Dec 1, 2014
LURID & CUTE - Adam Thirlwell
Adam Thirlwell is the author of Politics and The Escape. He has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of British Novelists. His new novel is a surburban noir. The title called out for a contemporary, bright gaudy...

LURID & CUTE - Adam Thirlwell

Adam Thirlwell is the author of Politics and The Escape. He has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of British Novelists. His new novel is a surburban noir. The title called out for a contemporary, bright gaudy typographic approach. We commissioned Letman of the Big Active agency. His handmade style touches the boundries of illustration, grafitti and graphic design. Letman created a geometric design using felt tip as his medium. We particularly liked the way the felt tips give a slightly blurred line to the edges. The technique is full of nostalgia but the cover feels fresh and contemporary.

Published in January by Jonathan Cape

Nov 20, 2014

VINTAGE SUMMER

Featuring classic novels from authors such as Ian McEwan, Graham Greene and Louis De Bernières, we’re proud to present the latest designs for our Vintage Summer series.

The collection was a collaborative effort by the Vintage Design team. Each cover was designed in-house and created from cutting out shapes and typography from individually painted sheets of paper. The end result was nine pieces of original artwork, with the aim of giving a bright and contemporary look to these summer-themed classics. 

A collection of all nine titles completes the classic poster on the reverse. Originally a 1930’s travel brochure for Spain, the image comes courtesy of Bridgeman Images.

Nov 19, 2014
IRVINE WELSH - Sex Lives of the Siamese Twins
Sex, food, filth, fitness and body-fascism. All zipped up in a tidy Vintage paperback, literally bursting at the seams with Irvine’s trademark humour.
What more could one want for International Men’s...

IRVINE WELSH - Sex Lives of the Siamese Twins

Sex, food, filth, fitness and body-fascism. All zipped up in a tidy Vintage paperback, literally bursting at the seams with Irvine’s trademark humour.

What more could one want for International Men’s Day?

Unfortunately this edition won’t be published until April 2015, so you’ll have to have to wait a little longer, or check out the hardback:

http://vintagebooksdesign.tumblr.com/post/80671226048/thesexlivesofsiamesetwins-irvinewelsh

Nov 17, 2014
A QUIET WORD POSTER COMPETITION - Winners
Congratulations to the following for winning the ‘A Quiet Word’
screenprint giveaway.
We’ll be in touch shortly to discuss delivery of your...

A QUIET WORD POSTER COMPETITION - Winners

Congratulations to the following for winning the ‘A Quiet Word’
screenprint giveaway.

We’ll be in touch shortly to discuss delivery of your prize!

http://foolishfools.tumblr.com/

http://rsthomason.tumblr.com/

http://tullothy.tumblr.com/

Nov 12, 2014
THE BOOK OF 365 - Hugh Brazier & Jan McCann
Published tomorrow by Square Peg The Book of 365 is filled with short thought-provoking essays on the world around us, one for each day of the year.
Have you ever wondered how many dimples there are on a...

THE BOOK OF 365 - Hugh Brazier & Jan McCann

Published tomorrow by Square Peg The Book of 365 is filled with short thought-provoking essays on the world around us, one for each day of the year.

Have you ever wondered how many dimples there are on a golf ball or what is really going on in the 273 seconds of John Cage’s most famous composition? Then this is the book for you.

For the cover we wanted to hint at the subjects you will find inside the book. The design started with abstract glimpses of number forms before settling on minimal illustrative elements.

Nov 7, 2014

A QUIET WORD – Tamasin Cave & Andy Rowell  

A quiet word can achieve the greatest impact. Our cover design needed to express this idea.

Conveying the concept of ‘lobbying’ on a book cover isn’t easy, so we decided to make the message simple and to the point – define the subject; put the definition on a poster; put the poster on the cover. 

Authors Tamasin Cave and Andy Rowell are directors of Spinwatch - an organisation dedicated to investigating corporate PR, lobbying and government spin. A Quiet Word is essential reading for anyone interested in our democracy

We have three posters to give away, based on our cover design and screenprinted by Chris Ratcliffe. To be in with a chance of winning one, simply reblog this post and we’ll select three winners by the end of next week.

Nov 5, 2014

BRAVE NEW WORLD - Aldous Huxley

We commissioned the cover artwork for Brave New World by Scot Bendall & Richard Carey of design studio La Boca. Here is what Scot had to say about the design process behind this cover:

“As a designer, being faced with the task of redesigning a classic is always a tough, but exciting proposition. Whether it’s a logo, a film poster, or in this case a book cover, it’s impossible to ignore the numerous designs or adaptations that have appeared since the original. Whatever the outcome of the design it already has something to compare itself against. But at the same time this creates an opportunity to interpret something already well-loved for a new audience. The challenge is whether or not you can add something of value to an artefact that already has it’s own history, and in doing so do you attempt to build upon that story or rip it up and start afresh.

In the case of this new cover for Brave New World it was decided quite early on not to dismiss the past but rather to give a nod and a wink to the original artwork (created by Leslie Holland) for the first edition by published by Chatto & Windus in 1932. Not to simply replicate it, but to play with the same iconography to create a new edition that would hopefully have one foot in the past and one foot in the future.

There was certain iconography used on the original cover that we could introduce to the new design. We maintained certain elements such as the aeroplane and the globe, which we saw as representing the ‘world state’, and the circular motifs which we read as the idea of controlled reproduction. We introduced five expanding circles to suggest the five grades that people are genetically designed to fit within. We hoped the final design would suggest a scientific mood, but not be placed too much in a specific time. We aimed to reference the period the book was published (1930s), but to also suggest the future the story was set within (AD 2540). The danger when representing the past is that we potentially end up simply creating a pastiche. It’s important for us to try to place ourselves in a period, rather than attempting to imitate it, but it’s a fine line to tread and quite easy to fail.

An additional challenge for this design, was that the brief also specified that the image was required to work as a simple Stereoscopic 3D image. This was a whole new way of working for us and something we’d never explored before. We didn’t want the technique to dictate the concept for the cover or how the design would look, so we experimented until we were sure the effect would compliment the illustration style and not overpower it. Initially we were a little sceptical that the 3D would enhance the design, but after a week or so of sitting in the studio wearing the glasses we were totally convinced! It’s quite an old technique now of course, but somehow still manages to hold a certain kind of simple delight (at least for simple designers!).”

Published tomorrow by Vintage Classics.

Nov 4, 2014

WHERE I’M READING FROM - Tim Parks

Should you finish every book you start?

What is literary style?

Do we need stories?

In this collection of lively and provocative pieces Tim Parks talks about what readers want from books and how to look at the literature we encounter in a new light.

When working on ideas for the cover we wanted to portray the joy of books. We painted, drew and took photos of different jackets before choosing the above ‘flying books’ illustration for the cover. The illustration works its way across the entire jacket, even making an appearance on the endpapers where we experimented with a different view focusing more on the pages within. Together they help celebrate the ever changing world of books.

Out now from Harvill Secker.

Oct 31, 2014
THE WOMAN IN BLACK - Susan Hill
This Halloween we are pleased to share a chilling new look for the ultimate ghost story The Woman in Black, with illustration by Daniel Egnéus.
This edition will be published by Vintage Children’s Classics in January...

THE WOMAN IN BLACK - Susan Hill

This Halloween we are pleased to share a chilling new look for the ultimate ghost story The Woman in Black, with illustration by Daniel Egnéus.

This edition will be published by Vintage Children’s Classics in January 2015

Oct 27, 2014

GRAPHIC SHORT STORY PRIZE

The 2014 winner of the Graphic Short Story Prize is Alexis Deacon.

Alexis Deacon is 36 and lives in south London. He is already a published children’s author and illustrator. Please visit his blog here to view more of his work.

Above you can see previous years winners and runner ups books published by Jonathan Cape.

Oct 23, 2014
I REFUSE - Per Petterson
I refuse to compromise.
I refuse to forgive.
I refuse to forget.
Today, Harvill Secker publishes a new novel by prizewinning Norwegian author Per Petterson, translated by Don Bartlett. The bold, graphic design is based on the...

I REFUSE - Per Petterson

I refuse to compromise.

I refuse to forgive.

I refuse to forget.

Today, Harvill Secker publishes a new novel by prizewinning Norwegian author Per Petterson, translated by Don Bartlett. The bold, graphic design is based on the idea of the two friends in the novel, skating in the moonlight.

Oct 21, 2014
RAY DAVIES – Johnny Rogan
Ray Davies needs no introduction. As frontman of The Kinks, he is one of the all-time great rock ‘n’ roll musicians – and also one of its most troubled and enigmatic.
Johnny Rogan’s revelatory biography presents the most...

RAY DAVIES – Johnny Rogan

Ray Davies needs no introduction. As frontman of The Kinks, he is one of the all-time great rock ‘n’ roll musicians – and also one of its most troubled and enigmatic.

Johnny Rogan’s revelatory biography presents the most frank and intimate portrait yet. The bitter lawsuits, the punch-ups, a near-fatal shooting, a four-year ban from entering the US and one of the most ferocious and abusive brotherly relationships in music history are interwoven with vivid social history. 

Featuring cover photography by Ebet Roberts for Getty Images, this definitive biography will be published by The Bodley Head in March 2015.

Oct 17, 2014

photo O-Louis-Gif2.gif

O, LOUIS - Hugo Borst

‘Am I so smart or are you so stupid?’ - Louis van Gaal

Hugo Borst is an award-winning writer, journalist and TV pundit. He is also a close friend of Louis van Gaal. Well, he used to be.

O, Louis is Hugo’s attempt to get to grips with this larger-than-life character. Full of outrageous stories and unintentionally hilarious encounters, Borst details his quest to understand the man and the breakdown in their friendship.

Out in November from Yellow Jersey Press.

Oct 15, 2014
THE MAN BOOKER WINNER - Richard Flanagan
A huge congratulations to Richard Flanagan for winning The Man Booker Prize last night.
To read more about the cover visit our previous CMYK blog post here.

THE MAN BOOKER WINNER - Richard Flanagan

A huge congratulations to Richard Flanagan for winning The Man Booker Prize last night.

To read more about the cover visit our previous CMYK blog post here.

Oct 14, 2014
JEANETTE WINTERSON SERIES
Creating a new series style for one of our favourite authors was no mean feat. Many avenues were explored including a more photographic approach and a purely typographic route.
Designed and illustrated in house, the final...

JEANETTE WINTERSON SERIES

Creating a new series style for one of our favourite authors was no mean feat. Many avenues were explored including a more photographic approach and a purely typographic route.

Designed and illustrated in house, the final covers above were chosen to echo Jeanette’s voice. Her writing is like no one else’s: passionate, punchy, lucid and lyrical, and each cover aims to represent a tiny bit of this to the reader. The clash between organic materials/objects and something a bit sleeker helps portray the sexual nature of some of the subject matter and its surreal tones.

Out now from Vintage Books.

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