book jacket design

The Local

For a novel exploring the historical events during the span of one man’s lifetime living in and around New York City, we created a jacket and book design featuring a hand-drawn pen and ink illustration.

The main character identifies first as a New Yorker, so for inspiration we naturally turned to the subway with its iconic design system by Unimark.

Scope
  • Custom Illustration

  • Design, Typography, & Layout

book design
hand drawn illustration with micron pen

Custom Illustration

To fit the jacket layout, the arm and hand were drawn somewhat out of proportion.  The major veins and arteries are laid out on a separate sheet to accommodate the subway lines while maintaining scale and to not interfere with the overall shape and creases of the hand.

illustration in two layers
jacket & cover design

Font is Helvetica, with taxi cab yellow for the hardcover.

cover with debossed title
Chapter heading
Book jacket and cover design