An ongoing tribute to our favorite rejected book covers. Don’t miss Part One for a little background on the series. This installment ends on a happy note, with a rejected cover getting a new life in a different project.
For See/Saw, we ended up using two images from the book for the cover: one by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (19th century printmaker) and another by Tenmyouya Hisashi (contemporary painter). Initially, I felt that this single image by Takashi Murakami would be more effective because it contained aspects of both traditional and contemporary Japanese art. I created some dimensional typography to reference the play between the present and the past. I worked on this project with Brooke Johnson.
-Emily C.
Final:
I read this manuscript and loved it. I pictured a simple illustration of a woman knitting, the yarn unravelling to create the title. I showed it around CB and though the manuscript had many fans, my cover had few. Luckily I ended up working with photographer Leigh Beisch, and she and her team created a beautiful image, one that’s better suited to the book than my original idea. Bonus: I got to use a close-up of the sweaters on the spine!
-Allison
Final:
I really loved the color and texture this sketch, but understand why we ultimately went in another direction. The final cover, with its halftones and overprinting, better reflects the process of screenprinting and the wide variety of work shown inside, and pairs better with the first book in the series, Little Book of Letterpress. I may have been a little too inspired by poster design with that rejected cover—in fact, I ended up repurposing it as a flyer to promote the Chronicle employee art show, so this story has a happy ending!
-Sandy
Final:
Allison Weiner
Designer
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Love these cover post! I do love both covers for the Little Book of Screenprinting though.
Allison, that first Stitches cover is cute, but I do LOVE my cover, so thank you, all! :)
I like the final See/Saw cover, but the faces of the promo are so winning.