Designer: Adam Johnson
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Images from: Getty, Corbis, Library of Congress
Typeface: Knockout
Adam's work (which you should check out on his website) is very refreshing and engaging. Not only does he have a handle on typography and a great sense of composition, but he's also one of those frustrating designers who can draw as well. Where are you people coming from? Thanks for sharing Adam.
— Nate Salciccioli
So, Adam…from where do you hail?
I grew up in upstate New York in a rural town north of Syracuse. I received a BA in graphic design from Brigham Young University, in Provo Utah. I then interned at REDslc, a small design firm.
How did you begin specializing in book covers?
My wife and I moved to NYC the fall of 2007 and I worked briefly for The Moderns, a creative agency. It didn't really work out there, and a friend I met at the Moderns mentioned an opening at HarperCollins Publishers. Book cover design sort of fell into my lap, which is crazy because I never really planned on it, but it's a great fit for me.
What’s a typical day at the office like?
At work I balance my time between routing approved cover mechanicals and designing the new season's covers.
What’s the background for the 'Classic Shorts' series?
This Classic Shorts series has a bit of an interesting backstory. Because our publisher loves Project Runway, she thought we should do our own competition with a few covers each season. The art department would show their designs and the judges—our publisher, the head of marketing, and the head editor—would select the best cover. We had tried it once before with the paperback version of My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead and it was a success.
They wanted us to make these books accessible to a new audience by giving them a fresh look. They envisioned a box set that would be sold together and separately. They initially said to steer away from using an image and to make it primarily typographic.
At the time I had been working at Harper Perennial a little under a year, and was still getting the hang of designing new covers. I began with a few type sketches. (see sketch 1) For my first round, I over-thought the design, and although I knew that color was going to be key and that the spines should somehow coordinate, I became overly obsessed with using a confusing series of icons to illustrate the titles. Needless to say, the first round I showed wasn't among the finalists. (see round 1)
From the first round, a few covers stood out to our judges. One version had full-bleed images of the authors showing them as interesting characters with crazy beards, outfits, etc. Another was a slip case with a collage of the authors by my senior art director Robin Bilardello (see collage case). Later on, our publisher mentioned an idea to try showing the authors as little army men.
I had an idea to interpret army men as small paper-doll-like cutouts. I printed, cut out, and quickly shot some rough photos of each author to mock up for the covers. (see cutouts) I used bold colors and the most interesting photos and poses I could find. I still clung to the icons though, until my art director wisely asked, "Do you really need them?" (see Round 2 v1-3)
The publisher wanted some minor tweeks like switching the title and author's name, and adding their first name (which I tried to fight). I'm really pleased with how they turned out.
1.28.10 // Nate Eeaton said:
Not to be off topic from the wonderful book cover design shown here, but does anyone else see a resemblance in the photo used of Herman Melville to Don Clark of Invisible Creature in Seattle?
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2.1.10 // Hollis said:
Adam,
What a fascinating glimpse into the cover design process for this series. Were the final author shots your rough photos or did you have them re-shot by a photographer? I love the consistent angle which gives the covers drama and depth. Beautiful work.
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2.1.10 // Adam Johnson said:
Thanks Hollis. Sorry I wasn't clear but we had a photographer, Benjamin Hill, re-shoot the finals.