Sweet Summer Reads!

The Flower Power girls are now in paperback, with sparkly redesigned covers! Drawing inspiration from  Christine Norrie's adorable original illustrations, I was able to channel my inner illustrator and create a new look for these middle grade tween novels. Lauren Myracle is at her best here, with four flower friends and tons of chat room fun. Get 'em while they're hot!

Under the Cover: Gay America

To mark the passage of same-sex marriage in New York, here's a look at the making of a book that honors the LGBT struggle for equality.

Book Summary 

Milestones of gay and lesbian life in the United States are brought together in the first-ever nonfiction book published specifically for teens.

Profusely illustrated with archival images, the groundbreaking Gay America reveals how gay men and women have lived, worked, and loved for the past 125 years. Gays and lesbians play a very prominent role in American life today, whether grabbing headlines over political gains, starring in and being the subject of movies and television shows, or filling the streets of nearly every major city each year to celebrate Gay Pride. However, this was not always the case, and this book charts their journey along with the history of the country. Providing a sense of hope mixed with pride, author Linas Alsenas demonstrates how, within one century, gay women and men have gone from being socially invisible to becoming a political force to be reckoned with and proud members of the American public living openly and honestly.

Cover Creation

I worked a little backwards in the Gay America design process, creating the title lock-up before I solidified the design. But in this case, the typography actually inspired the overall look.

For this book, I really wanted the typography to speak to the subject. I felt it was important for "GAY" to be prominent, looking embattled but strong, while "America" was smaller and more idyllic. But most importantly, I wanted the two words to be physically entwined, to suggest that these two worlds are intrinsically united.

"GAY" is set in Eroxion Roman and "America" is set in Bickham Script.

In these initial sketches, I played with the combination of both American and Gay Rights symbols: stars and stripes of all colors. 

Finally I found the best marriage of symbols: Stars on a field of rainbow stripes.

The missing element was photographic. We felt it was important to depict the many faces of Gay America in united celebration. After much deliberation, we decided on this image from Getty.com:

And the final cover and full jacket:

Reviews

From Booklist: 
*Starred Review* "Alsenas’ landmark history of American gay life focuses largely on public attitudes toward homosexuality and the seemingly endless struggle for gay rights. After a brief survey covering pre–twentieth-century America, Alsenas narrows his focus to offer a closer examination of more recent events. Thus, Chapter Two deals with the period 1910–39; Chapter Three, with 1940–59; and so on until the final chapter brings the reader to the present—and beyond. In an effort to humanize his material, the author begins each chapter with an individual story told from a personalized (i.e., lightly fictionalized) point of view. While this succeeds in dramatizing factual material, the effort may be unnecessary, since the epic story the author tells of the gradual emergence of gays and lesbians from the shadows is itself a compellingly human drama. Alsenas’ often sprightly, always engaging style makes his history even more reader-friendly, as do the many archival photographs that enliven each page. This first-ever book to cover this material for young adults is essential reading for all young people—gay, lesbian, and straight. Grades 7–12." —Michael Cart

"Gay America is an amazing book: entertaining, informative, and endlessly fascinating. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and gloriously illustrated, the book puts the LGBT movement into its proper historical context and features many luminaries of our community. Whatever your sexuality, Gay America is YOUR America. This important and groundbreaking book should be required reading in every high school in the USA.” —Lesléa Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies

($250) Word of the Day

What do you say when you receive $250 in rolled dimes?

Under the Cover: Shine

One of the best things about being a designer is getting to work on projects that I really care about. Shine by Lauren Myracle is hands-down, without a doubt, one of those projects. The story is raw, gritty, and just plain beautiful—and I knew the cover had to do it justice.

Book Summary 

From Amazon.com: 
When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.
     Against a backdrop of poverty, clannishness, drugs, and intolerance, Myracle has crafted a harrowing coming-of-age tale couched in a deeply intelligent mystery. Smart, fearless, and compassionate, this is an unforgettable work from a beloved author.

Design Exploration 

I read an early draft of the Shine manuscript and immediately had a very vivid picture of the town and its cast of characters. I'm from southern Virginia, so the setting and the people felt very familiar. (Seriously, even things the characters would say, like, "Shit fire and save bullets!" were common expressions in my upbringing.) So I used that sense of nostalgia to compile imagery that felt appropriate for Shine.

Inspiration 

I'm a fan of the HBO show, True Blood, so the opening credits instantly popped into my head as evoking that kind of gritty, southern energy.

This last image in particular was sort of a muse for the design direction. It just feels like the South—weathered and beautiful and a little unsettling. Other stock photography and the work of North Carolina photographer Sterling E. Stevens also lent inspiration:

Cover Creation

When I started designing this cover, the title of the book was Speechless. The design angle being how Cat was silenced by a terrible childhood event. A very early comp looked like this: 

But (thankfully!) we didn't stay with this direction long. We decided it was more important to focus on how Cat was emerging from her fearful silence and blossoming into a strong young woman. Going back to my inspiration board and childhood memories of magnolia trees and rust covered sheds, the design went in this direction:

And got a lot of positive reaction. The strongest element was the magnolia blossom—sort of a diamond in the rough—so I continued with that imagery.

When the title of Speechless became Shine, I knew the cover needed to be less about receding and more about emerging and the struggle of becoming. There's a powerful scene at the end of the book that involves water:

And another with a mourning cloak butterfly caught in a spider's web:

 

But what these comps were missing was hope. The struggle was evident enough, but ultimately, Shine is a story of hope and compassion and leaping off the edge of doubt.

And blooming in the face of adversity.

As with most things, this design came full circle and ended where it began—which was with this early comp. Something about this flower blooming in spite of everything, spoke most to Cat's struggle and her cause for hope.

Using several stock photos and off-centered Gor Light title type, I layered the cover together, piece by piece ...

Until I got this:

Add one very fantastic sculptural emboss (courtesy of our very skilled printer, Lehigh Phoenix):

And the case foil stamp seals the deal.

Other Shine reads and reviews:
Los Angeles Times
Goodreads.com
YA Litwit
Book Page
YA Lit Crave
Into the Morning Reads

Under the Cover: Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets

In honor of National Poetry Month—and Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 14—here's a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cover, Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets.

Book Summary

Published in association with the Academy of American Poets, Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets includes one hundred poems—classic and contemporary—printed on perforated pages that allow readers to select a favorite poem, rip it out of the book, and keep it for inspiration, sharing, etc. Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets is the young adult counterpart to Poem in Your Pocket: 200 Poems to Read and Carry (cover below), a very successful book of poetry published and designed by Abrams Image in 2009.

 

Design Brief

My design challenge was to create a fresh, unique, teen-inspired cover that would also look like a companion piece to the adult title. No one was completely sure how alike the covers should be, so I began with a blank canvas.

 

Cover Creation: Part 1

In my first couple of comps, the idea was to put a fun twist on the marble notebook by incorporating expressive typography and bold color. The type and background elements were drawn digitally in Adobe Illustrator CS5. 

 

These early versions were bright and playful, but a little young for our teenage audience. So I went for something more sophisticated . . .

 

. . . but this was slightly too mature. It was time to find the middle ground.

 

Cover Creation: Part 2

The Young Poets cover needed to strike the perfect balance between adult sophistication and youthful energy. To find this balance, I explored several design directions, experimenting with typography, graphic elements, and background textures. And as the design evolved, so did the title.

Cover Creation: Part 3

After this last round of brainstorming, it was clear which graphic elements were the strongest: 1) the pocket-sized notebook rendering, 2) the feather quill, and 3) the title type treatment, set in Filosofia Unicase.

A few more tweaks, some lines of poetry, a contrasting red background, and voila! The final cover: