three designers, one book

How many book designers does it take to design a cover?

WH Chong (Text Publishing), Josh Durham (Design by Committee) and myself – have each submitted 4 cover concepts for Orwell’s classic ‘Animal Farm’. And we are talking about it on a book design panel at the Williamstown Literary Festival, on Sunday, June 1st at 11.30am.

We chose ‘Animal Farm’ not because it’s probably the most designed cover on the planet, but because it's such a familiar story for an audience, and the fact that it’s a mere 95 pages long was an added bonus. At the time, I still didn’t have time to re-read it before designs were due. Instead, the night before the deadline, I sat for an hour watching the YouTube upload. I wonder if you can tell this embarrassing research shortfall from looking at my final designs?

So . . . who’s design will go to press?

It’s likely to be a fun and fairly fluid discussion facilitated by Inkerman & Blunt’s, Donna Ward.

We discuss the design ‘process’ as part of the bigger discussion about the various designs from each of us – from getting the brief, reading manuscripts (h-hmmm), submitting concepts, the approval process and then finally, going to press.

We’ll touch on why designing covers for such a classic is very different to designing covers for an unknown author or a new piece of writing.

We’ll compare the design process for ‘big name’ authors to that of lesser known names. Indeed, we'll ask, should designers be allowed to add a ‘torture tax’ on top of their design fee for famous authors?

We may attempt keep our emotions in check, if we touch on the vexed topic of ‘kill fees’. And perhaps at great risk to our personal safety, we may delve into the hairy topic of designing for self-publishers.

Come along if you’re in Melbourne, and make a day of it by the seaside. This is the biggest Willy Lit Festival ever. Check it out the full program here.