Dream Book.
An independent author's collection of short stories needed a cover with shelf presence — mysterious at thumbnail size, rewarding up close, and flexible across a whole series.
The challenge
The manuscript moved between dreams and waking life, but early cover attempts looked like generic fantasy — all fog and castles. The author wanted something literary: quiet, strange, and unmistakably hers.
The approach
Reading the stories first, one image kept returning: small ordinary objects behaving impossibly. The final system pairs minimal surreal motifs with confident serif typography and a deep-ink palette — a look that scales from a 100-pixel thumbnail to a full dust jacket, with rules for future volumes in the series.
Deliverables
Front, spine, and back cover · series design rules · hardcover and paperback layouts · ebook and audiobook artwork · launch graphics.
Outcome
A cover readers photograph in bookshops — distinctive at any size, with a series system the author can extend herself for the next collection.
Related work
More projects combining strategy and craft.
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Covers, series systems, and launch artwork for independent authors.