The Office of Letters and Light Blog

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: The Finale

As we expected, this year’s 30 Covers, 30 Days was nothing short of excellent. Our project leaders, Debbie Millman and Christopher Simmons wrangled a group of amazing designers for the covers, even in the midst of the not-so-quiet storm that was Hurricane Sandy. We would like to give them a huge thank you for participating in this project with us and providing some much needed inspiration this past November!

We’ve got some great stats for you Wrimos as you settle into the holidays. Participants came from all over, and we featured covers for participants in the following places:

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30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 33

Today’s cover was created by Alan Dye!

How To Become Invincible by Rachel Shapiro

Anthony and Cory meet at the hospital. He is recovering from popping out his knee. She is dying from, as she puts it, a “deadly, boring disease you’ve never heard of.” What starts out as a late night adventure to a vending machine becomes first an acquaintanceship and then a friendship. And then, things go to a whole new level when Cory asks Anthony to go on another adventure with her. And this one is a road trip to a spring that grants immortality.

Alan Dye Alan Dye dreamed of being a pro basketball player, but his love of type and lack of a jumpshot led to his becoming a designer. Alan began his career in New York working for various advertising and design agencies, including Landor Associates and a four year stint at Ogilvy’s Brand Integration Group. After years of agency work, Alan went in-house and became design director for kate spade and JACK SPADE. Later, Alan moved to the west coast in 2007 where he is currently a Senior Creative Director at Apple. Besides his work with Apple, Alan has contributed to the New York Times, WIRED, the National Basketball Association (as close as he’ll ever come to getting paid for basketball), and New York Magazine.  Alan’s work has been recognized by a number of design shows and publications, and he is a regular speaker at design and advertising events. Alan lives in San Francisco, works in Cupertino, and continues to work on his jumpshot.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 32

Today’s cover was created by Robynne Raye!

Cricket by E. Cortez

Cricket’s Daddy killed her Mama, and it hasn’t rained since. It’s all his fault Mama’s dead and the sky dried up with her, or at least, that’s what Meemaw says. In a town plagued with drought, heightened crime rates, and illegal fighting pits the locals are using to gamble and reap a little money, Cricket O’Reilly finds herself alone, missing her mother, trying to love her grief-ridden father and coping with cynical Meemaw and her otherworldly intuition no one takes seriously. And of course, the drought, which is slowly turning Mentiras Mesa to dust. Locals find hope in the Rain Man. A mysterious, masked man who comes to farms and is rumored to able to pull water from the ground, and make the clouds weep with his songs. For a little money, of course.

When Daddy hires the Rain Man to come perform his Song at the farm, Cricket sees him for what he really is: a man with a cheap trick, and a cyborg eye. Something only seen in wanderers from New Port, a place of amazing machinery and supposedly, riches. The Rain Man is nothing but a common criminal hiding away in a forgotten, dust-eaten town and picking the pockets of the farmers with his act. When Meemaw sees him, she tells Cricket the Rain Man’s going to make it rain…

And that Daddy’s going to die.

Since co-founding Modern Dog Design Co. in 1987, Robynne Raye has continued to do work for entertainment and retail companies - both local and national - and counts packaging, identity anbd poster design as some of her favorite work. Robynne has received recognition from every major design organization in the U.S. Her posters are represented in the permanent archives of the Louvre (Rohan Marsan wing) the Library of Congress, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Museum Fur Kunst und Gewerbe, the Warsaw National Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum among others. She is co-author of “Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art” (Chronicle Books, 2008)  and “Inside the World of Board Graphics: Skate, Surf, Snow” (Rockport Books, 2011), and contributes regularly to the design blog RockPaperInk. For more than 18 years she has lectured and taught workshops, both nationally and internationally. Currently she is an Associate Instructor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where she teaches classes on typography and packaging design.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 31

Can the folks at OLL count? Yes! Did too much turkey and stuffing go to my head? Also yes! Earlier this month I sent out a few repeat covers, but they are gorgeous, and they ought to be featured, so we have saved them for the month of December. Today’s cover was designed by Eric Heiman!

The Dreamer by Sapphire16

Jane lives in a world where everyone disappears when they fall asleep and returns when they wake. No one remembers anything at all about what happens during the night, except for the rare Dreamers, like Jane.

In the past, the government has requested that Dreamers work with them for research purposes, but when they suddenly change this request to a demand that all Dreamers turn themselves in, rumors start and suspicion grows. Jane must choose a side for the fast rising fight, and find out the truth about Dreamers and where people are disappearing to.

Eric Heiman is a designer, writer, educator, and occasional DJ when prodded out of retirement. He is a principal and creative director of Volume Inc., founded in 2002 with Adam Brodsley. Volume’s work has been featured, published, exhibited, and honored by the finest publications, museums and professional organizations the world ‘round. Eric’s writing has been featured in such publications as Eye, Emigré, AIGA’s Voice, and is a contributing writer for the SFMOMA’s culture blog, Open Space. He is also a Professor of Design at the California College of the Arts.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 30

Hey, everybody! It’s the end of the month! Did you make it? Even if you didn’t, we hope the score of beautiful book covers and exciting synopses kept you company throughout this year’s NaNoWriMo season. We’re saying so long to November with this cover designed by Christopher Simmons!

Generation Hex by A.C. Silva

In the future, everyone is a wizard. Or so the corporations tell us: you can command technology with a thought, make household appliances do your bidding by just willing it so, or trade emails with your best friend by just thinking about it in a sort of high-tech telepathy—if you pay your monthly access to the Program.

But then, a young and brash student with a side job as hacker, Victoria Valentino also known as H3x, is grounded out of the Network as punishment for fiddling with the Code (the building blocks of the Program)—And then things get really complicated when she starts seeing the Code everywhere. And she can manipulate it. Reality is hers to do and undo.

And just like that, she becomes one of the most hunted people in the world—a Technomancer, a Cyber-Wizard—a reality-weaver.

As the corporations, governments and even other Technomagi hunt for her, she finds herself very alone, very quickly, not knowing who to trust—not knowing how to control her powers. But she knows a thing or two about being the underdog and how to turn a bad situation to her favour—with the help of a friend or two and just a little bit of magic.

Christopher Simmons is a designer, author, educator and principal of the noted San Francisco design office, MINE™. He is a frequent lecturer on design issues for colleges, universities, and professional associations, and regularly participates as a judge for major design competitions. In addition to being recognized with awards from nearly every leading design institution, Christopher’s work has been exhibited at the The National Design Center, The Pasadena Museum of California Art, The Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Craft + Design, The Smithsonian Institution, The Brno Design Biennial, and numerous galleries and exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. He is the author of four books, most recently Just Design which focuses on design solutions for social and cultural causes. 

Christopher is an adjunct professor of design at the California College of the Arts (CCA), and a past president of the San Francisco AIGA. On completion of his tenure in that role, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an official proclamation declaring San Francisco to be a city “where design makes a difference.”

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 29

Today’s cover was designed by Geoff McFetridge!

Widow’s Revenge by DTRPerkins12

Temperance’s soon-to-be husband, Samuel, decides to join the Continental Army in 1776. When he is killed, she decides to take revenge on the redcoats that murdered him in cold blood. Temperance is thrown into the gritty underworld of the British army, just to avenge her husbands death.

Geoff McFetridge is a artist based in Los Angeles, California. Born in Canada, he was schooled at the Alberta College of Art and the California Institute of the Arts. He is part of the Beautiful Losers Exhibition, and makes solo exhibitions from Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, London, the Netherlands and Japan. For two years, he was art director of the famous underground Beastie Boys magazine Grand Royal. Since then he has started the design studio Champion Graphics which has done projects for numerous clients ranging from Nike, Pepsi, Stüssy, Burton Snowboards, Girl Skateboards and Patagonia. He made clips for Plaid, Simian, and recently also for The Whitest Boy Alive, and he created film title sequences for The Virgin Suicides and Adaptation

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 28

Today’s cover is brought to you by Bob Aufuldish!

Redwood by J Vandersande

In the unforgiving forests of Varrow, the Rahlan outlaws are scattered. Starvation threatens to destroy them before the Huntsman even has a chance, and many are driven to theft and murder just to stay alive. The cost of survival is becoming too high; something Tymah Redwood knows more than most. Known only for her escape from death row and from the grips of the Huntsman—something that earned her her infamous outlaw status—she now lives with the sacrifices she once made to stay alive.

Her past haunts her, but it is rivaled by the daunting struggles that the future threatens to bring. As winter draws closer, Ty is forced to take desperate measures in an attempt to ensure the survival of the small band of outlaws that she now leads. But it only takes one, fatal mistake during a raid on a town to unravel everything she had been fighting for.

Arrested for the highest count of treason against the crown and faced with the same death sentence she escaped once before, Ty never expects to be presented with one last chance for survival, least of all one from the Huntsman himself, the man so determined to rid Varrow of its outlaw scum.

The choice she has been given remains unchanged from the one made once before, but this time, Ty knows that her life is not the only one that now hangs in the balance. In the forests she was taken from hides Ren: the orphaned, youthful brother of Ty’s lover, who without her, doesn’t have a chance at survival. Tymah Redwood is no stranger to taking lives, but the bargain that the Huntsman offers this time might have a higher price than she is willing to pay.

Bob Aufuldish is a partner in the San Francisco area-based design firm Aufuldish & Warinner and a Professor at the California College of the Arts, where he has taught graphic design and typography since 1991. In recent years his professional practice has focused on work for cultural institutions. His work has been selected for many competitions and publications, among them AIGA 50 Books of the Year. He was elected into the Alliance Graphique Internationale in 2011.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 27

Today’s cover was designed by Tim Belonax!

Pop by Alice Newton

There are two types of people in the world: those inside the Bubble, and those Out of it.

Brielle has known this since she was little. It’s simply the way of the world, her mother would tell her gently. And after a disastrous attempt at escape that left her family with too many scars, Brielle accepts this fact. She plays by the Outsider’s rules. Goes to the Outsider-created classrooms, follows the Regulations. She takes care of her tired mother and ridiculously-cheery brother.

But above all, Bri cares for Christa.

Christa, the quiet girl with silky, hay-colored hair and absurdly green eyes, who burrows into her books and curls her knees into her chest. Christa, with her small smiles and peculiar grace and intelligent brain overflowing with knowledge. Christa, who is warm and solid and sweet—who grounds her when the Bubble gets to be too much, who tastes like apples on Brielle’s tongue.

But the thing is, Christa is smart enough to get out of the Bubble. Actually, she’s smart enough to do damn near whatever she wants, and she deserves to go Outside. Outside, where there is knowledge matching her own, where there are verdant forests and sparkling seas and brilliant white citadels. (At least, that’s what people say the Outside is like)

But although Christa may not belong in the Bubble, she belongs to Bri. Because Christa is everything to Brielle. Everything, and there’s nothing in the world—inside the Bubble or Out of it—that could keep them from each other.

Which means the idiotic Outsider who took Christa last night? They’d better start running.

Tim Belonax is a designer, writer and educator whose work has been awarded, retweeted, criticized, and passed over by individuals and institutions of high regard. He is the Social Impact Co-Chair at AIGASF as well as a Senior Lecturer at California College of the Arts. He currently works for your favorite love/hate relationship on the internet: Facebook. See what he made in the past year, here.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 26

Week 4! Can you guys believe it? We’re really in the home stretch now. Today’s cover was designed by me, Ari Asercion!

Figment by Serena Lawless

Having an imaginary friend isn’t so cute when you’re a teenager.

For as long as she can remember, Laurel has known Fiver. When she insisted a place be set for her at the dinner table as a child, her guardians were convinced it was a stage. When she didn’t grow out of it, they took drastic measures. Laurel grew up in doctor’s offices, talking to shrinks and taking tablets. They even performed an exorcism, much to the distress of Laurel and Fiver. Nothing ever worked.

Wherever she went, Fiver followed. No one else ever saw Fiver, never heard her or acknowledged her presence. She doesn’t know where she came from, but who remembers being born? All she knows is that Laurel can see her, and she clings to that thread of her existence desperately. If it wasn’t for Laurel, she wouldn’t exist at all… until one day, someone else sees Fiver.

Ari Asercion is a two-time intern with NaNoWriMo. Since graduating from the University of California Santa Cruz where she studied creative writing, she has pursued work in both graphic design and writing-related fields. In addition to her work with OLL, she has also blogged for the literary magazine, ZYZZYVA, and is a contributing editor for the gaming site, World [3] Games. She has never won NaNo before, but has managed to stay on track this year by making her novel public and bribing herself with sweaters.

Photo by yyy100.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 25

Today’s cover was created by Andrew Gibbs!

The Sapphire Briefcase by Sean Wright

Forty-five-year-old Kyle Waters went from being a successful lawyer to a disgraced campaign manager in no time at all, it seemed. After having successfully butchered the powerful six-term Senate incumbent’s reelection bid by being caught in a compromising position with an exotic dancer, Kyle laid low for a year with his wife and two children.

As he begins to re-immerse himself into reality, Kyle becomes friends with a quirky man at a coffee bar who goes by Jack, and who speaks very highly of a certain organization he is involved in. Kyle, armed with a new “live life to the fullest” attitude, reluctantly agrees to attend a meeting.

Andrew Gibbs founded The Dieline in 2007 and has tended to its growth since then. Andrew’s passion for package design developed at an early age when he discovered Photoshop 4. He now shares his passion with millions of designers through TheDieline.com, the world’s #1 package design website. He received his B.S. in graphic design from the Art Institute of California at the age of 19. Formerly the Creative Director for the leading beverage development company in the nation, Andrew oversees The Dieline, The Dieline Package Design Awards, The Dieline Package Design Conference, and The Dieline Forum. He is also author of Box Bottle Bag: The world’s best package designs from The Dieline.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 24

Today’s cover was created by Bill Klingensmith!

Surrender by ovsc12

A girl and her best friend, through an adventurous series of events, find their way to an old, abandoned, amusement park in the woods. They find that one of the rides still works, so they decide take a spin. But when the ride breaks down and turn the lights on, the girls’ most valuable secrets are revealed, and the scattered bodies all around reveal that the park is most definitely, not abandoned.

Bill Klingensmith is Principal and Creative Optimist for the design studio, MYDARNDEST, in Rochester, New York. In 2007, after seven years in academia and a term as president of the AIGA Upstate New York chapter, Bill decided to focus full-time on his own studio. His primary client work is designing and building WordPress website projects; but also includes everything from packaging design to gig posters. An avid foodie, Bill has also partnered with an innovative local community food project in Rochester, NY, Good Food Collective.

30 Covers, 30 Days 2012: Day 23

Happy Food Coma Day! Oh, that’s not a thing? Well, today’s cover was created by Brett McFadden! (Sorry about the mixup/double cover. Back on schedule tomorrow!)

Unsurvival by Catglove

It is the year 2271, and the human race has nearly died out four times, from a combination of global warming and diminshing resources. A new government seeks to repopulate the Earth by attempting to speed up evolution, using Project Darwin. The project weeds out the weak humans, leaving only the strong, making sure that the new race of superhumans can survive in the harsh post-apocoliptic world.

MacFadden & Thorpe is the San Francisco–based studio of Brett MacFadden and Scott Thorpe. They believe in an expansive approach to design and its possibilities. They have worked with a wide range of clients, from major corporations to individual artists, on print and screen-based media. They are on the faculty of the California College of Arts, where they teach in the undergrad and graduate design programs. Prior to starting their studio in 2008, they both worked at Chronicle Books: a general interest publisher known for their spirited approach to design.