Design Challenge
Absurd, a little dark, yet quirkily self-depreciating. Easy to put into words, a little more difficult to reflect visually when creating a trilogy of book jackets for the short stories of David Sedaris. The challenge was to represent this tone and tenor of Sedaris while providing a conceptually strong culmination of the experiences shared within the stories.
Solution
The first step was finding the subject matter. Sedaris’ quirky revelations often come in the form of absurd and off-kilter scenarios. Therefore, the props used needed to be equally absurd. Next was tone. Sedaris uses humor to shine a light on the darkness of humanity. Therefore, I used light and shadows as a unifying motif. Finally cohesion. The props were photographed within the same setting, and a red highlight was applied to each image to unify the aesthetic. Shadow lines were added to the back covers to signify the book’s order. All three-cover designs are also printed on canvas inkjet paper to add texture and to finish the cohesive look.
