I find I am able to come up with my most creative solutions when faced with limitations. It sounds odd to say, but the worst possible thing to hear from a client is to design whatever I want.
This book cover series one of my favorite portfolio highlights and serves as a reminder that constraints can lead to even more creative solutions. This project started as an advanced typography and design exercise in which strict parameters for type hierarchy, image, and font are enforced for three thematically different novels. The challenge is come up with three successful and legible covers that work together as a series yet also stand successfully on their own.
The key is to look at limitations as starting points instead of dead ends. Instead of focusing on what I could not change, I decided to look at what I could. Things like color, abstraction, and organization of image and type were all creative ways to convey meaning while working within limits.
The end result are three covers that I am extremely proud but also three covers that profoundly changed my process for the better.