Wow, it's been almost a whole year since I designed a new Razor's Edge book cover!
As regular readers of this blog will know, W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge is my all-time favorite book (I even have a whole blog about it--of course I do), and every so often I find it a fun exercise to design my own cover for it.
I hadn't planned on doing another one (I did one in December '08 and May '09), but then I saw the above photo while Darlin' Tracy was surfing teh interwebs. The photo is by Edward Dullard and is a shot of Ballycotton Island Lighthouse in Ireland, and I was immediately struck, thunderbolt-like, that it would make the perfect main image for another edition of The Razor's Edge.
Graphic design-wise, I wanted the typography to be a little more modern and rough. Classic books when they are reissued tend to look a tad stuffy because they are classics, esteemed examples of literature with a capital L. So I wanted to go the other way, and make it look a little more current.
I added a half-tone effect over the photo to give a slight old-timey feel (in contrast with the type) and make the image feel more like a memory, which I thought was in keeping with events in the book--the entirety of The Razor's Edge is told via multiple flashbacks, primarily those featuring the main character, Larry Darrell. Larry's story is told to the book's narrator, so even within the flashback structure we are beholden to how Larry remembered the events he's recalling.
I just love doing these Razor's Edge covers, they're pure artistic fun. I'm sure this won't be my last...
As regular readers of this blog will know, W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge is my all-time favorite book (I even have a whole blog about it--of course I do), and every so often I find it a fun exercise to design my own cover for it.
I hadn't planned on doing another one (I did one in December '08 and May '09), but then I saw the above photo while Darlin' Tracy was surfing teh interwebs. The photo is by Edward Dullard and is a shot of Ballycotton Island Lighthouse in Ireland, and I was immediately struck, thunderbolt-like, that it would make the perfect main image for another edition of The Razor's Edge.
Graphic design-wise, I wanted the typography to be a little more modern and rough. Classic books when they are reissued tend to look a tad stuffy because they are classics, esteemed examples of literature with a capital L. So I wanted to go the other way, and make it look a little more current.
I added a half-tone effect over the photo to give a slight old-timey feel (in contrast with the type) and make the image feel more like a memory, which I thought was in keeping with events in the book--the entirety of The Razor's Edge is told via multiple flashbacks, primarily those featuring the main character, Larry Darrell. Larry's story is told to the book's narrator, so even within the flashback structure we are beholden to how Larry remembered the events he's recalling.
I just love doing these Razor's Edge covers, they're pure artistic fun. I'm sure this won't be my last...
1 comment:
Cool cover! I have never read this. :)
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