Delving into design

Delving into design, with Tracy from Virtually Possible Designs

Book covers are as important to sales as the book itself. After all, it’s the first thing people see and what attracts readers to your book before they’ve even read a single page. I knew that finding a cover that both grabbed people’s attention as well as reflecting some of the key themes of the book was absolutely crucial. After spending the best part of ten years working on The Inner Lands, I was never going to settle for just any old cover. Since I didn’t really have a clear vision of what I was looking for, I turned to the experts. After some vigorous online searching, I gambled on a site called 99designs where you can run a “competition” for designers to pitch ideas to you.

Trying to portray my story in a simple brief to people who had never read the book was a bit of a nightmare but, slightly ironically, the very first design that arrived was the eventual winner! Tracy and I worked through the process over a period of weeks and I was so impressed with her commitment, enthusiasm and work ethic that she’s since designed the two further covers I needed to complete The Inner Lands series. Hopefully you’ll agree, the results speak for themselves!

Now that the dust has settled (note to self: this is not a good metaphor for a successful book!), I thought it would be good to quiz Tracy on the design process.

How did you get into design?

I was always interested in graphic design and would frequently help family members and friends with logos and websites, though they were completely awful. I used to think that anything I slapped together was great but I finally realized that if I didn’t love it, chances were a client wouldn’t either. So I stopped making quick designs and set to making designs that I would be proud to put my name on.

What are your favourite products to do designs for?

Definitely book covers. There’s so much more freedom and creativity than in, say, logo designs. Reading a book’s synopsis, coming up with a mental image that fits the content, and then bringing it to life in Photoshop is so enjoyable. A single cover can sometimes go through at least 3 pretty major revisions and the original idea can disappear pretty quickly, but when an author loves a cover and thinks it matches their story perfectly, that’s a fantastic feeling.

What inspires your designs?

Certainly the description and design thoughts that the author has helps, but it’s funny how often an idea will be inspired by a photo that I find while browsing through stock photo websites. I’ll frequently go to a stock site looking for one style of picture and then I’ll see one that doesn’t match at all but it will inspire a totally different cover that’s better than the idea I had originally. Or sometimes a stock photo isn’t needed at all and just a single colour background and a striking font is enough to inspire a great cover.

Explain your thought process behind The Inner Lands cover design

When I read the book’s synopsis and information about it, a few key words stuck out to me: girl, inner, and mountains. So I headed to a stock photo site to look for images of young women that stood out, and I came across the one that’s used on the cover now—a very simple silhouette of a woman’s profile—and I wondered how it would look with a mountain image inside of the head, illustrating the ‘Inner Lands’. The images inside went through several changes, but the woman’s profile remained the same. It became clear that she would be a great staple for all three covers, while simply swapping out the pictures inside that represented the individual stories. I’m so happy with the designs and it was so much fun working on them with Adam!

What are your top 3 designs from those you’ve created?