A Little Life is one of the my favourite novels. It is also, in my opinion, the victim of two covers that don't quite do it justice. One too cold, one too literal. A book this layered deserved something that felt as quietly profound as the story itself.

THE OPPORTUNITY

This was a personal brief as much as a design one. The novel centres entirely on one man's life, its weight, its tenderness, its complexity, and his circle of friends. The existing covers either leaned too hard into New York grit or put a face to a character better left to the imagination. The opportunity was to find a third way: something that communicated a life, without spelling it out.

THE PROCESS

The lifeline on a human hand felt like the idea almost immediately. Quietly symbolic, universally understood, and entirely free of the literal interpretations that had let the existing covers down. The title is etched into the lifeline itself, so the words and the concept become one. The scratched, hand-rendered typography adds a nod to the self harm content in the book. Adobe Photoshop handled the background image, Illustrator the type treatment, and InDesign brought it all together for publication.

THE SOLUTION

A cover that supports the title of the book. Minimal, considered, and rooted in a single idea carried all the way through.