Harry Haysom - Designer

Picture this: you are an author who has spent several years of research, first drafts, second drafts, rewrites and edits to finally arrive at a completed manuscript that you are ready to share with the world. You are responsible for every word inside those pages, and now you have to relinquish control; you must hand over your creation to be wrapped in a cover designed most probably by someone you have not chosen and do not know. This will be the book's face, the first thing people will see when they pick it up, and you have to entrust it's creation to someone else!

To me this seems like a daunting prospect, and it is always something I think about whenever I take on a new book cover commission. I have a responsibility to do justice to the words inside the book, it is my job not only to make something that is visually arresting, but that also captures something of the essence of the source material.

My design philosophy is, I hope, reflected in my process. I like to experiment with lots of different approaches on every design, producing a number of visual mock ups to be considered. These are then usually whittled down by myself in collaboration with the art director, editor and sometimes author as well, until we arrive at a solution that everyone is satisfied with.

As an illustrator I have worked for clients around the world, including The Boston Globe, JP Morgan Chase, The Financial Times and l'express. I design covers for both fiction and non fiction books by writers including Richard Dawkins and Man Booker prize winning author Laszlo Krasznahorkai (who's latest book completely blew my mind!). My work has twice been nominated for the ABCD Awards in the uk.