Another day, another project. This time involved designing a cover for a New York times article. I chose to base my cover off the article Sports Meant So Much to Me. Why Wouldn’t My Son Play? by Keith Gessen. The article details a father who was involved in sports in his youth and throughout some of his adult years, who found comfort in rigor and companionship that he found in sports. His son, however, seems far less interested, so he explains the path they went down of trying to connect to one another through hockey or soccer. By the end of the story, it does seem that son starts to develop an interest in sports all on his own.
In designing the cover for this article, I wanted to find something that could display how the weight of a parent's expectations could weigh down on their child. This ended up working in a representation of a small scrawled child holding up a soccer ball, like Atlas holding up the world. I also wanted the style to be a bit more child-like, and at first I tried to balance between using photos and drawing, but going full coloring book seemed to fit the concept more. With my spot art, I pulled from some other sports imagery to show how a child might inherit a parent's legacy: a jersey that doesn't fit them or an old trophy that they choose to use for their pencils instead. What suits a parent doesn't always suit their child.
Check out some of my process below! Or view my full process book here.
