Stuff I Make

Book cover image for a childrens book. The idea looks at childrens imagination and their ability to create things out of nothing. This idea is visualised by the use of the letters arranged in the foreground that spell out “BEDTIME STORIES” and the addition of the magical creatures in the background that appear out of nowhere.

More book covers! This series documents the history of reggae music. I went with the classic colourway - red, gold and green and named the books after -

1. Voice of the People (Prince Buster’s sound system from way back)

2. Pure Ranking (Classic tune by Horace Andy)

3. Ring the Alarm (Another famous riddim by Tenor Saw)

The series is a reworking of the book entitled Bass Culture:When Reggae Was King by Lloyd Bradley (ISBN 0-140-23763-1). I would advise any reggae fans to go out and buy this book. It is essential reading for anyone who thinks they know anything about reggae music. Peace.

Second half of the poetry book jacket brief. Helen Ivory’s poetry is about all things magical and mystical. The typography on the front takes ideas from Victorian circus posters with a colourway that gives it a moody and mysterious vibe.

This is one half of a brief set in my first year at NUCA. The brief was to design book jackets for poets Martin Figura and Helen Ivory. Figura’s poetry is particularly dark, I think the ink splat illustrations on this jacket (inspired by the ink blot tests used in psychiatry) captures the macabre nature of his work.