Hello!
One of the sweetest moments I experienced while working on Windfall was when my editor sent me the cover of the book. It was love at first sight. I couldn’t believe how perfectly the design team captured the themes of the book. Since then, I’ve wanted to know more about how they did it. So I asked the team at my publisher, Sourcebooks, to connect me with the cover designers for an interview.
Ian Koviak is the lead designer for theBookDesigners, which creates covers in collaboration with publishing houses, including Sourcebooks and HarperCollins. You can see many of their covers on the company's website—as well as several alternative designs for Windfall. (It’s so weird to see the Windfalls that could have been!) Ian worked with an art director at Sourcebooks, Jillian Rahn, to produce the cover of Windfall.
Read on to see how many cover concepts they explored for Windfall, how Ian finds inspiration and avoids getting too attached to the outcome of a project, and why the team chose colors that are "modern, calm and inviting" for the cover.
Can you tell me how important a book's design is to its appeal to readers?
Covers are the face of your book—the book's calling card and first impression in most cases. A cover definitely does heavy lifting in a saturated marketplace. I think a good cover stays with people, engages with the reader as they read the book, and also becomes an object of beauty to see in people's hands and on shelves.
Where do you draw inspiration for a cover?
We draw inspiration from a variety of places. The manuscript itself is rich with themes, places, people and nuances like colors, eras and fun details that can make their way onto a cover. Otherwise, as a designer, my eye is always searching for some reference point to a project I am working on. It may be a visit to an antique shop, or something I see on an outing with my family or really anything. I have had things strike me in deep sleep and sitting in the tub relaxing. I am also always researching, and sometimes you come upon photography or art online or in books or museums that really feels right thematically for a book I am working on.
How did you arrive at this cover? Do you read the full book? And how many alternatives do you provide?
For many books, the publisher, art director or author will give us a design brief, which includes a detailed synopsis of the book, as well as positioning statements (target audience, etc.) and some helpful visuals. Those visuals can be other covers that fit the bill genre-wise or simply a mood-board of art and photography that has the vibe they are looking for. For fiction we tend to read things a bit more closely. For nonfiction we typically use the synopsis and skim the manuscript (first few chapters) to get a feel for the writing or just see some common themes and elements that arise.
For this book I explored about 40 different covers. The publisher then takes those and sits in a meeting with the publisher, editors, art directors, designers and sales/marketing folks. They discuss the pros and cons of each and the art director then distills their feedback and gives it to me for further explorations or adjustments to certain concepts that were deemed usable.
Generally I like to explore a wide range of ideas to really know that I have exhausted my creative output and given what I feel are various possible angles to tackle a cover.
The cover to me seems timeless—a classic font for the title, and trend-defying colors. (Although I noticed recently that the 2023 Pantone core color classics predictions are...almost exactly the colors of the book! The pinks and blues of the skies, the tan of the fields and the map fragments.) What does color suggest on this cover?
Thank you! I think the cover is timeless and otherwise simple in its composition. The colors are modern, calm and inviting. Like you are going to be told something personal. The vintage map pieces being revealed suggest struggle and are a nice visual contrast to the modern palette.
And what about the typography, the disappearing/slightly blurry letters in Windfall? (Swoon, one of my favorite elements!)
The blurry depth of field in both the background and title text is suggestive of memory and reflection—the way thoughts form in our minds. It also is suggestive of loss and something disappearing yet still within grasp.
I tried very hard to write a book that would be accessible to a wide audience of readers, and I think the cover also does a beautiful job of reflecting that sensibility. (The longtime newspaper reporter who writes for a general audience.) It is simultaneously an elegant object—but feels accessible. This is sort of a strange question that I'm not sure how to put—it might relate to the timelessness I sense in the cover. But I think it stands out in part because it is...pretty? Educate me, please!
Ha! Well, timelessness is subjective. I think visual simplicity, i.e. using classic simple fonts, elegant photography and a contemporary color palette help in making something feel timeless. I think that's what we like about nature: It always has certain feel we can rely on and anywhere we go that we are surrounded by the simplicity of nature, we feel somehow grounded and alive and part of something larger. Good design is design that captures clarity of message, conveys the books tone/mood and is a pleasing object to behold.
I think your cover conveys a sense of place, travel, history, reflection and sense of digging deeper. Sourcebooks actually came to me with that map element and I thought it really gave the cover its final touch and element of interest.
If a reader knows nothing about the author or the title, what in your opinion will make a reader pick up this book?
Seeing location and the map edges will appeal to readers of historical works and people looking for a travel memoir. The expanse of the prairie image calls to you. It has a sense of vastness and quiet that's inviting. The torn edges revealing the map also add a tactile quality to it—as if the jacket itself is torn to reveal the map. So it makes you want to pick it up to see what's beyond the cover, so to speak.
Would you mind sharing some of your other favorite covers in recent years?
I have always enjoyed the simple and timeless work of designers like David Drummond of Canada. His recent cover for Caught in the Current by Sam Reimer is really striking. No Land in Sight by Charles Simic; designed by John Gall is beautiful in its elegant simplicity and wit. I also really enjoyed the cover of Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère; design by Rodrigo Corral.
As far as my work, I like many of the projects I've worked on this year, but as a designer working on so many titles every year, I really don't get too attached to the things that I've completed. It's more about the process and success of having an author and publisher choose something that sales and marketing feel they can get behind.
Windfall is out in two days! C-SPAN will be at the launch event to film it for BookTV! Tell everyone you know! And I’ll see you on the other side!
Yours,
Erika