Awards Book Archive

A Superior Spectre
  • Shortlisted

Designed by
Josh Durham
Category
Best Designed Literary Fiction Cover
Year
2019
Publisher
Ventura Press

About the Designer

Josh worked in magazine design before setting up his company Design by Committee under the mentorship of Australian book design luminary W.H. Chong. He draws upon a broad skill base to offer both illustrative and concept driven solutions to literary fiction, commercial fiction, YA, children’s, non fiction and illustrated book commissions for all of Australia’s leading publishers.

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Design Rationale

Location was key to this book- the sooty city of Edinburgh and the colours of Scotland locked into my mind around the ‘feel’ of this cover. Also the need to not give too much away and maintain a sense of mystery meant something abstract and evocative could work. The double S of the title gave me a visual and illustrative hook to explore this. I layered the shapes to make them ambiguous- fading in and out to hint at nothing being solid or quite there. The resulting cover is full of mystery and mood.

Details
Dimensions
155 x 235 mm
No. pages
267
Special finishes
Matt Laminate Stock.
Credits
Internal Design
WorkingType
Illustration
Josh Durham, Design by Committee
Typesetting
WorkingType
Printing
Griffin Press
Author
Angela Meyer