This series was a fun challenge to re-design. I started with a sparer photo based treatment featuring one of those new fangled bendy photo clip holders but it wasn't really captivating. Then I thought about curiosity boxes, which I had loved as a kid.
They tied into the subject of the books - odd and unusual roadside attractions to visit in different states. I could envision somebody having a collection of old type trays filled with odd travel souvenirs.
Finding a suitable image of a type tray proved to be daunting. The one royalty free stock site we use at work had an image but it was blurry when enlarged, but I used it for the mock-up to get approval for the series re-design. I found a photographer on Flickr I was considering paying to shoot their own curiosity box. The idea was also floated to purchase a type tray and shoot in-house. This led me to a week long quest on Ebay to bid on an old type tray. Who knew that there were so many type tray afficionados in the USA. One I was bidding on sold for $86.
Luckily I found a hi res photo on another royalty free site that I was able to manipulate in Photoshop. I ended up "building" my own shelfs by stretching samples of the images and applying different burns and shadows to them. Then I did a lot of burning and adding shadows to the background wood to give it more depth. No type tray would have the exact right tray sizes to match the cover design - so, short of building my own 6" x 9 in curiosity box - constructing one in Photoshop was the next best choice.
For the type treatment - I chose Varsity Script for the state names. It provided a slightly funky look with the varied thicknes of the swashes but was also faintly vintage and will also be legible when the covers run in their 1.5" glory in next season's book catalog. For "Curiosities" I chose the universal signange workhorse Frutiger Black and tweeked some of the charactes, namely the U and the S in Ilustrator so they were tilted. (Warning: geeky Adobe jargon in 3 ... 2... 1...) Bringing the type treatment from Illustrator into Photoshop CS3 as a smart object - I was able to keep it editable (so I can easily do other states) and also made it possible to apply a layer mask so I could add some flaking to the words to match the vintage looking ticket they are on. It sort of also looks like a cardboard mystery box that you might buy at a joke shop.
Once I made one state I made linked layer-groups out of the postcards, the tacks, the tack shadows so I could easily swapin new photos. The final covers will feature more evenly uniform shading on the postcards. I realize the average customer at Borders is not goin to scrutinize the angle of the drop shadows as much - but I try to make things look as real as possible, lightwise - I don't want to end up on this site. Also - the more natural it looks the less distracting it will be for the potential customer. My goal is to have them feel the book matches their interests to a t and make them decide to buy it.
Definitely one of the more fun covers I have worked on recently and a happy respite from the million other duties that populate the cyclical nature of trade book publishing cover production.
Look for them in stores in the coming months; a truly great gift for those that want to venture beyond the outlet malls of a state and venture into the lore.
Shout out to Jason Walcott's Varsity Script.
http://www.identifont.com/show?7C4
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The NY author approves:
Omigosh, I love the cover! It is beyond my wildest dreams. Let's just say -- I know what I'm wrapping everyone's Christmas presents in this year! haha.
My writing is nothing unless someone pulls it off the shelf, so thank you thank you thank you!
:-) Cindy
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GD USA: 2008 American Graphic Design Award winner
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