Awards Book Archive

Boy on Fire
  • Highly Commended

Designed by
Hazel Lam
Category
Best Designed Non-Fiction Cover
Year
2021
Publisher
Fourth Estate an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Australia

About the Designer

Hazel is a senior book designer at HarperCollins ANZ, where she entered the publishing industry in 2013. Her experience spreads across fiction, non-fiction, illustrated books, children’s illustrated books and YA. In her previous life she has worked in motion graphics, broadcast design, magazine publishing and advertising for various clients in both Sydney and London. She loves to obsessively illustrate patterns, eat delicious foods and tell cheese jokes to anyone who will listen.

View profile
Design Rationale

The brief was to create a covetable, beautiful object. The main limitation was that I wasn’t able to use a photograph of Nick Cave as we didn’t have Nick’s permission. I decided to go with an illustrative portrait. I loved this one as it is so quintessentially him and is instantly recognisable, the hair, the pose and the side profile. I loved the expressive strokes used in the illustration and wanted to pair it with an unexpectedly elegant title font. The brush strokes and font are used as decorative elements throughout the internal design and the rest of the cover.

Details
Dimensions
153 x 210 mm
No. pages
432
Special finishes
Wibalin hardback case/machine varnish/matt gold foil
Credits
Internal Design
Hazel Lam
Photography
Detlev Schneider
Illustration
Angie Réhe, adapted from a photograph by Detlev Schneider
Typesetting
Kelli Lonergan
Printing
McPherson's Printing Group
Author
Mark Mordue