Book Covers
Young Adult Fiction & Series | Mysteries & Thrillers | Nonfiction & Academic | Literature & Poetry
Here are some of the hundreds of covers I’ve designed while Senior Designer at Penguin Group, Macmillan, and HarperCollins; as Art Director at Oceanview Publishing; and as an ongoing freelance designer and art director since 2002.
I’ve designed books that have been international best-sellers, won prestigious awards, and have been turned into Netflix series and movies.
If you need a great cover let’s talk!
Young Adult Fiction & Series
Client: Dutton/Penguin. Jacket and dual covers for YA bestseller by John Green. First printing of PAPER TOWNS in hardcover had two different editions — “Happy Margot” (yellow) and “Sad Margot” (blue), mirroring the split character of the protagonist. I art-directed the concept, booked the model, directed the photoshoot in NYC, and designed the jackets. I also designed the pushpin paperback version seen on shelves ever since.
Client: Razorbill/Penguin. Jacket and covers for international bestseller by Jay Asher. I designed every edition of the book for hardcover and paperback, including the special map on the inside back of the hardcover jacket. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 2 years was later turned into a Netflix series.
Client: Speak/Penguin. New York Times bestselling fantasy/vampire series. I created the “vampire smiley” logo — later called Fang – and the eventual stark series look after the initial “final” design was rejected an hour before a crucial sales meeting. True story about a clutch moment. I went with my gut, going for a radically simple look. It’s the only massively successful book cover I’ve ever designed that put the title on the back! Still proud of that. The book series was so successful it spawned a whole other series, called The Slayer Chronicles, which I also designed. Plus a whole merchandising scheme based on Fang.
Client: Speak/Penguin. Platinum Editions printed in duotones with metallic Pantone, trade paperback with flaps and deckled edges. Winner of the New York Book Show for series design.
Client: Atria Books/Simon & Schuster. Memoir by legendary punk icon. Winner of the American Library Association Alex Award, given to books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults.
Client: Dutton/Penguin. Hardcover edition of a dystopian novel that includes giant praying mantises. Award-winner — a 2015 Michael L. Printz Honor Book and winner of the 2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction.
Client: Macmillan. Design for YA horror series.
Client: Dutton. Bestseller — check out this custom bobblehead we had created for this comedy/romance about a teenage drag queen by LGBTQ+ icon James St. James. Turned into a feature film in 2017.
Client: Yearling/RandomHouse. Design for YA mystery sports series.
Client: Yearling/RandomHouse. Redesign for sci-fi dystopic thriller, an international bestseller published in over thirty countries.
Client: Bloomsbury. “Not your English teacher's version of Robin Hood.”
Client: Disney-Hyperion. YA zombie apocalypse series.
Client: Puffin/Penguin. Redesign for the criminally underappreciated fantasy series Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M. Cornish. I worked closely with concept illustrator Jaime Jones to art-direct a cinematic vision of Cornish’s incredibly rich world. I created custom typography for each title based on the author’s own creepy monster tattoo drawings.
Mysteries & Thrillers
Client: Ace/Penguin. Series design for international edition of Charlaine Harris’s blockbuster SOOKIE STACKHOUSE vampire novels. Featured in the “True Blood” serieson HBO.
Client: Thomas & Mercer/Amazon Publishing. Design became basis for 4-book series.
Client: Poisoned Pen Press. Mystery series featuring a blind detective — we added real Braille on the cover.
Client: SOHO House
Client: Poisoned Pen Press.
Mysteries & Thrillers for Oceanview
Mysteries — Solo Authors
Nonfiction & Academic
Client: Penguin RandomHouse
Client: Stanford University Press — Lady Justice peeks out from under her blindfold in this cover about America’s broken justice system.
Client: Stanford University Press
Client: Stanford University Press
Client: New York University Press. How homelessness affects New York politics.
Client: Stanford University Press. America’s addiction to petroleum.
Client: Rosetta Books
Client: University of Toronto Press. Memoir of a man who spent 20 years in a Soviet gulag.
Clients: New York University Press, Stanford University Press.
Literature & Poetry
Client: Rosetta Books. Redesign of classics.
Client: Akashic Books. Editors’ Pick for Vanity Fair‘s Best Books of 2019
Client: Milkweed Editions
Client: Milkweed Editions.
Client: Akashic Books
Client: The Ohio State University Press. Essays.
Client: Judith Pattison. Memoir.
Client: Milkweed Editions. Poetry.
Client: Milkweed Editions. Poetry.