Art Director: John Gall

title: Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance

publisher: Anchor

Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance

I have to say, this is one of my favorite covers that I’ve posted in a while.

Drummond, (the designer) tells me that he had explored a number of options until Gall suggested that he pursue something more typographic.

Self-referential, engaging, attractive, simple and clever. You can’t ask for much more.

note – the cut out area isn’t die cut. I think it might be embossed slightly, though?

— , 2007-06-01 07:45:00 -0400

This is excellent.

— , 2007-06-01 08:42:00 -0400

Amazing. Great concept.

m welch

— , 2007-06-01 08:56:00 -0400

Brilliant. This is the perfect cover – it shares a joke with the viewer, makes him laugh, and tells him to pick up the damn book.

— , 2007-06-01 10:32:00 -0400

I enjoy this cover.

It’s so, so, simple, but then it packs a rather intricate notion with the removed “l.” (Even small crimes make a difference…)

I do love the cover, but if I had done this (which I probably wouldn’t have been smart enough to come up with in the first place), I would make the cover the cover (not a page inside the book) and I would have had text from the title page, or something, showing through where the letter was cut away. Only because I can’t quite place how there would be white behind a cream page inside a book…

— C-Dog , 2007-06-01 12:18:00 -0400

...unless, of course, it’s the very last page, I guess. ;)

— C-Dog , 2007-06-01 12:22:00 -0400

Just fantastic. I’m glad the focus is on the small crime and the temptation to depict abundance is resisted. It also has the nice effect of leaving open the question of just what that abundance might be of/in…

Glad to see you haven’t left the Union C-Dog. You had me worried for Sumter.

— , 2007-06-01 13:26:00 -0400

This is so perfect I don’t even want Ian B. Shimkoviak to post about it!

Bravo John Gall for not settling on an early solution.

Re: C-Dog’s cut-through comment I think if the end papers were white that would be fine but the white doesn’t bother me, but that might be a nice nod to the cover.

— Auguste , 2007-06-02 02:07:00 -0400

You can see more of David Drummond’s great work at http://www.salamanderhill.com/

— Isaac Tobin , 2007-06-02 07:48:00 -0400

ah jeez – who cares about the small crime portrayed here – somebody’s cooking up a ransom note….

— bob , 2007-06-02 13:53:00 -0400

i like it a lot. i like the all text design. plus the mystery hole.. what else? its simply an eye catcher…congrats!

the worst thing about being a designer, is to conform what his superior wants. well its a great idea but this is just another of JG signature designs. and drummond just got hooked up with it.. originality really matters. or else you will just became an instrument of another man’s greatness.

JG: drummond sit!
JG: drummond bark!
JG: roll over!
JG: play dead!

— super cow! , 2007-06-03 18:48:00 -0400

haha!
those previous comments are aesthetically interesting and boring. and then a brave one came! a nice one super cow!

well he made a point. but we credit designs from designers not their influences. drummond made a great job. the cover looks nice
(composition/layout, fonts, etc.) its just that ben pieratt spill the beans…lol

JG: do the desigh trick! lol…

— ongoy , 2007-06-03 19:49:00 -0400

It’s perfect — Auguste. And now that much more perfect…

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2007-06-04 15:07:00 -0400

Perfectness in design – is a crime? A small one, though.

— priit , 2007-06-05 08:12:00 -0400

the cut out letter “l” is perfect. The idea. the treatment. the concept… Nothing is perfect. Everything is perfect.

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2007-06-08 12:56:00 -0400

This is my new favoreite, brilliant.

“It was the perfect crime”
-The Decemberists

— J.R. , 2007-06-12 09:20:00 -0400

This is part of an apparent series of John Gall covers that involve cutting out the cover to reveal something inside. The recent “The Keep” (Jennifer Egan) was the first of these I saw. There is another more recent one, as well. . . can’t recall (an anthology?). Anyway. Are they each appropriate or great covers? Yes, sure. Are they forming a shtick? Or a phase? Are they going through a phase over there?

More importantly, what will John do (or direct his minions to do on his behalf) with the paper next?

— Christian in NYC , 2007-06-13 18:02:00 -0400

They are going through a phase. Sometimes a rehash can work for 100 covers…

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2007-06-15 12:52:00 -0400

i just l-o-v-e-i-t.

— Ceci , 2007-07-08 02:50:00 -0400

More I see John Gall’s cover, I start realizing how intelligent design could be. It’s so vibrant without any colour. So much of hapenning without any noise. This is amazing!

— , 2007-07-10 07:37:00 -0400

Truly great. I like how cover designs are starting to interact more with the titles like this, or maybe they always have.

— Guinn , 2007-10-10 06:53:00 -0400

Didn’t anybody notice the typo there? Were the editors out to lunch or what? Oh yeah, they usually are…

— , 2007-10-18 13:41:00 -0400