Awards Book Archive

Where We Begin
  • Longlisted

Designed by
Astred Hicks, Design Cherry
Category
Best Designed Young Adult Cover
Year
2021
Publisher
Pan Macmillan Australia

About the Designer

Astred is a freelance book designer whose distinctive work for a number of publishing houses covers fiction, non-fiction and educational, with a special emphasis on young adult fiction. She is a sometime lecturer in graphic design and was the lead author of the popular text for tertiary students, ‘Graphic design {Australian style manual}’. Astred has won a number of book design awards during her 14 year career in publishing. Recently she has branched out into illustration as well as design…

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Design Rationale

Shocking pink with vibrating red pulse with violence while three brolga’s flee, their white colouring finding hope. Hand-lettering intertwines the elements of family.

I had been illustrating scenes of rolling hills and menacing old houses in the Victorian country side but it wasn’t working. The publisher and I discussed the author’s skill at infusing the landscape with pathos which envelopes the story’s multi-generational trauma.

So I stopped and re-read the manuscript. Upon review one scene involving brolga birds struck me and I KNEW it was the cover.

Illustrated during lock down my distance-education child provided intern assistance.

Details
Dimensions
129 x 198 mm
No. pages
368
Special finishes
Matt lamination
Credits
Internal Design
Astred Hicks, Design Cherry
Illustration
Astred Hicks, Design Cherry
Typesetting
Midland Typesetters
Printing
IVE Group
Author
Christie Nieman