Creating a book cover design that conveys the seriousness of it’s contents is exactly what an author expects. Although, when a photoshoot with a model is not in the budget, it’s up to us to find and purchase the perfect image. These days, photographers make their work purchasable online – the key, is to find them. It was decided right away that the biggest investment was going to be in the cover photograph. Some photos are cheap, but this image was not – it was found after an intensive research session and when the author saw it, she had to have it. Oftentimes, the sticker price of a single photo might be shocking, but everyone has to keep in mind that without the best photo, the cover would not be it’s best, it would be a cheaper version of what it could have been. We chose this photograph for it’s intensity, deep thought and the fact that the model looked neither male or female. After reviewing over a thousand photos, it was decided that this was the best image available to us and that fit our criteria – although, it came as a full color image. All color was removed, then color was added to provide the dramatic effect that is seen above.

 

Cover Design:
The first thing we did was research photography for this project – a great amount of time was spent seeking out the best photograph. Only two hours were spent drawing sketches on paper to determine the best design solution. The final low resolution concept also took only a couple of hours to create – dropping in the lo-res cover photograph, headline text, developing a textured background, placing the back cover text and adding the lo-res photo scans. With only a few text revisions, we were able to get this design approved very quickly and then began the final hi-res production mechanicals.

 

Art Production:
After the lo-res concept was approved, the final hi-res graphic production began. The cover photograph was purchased, edited and dropped into the cover. The image was first stripped of all color, re-colored with an orange tone, areas were selectively blurred and given a grain texture to age it for dramatic effect. The back cover text was revised, the photos were scanned as hi-res and dropped into place, text was edited and dropped into their provided spaces and revised until it was perfect. The brown background is texturized, shaded and highlighted to give it depth – it is not just a flat color, it also has a subtle grain texture that brings it away from being just a solid and provides it with an aged look to match the photography.

 

What was included:
• Research (4 hours)
• 3 Concept sketches (2 hours)
• 1 Low resolution color design (2.50 hours)
• Online photography purchase ($385)
• High resolution graphic production (4.75 hours)
• High resolution text revisions (1.25 hours)
• Final high resolution mechanical .pdf file