Book Title Typography Design – The Unwoven Warrior

I always enjoy pure typography. And for the cover of Jon Keevy's novel "The Unwoven Warrior", Mirari Press asked me to design a title that was bold and unique.

It always seems simple when designers have thousands of good fonts (and many not so good) to choose from. But it's no easy feat, requiring many many tests, tweaks and customisations before you land on what you are happy with as a typographer, but more importantly, what the client and author perceive as best representing what lies beneath the cover – the story!

Added to this is having it gel with another talented artist's illustration. In this case, Bongane Mahlangu's epic vista.

As usual, a great brief from Mirari Press and Jon Keevy. I tried a number of samples, customised and we went back and forth. Just when we thought we had something, we went back to the drawing board for something bolder. I took the simple, condensed lettering approach. I emphasised the sharper angles by extending them further – pushing them. A reflection of the central figure in Bongane's illustration holding his weapon at the ready.

On the right track, but the usual effect of bold condensed lettering is it can be very hard, and difficult to read.

So I broke up the vertical lines midway, added angular "curves" to what were very boxed in Os, Ns and Rs (the main legibility issue). 

A fun, simple design that packs a punch.