Beautiful Books: Juiceboxers

When asked for thoughts on a direction for the cover design, Benjamin collected some of his favourite modern editions exploring why he liked them so much. He wrote:

“I’ve got lots of *thoughts*, and I know that no graphic designer could possibly accommodate them all, but I thought I’d pass them along regardless.

I’ve provided a few cover designs that I’ve always found striking, as well as some early twentieth century art from a war artist I really admire.

I’ve always found dust jackets with modernist/graphic arts influence very striking. The two-tone font of Invisible Man, designed by E. Mcknight Kauffer has long been a favourite, both for the striking inclusion of an eye (also on the dust jacket of The Great Gatsby, for example, which I also love) and for the focus on geometric plane and shape.

The cover of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The art by Paul Nash, Ypres Salient at Night and We Are Creating a New World show some of the possibilities for slanting light emanating from a focal source like the sun or an explosion that I associate with both the prairies and Afghanistan.

The silhouette of downtown Edmonton from the dust jacket of More Edmonton Stories by Tony Cashman is also one of my favourites, for the use of silhouette and light. I loathe Ayn Rand ideologically, but the dust jacket design for Atlas Shrugged is also perfection, in my opinion: the focal source of the red sun, the silhouette of mountains above, the sense of implied motion from the railroad tracks beneath.

I envision my dream design including a strong focal point like the sun or an eye or hand/fist, or some combination thereof, as well as modernist/art deco geometric light planes. If the cover could in some way include elements of both Afghanistan and Edmonton, either front and back, or blended, that is a dream too. Four soldiers together on the front, one by himself on the back, maybe? Francis Cugat’s infamous cover design for The Great Gatsby, a disembodied floating face hovering over the foreground of a cityscape/fair that appears to be exploding has always been a favourite for the starkness of the eyes and urban maximalism beneath. In terms of font, I prefer bold, striking typefaces, as used in Invisible Man, for example, or Homage to Catalonia. Even the expressive serif font of The Great Gatsby is appealing.”

What Natalie Olsen came up with was applauded by publisher and author alike. Here’s how she addressed Benjamin’s suggestions and delivered another fabulous cover design:

“I was excited by Benjamin’s sophisticated design sensibility and the samples he provided, so I set out to hit most of the things on his wish list – hoping to add a few surprises. The main challenge was bringing a retro war art aesthetic into a contemporary realm, while finding a way to represent both Edmonton (my hometown) and the battlefields of Kandahar.

I opted for a panoramic landscape that transitions from desert on the front cover to Edmonton’s recognizable river valley on the back cover. The palette of washed-out blues and grainy sand tones evoke the terrain of both Afghanistan and Alberta in springtime, when I first read the manuscript.

The stenciled title treatment was encouraged by sales as a way to provide a visual cue to readers that, yes, this is a story about war. Our unique take on this trope has the letterforms gradually splinter, mirroring the formal disintegration of the novel and the breaking apart of the platoon.

The image has the same composition and colours as the original cover of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1952).

The main character, Plinko, finds this book in a little lending library on the military base. It catches his eye because ‘something about the book, its name in particular, felt important, like it might contain some secret knowledge.’ Most people won’t pick up on this detail, but for those who do, it will be a delicious discovery.”

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Benjamin Hertwig was born and raised under big prairie skies and has recently returned to the bright, sad city of Edmonton. As a child, he liked sports publicly and books privately, and since graduating from high school has spent time as a soldier, a student, a bike courier, a tree-planter, a ceramicist, an inner-city housing worker, and an English instructor. His first book of poetry, Slow War, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards and received the poetry prize at the Alberta Literary Awards. His writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The Walrus, and The New York Times, and he is the recipient of a National Magazine Award in personal journalism. He has taught writing workshops to inmates, veterans, and students across Canada. Juiceboxers is his first novel.

Natalie Olsen has been designing books for publishers across North America under the brand Kisscut Design for 15 years. Her work has been recognized in her home province by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, as well as by Applied Arts Magazine, PubWest, and the Alcuin Society. She is also the Art Director and Co-Founder of Hingston & Olsen Publishing, makers of the Short Story Advent Calendar and other literary experiments.