Irvin Vella - 1.The Manduca Case
Book cover illustration and design.
Irvin Vella is a series of detective novels for children by the awarded maltese writer John A. Bonello. I was commissioned to create the cover, logo and jacket design for the english edition.
The design idea is to have a system that clearly communicates that Irvin Vella is a series of books. To achieve that, I created a custom handlettered wordmark based on my beloved Cooper Black and a system between the cover and back cover illustrations than can be replicated in the following volumes of the saga.
While the front cover shows suspense and the main theme of the book, the back cover shows the notes of the investigator. This provides a very nice synergy and engages the reader to try guess the solution. And that's is the most important thing in a detective story!
The design idea is to have a system that clearly communicates that Irvin Vella is a series of books. To achieve that, I created a custom handlettered wordmark based on my beloved Cooper Black and a system between the cover and back cover illustrations than can be replicated in the following volumes of the saga.
While the front cover shows suspense and the main theme of the book, the back cover shows the notes of the investigator. This provides a very nice synergy and engages the reader to try guess the solution. And that's is the most important thing in a detective story!
But of course when it comes to a cover mood is king! I am very happy of the spooky feeling of the front composition.
