But maybe I am over thinking it…?

I was also reminded of these two recent covers, so maybe it is just a thing…?

*All My Mother’s Lovers* by Ilana Masad; design by Lynn Buckley (Dutton / May 2020)

A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet; design by David High (W. W. Norton / May 2020)

Lydian for Lydia…

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio; design by Matthew Flute (McClelland & Stewart / April 2020)

I believe this is only available as an ebook, which seems a bit of shame. It would be nice to see in print. The cover does remind me of something else though. I can’t think what exactly. The best I could come up with was Tyler Comrie‘s cover for The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs. But I feel like there is cover that does something similar with a painting as a background? Possibly I’m just imagining it.

Oh and for those of you who are interested, the design team at Penguin Random House Canada have started posting their work to Instagram as one_last_tweak.