A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BUILT
Redesigning a cover for the 2021 solarpunk novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, first in the Monk and Robot series.
Layout Design | Collage | Illustration
sketches
Sketches reflect major themes, characters, locations, and symbols from the book, including religious symbolism of the world, travel, interactions between nature and decaying technology, and reconstruction out of destruction.
DIGITAL DRAFTS
After feedback on sketches, I moved on to digital drafts for three selected designs.
The first highlights changes over time of an important location in the story on the front and a closer-in shot of the main characters on the back.
The second features portraits of the main characters. The book is introspective and quiet, focused on their personal growth and growth of their relationship.
The final option is a based around a handmade collage, torn from pictures of technology and concrete. The collage is an abstract representation of the book’s emphasis on tearing down and rebuilding: from the destruction of society as the robots and humans parted ways to the robots who literally rebuild new generations of robots from the parts of older generations to the human protagonist building a new life.
FINAL DESIGN
The final collage-based cover features hand-cut lettering, additional collage pieces on the spine and front cover, and a digitally-edited version of the collage for the back cover. In the title, a green forest peeks through the lettering, representative of the merging of technology and nature in the novella.
This cover was among selected student work featured on Austin Community College’s Graphic Design program website.
