This project is a redesign of a cover for a classic book. It’s a unique opportunity, since classic stories take a place in our cultural lexicon and become important touchpoints of knowledge and understanding. Plus, from a practical standpoint, they are reissued every few years, usually repackaged with new art, so this is a great chance to take something popular and well-explored and try to find a new way to visually tell the story.

For my book, I chose To Kill a Mockingbird. Unlike the vast majority of America students, I did not read Mockingbird in high school. I was vaguely aware of it and the main themes, but it wasn’t until many years later I decided it was one of those things a cultured person “should read” and that I needed to. 

In it, I found a tale so complex and complete that I was astounded. It is heartbreak and hope. It is death and life, truth and lie, innocence and experience, all set in a small Alabama town. It is perfection and, in my opinion, the greatest American novel yet written.

I am honored to take up the challenge to try to design a new cover worthy of a masterpiece.

I began my project with the goal of producing a typography cover, an cover composed of physical elements I'd photographed, and a cover that was "artist's choice," using any means I could dream up. I spent a long time exploring ideas, sketching, and dreaming up new ways to approach the book. The above covers are some of my drafts from this exploration stage.

Ultimately, I went with these three covers as my final choices. 

The first, I call "trinket typography." It uses the gifts left for Scout and Jem by Boo Radley to create a unique typeface that is true to the story. It features an antique spelling medal, a period-correct pocket knife, a wind-up watch, two shiny Indian head pennies, a vintage1930s red crayon, a wire sculpture mockingbird, and hand-carved Jem and Scout soap dolls.

The gifts are meant to symbolize the knowledge gained by the children in the story as they become aware of the nature of good an evil in the world around them; it's not always perfect or pretty, but it gives them a better understanding of truth.

The second cover features a reappearance of the wire sculpture bird and the pocket watch, shot with a stark, raking light to produce a sense of shadow, mystery, and danger. In this concept, the mockingbird, which represents purity and innocence, is fragile and skeletal. Its form barely exists, and a few simple twists could destroy it completely. It gazes at the watch, another symbol from the book, and sees time move on, representing the coming-of-age of the children in the story as their innocence moves to experience and understanding of the complicated world they inhabit. 

The final cover features Scout in silhouette as the mockingbird, representing her childhood, begins to disintegrate and morph into something else--maturity and understanding.

I've loved working on this project and revisiting the world of Harper Lee. I hope my work does justice to her vision.