Project 04 — Book Cover
Cold Snap
Dark roofs, cold air, two red warnings — a winter cover about waiting out the freeze.
Overview
Meridian Press needed a January cover with weather in it. Cold Snap looks down from above the rooftops on the morning the city decides to stay in.
The geometry is deliberately severe: a navy roof cut by a single pale edge, snow piled into soft drums at the base, sky the colour of cold tap water. Two small red marks break the chill — the only warm things for pages around.
Approach
Covers are read at thumbnail size first, so the composition is one strong diagonal readable from across the bookshop. The pale roof edge is the brightest line on the shelf — it carries the title zone and pulls the eye in.
The snow was the hardest part: too smooth and it reads as desert, too lumpy and it reads as cartoon. The final drifts are drawn as five overlapping ellipses and nothing else.
Palette
- #2F9DB8
- #101D2C
- #E8F1F2
- #D63A2F
Writing something with weather?
Book covers and editorial series, from thumbnail to spine.