The Affinity Bridge
Author: George Mann
Designer: Jamie Stafford-Hill
U.S. Publisher: Tor Books
Art Director: Irene Gallo
Illustrator: Viktor Koen
Typefaces: P22 Victorian Gothic (modified), ITC Bodoni 6 and 12, Blackoak, Engravers MT, Copperplate Gothic, Willow, HTF Acropolis Black, Grotesque Display MT
Genre: Steampunk (subgenre of Science Fiction/Fantasy/Alternate History)
UK Publisher: Snowbooks, 2008
The production on this book really compliments the great illustration and the beautiful typography. This book jumped off the table at me at the book store. I had to pick it up. Thanks to Jamie, Irene and Viktor for thier participation
—Charles Brock
The Affinity Bridge is an adventure mystery set in alternate reality early 20th century London with steam powered automatic taxis, Queen Victoria on some kind of macabre life support, and zombies.
From Art Director Irene Gallo
"I ran into Viktor Koen’s artwork in Spectrum years ago and had wanted to work with him ever since. I thought his fetish for metal bits and impossible mechanical characters would fit well for a steampunk novel. We wanted something that would set the scene like an old daguerreotype. I was a little nervous starting out, since the author is well loved within the science fiction community and these books were getting a lot of buzz in the UK, but in the end it came together easily. Viktor did a great job of creating a fantastical landscape while making it feel very believable. Since steampunk aesthetic enjoys obsessing over the tactility of objects, we opted for printing over metalized stock and an etched emboss."
From Illustrator Viktor Koen
"The approach was fairly simple, since the composition was discussed and agreed upon in advance. What made the process very interesting was the research for Victorian sources that provided me with great reference and raw materials. The fusion and manipulation of archival photographs combined with textural layers gave the cover art the vintage quality needed. The frame was (painstakingly) composed and photographed in the studio, I just happened to have a box of watch parts in my collection. The sketches show mood and background experiments before getting to the final."
From Designer Jamie Stafford-Hill
The art was already quite evocative and I knew we’d be doing some special effects, so I focused on finding the right cover type and further pushing the steampunk angle in the design as a whole. Steampunk has an active DIY community, so for inspiration I looked at what modern steampunk enthusiasts are producing, as well as Victorian-era printed ephemera, broadsides, and
technical publications. I logged a lot of time just getting a feel for the typography and thinking about what sort of look would be period-appropriate and also advertise the science fictional aspects of the story.
The display type I ended up using is spot-on late Victorian type but seems equally suitable for a more mechanized version of that period. The jacket
copy was just begging for a melodramatic newssheet style treatment, and I had a lot of fun creating the borders and deploying more fonts than you’d usually ever want to use on one piece.
The final jacket is 4-color process on silver metalized stock with matte lamination, and was printed by Lehigh Phoenix. The front cover display type and border are embossed and there’s an additional sculptural, sort of etched emboss on the gear border and dirigible, that, as Irene says, gives it a really interesting tactile quality. After a few trials we went with a 50% screen of opaque white ink under the regular 4/c inks, which gives both good tones in the art and a lot of the brassy metallic shine that is a big part of the steampunk aesthetic. Props to Karl Gold in production for helping us get the foil and embossing effects just right.
08.10.09 // Henry Sene Yee said:
That looks beautiful Jamie!
I especially love the frame.
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08.10.09 // Kirk DouPonce said:
Wow, what a fun project, and perfectly executed!
Thanks for showing the research behind the design.
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08.11.09 // Tim Baron said:
This is a beautifully designed book cover. Perfect marriage of illustration and text beaming with Victorian-era sci-fi goodness. I enjoyed seeing some of the artist's reference material too. Love it.
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08.11.09 // Nate Eaton said:
Absolutely fascinating to see the process and the beautiful finished product. The attention to detail draws me in so quickly.
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08.12.09 // Christopher Tobias said:
Gorgeous. Nicely done.
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08.13.09 // Christopher Gilbert said:
What a great period feel. I love this style of design married to illustration approach... Nicely done!
