Art Director Spotlight: Ronaldo Alves
Ronaldo Alves has been a graphic designer for more than fifteen years. After gaining a degree at Senai in Brazil, Ronaldo worked at various agencies and design studios before finding his current home at Atmosphere Press, where he has been the Art Director since 2021.
Atmosphere Press uses a “partnership” model, where they “aim to put the power not in the hands of the press, but in the hands of the writer, where it belongs.” Putting the author first fits in perfectly with Ronaldo's way of working, “My role as an Art Director is to ensure that the covers we create visually translate the authors’ concept.”
Although Ronaldo's main role is to coordinate Atmosphere's current projects with his team of designers, he still enjoys taking on his own projects, where he can flex his graphic design muscles.
I asked him to describe how he generally goes about creating a cover:
“The first part is to read through the author's comments and ideas, and try to absorb nuances and directions that can help in the creative process. Then I look at the examples of covers/images that the author sent, to understand their aesthetic preferences.
Then it's a chaotic process, where the brain tries to put all the information together into a concept that represents the theme of the book. At this stage, your best friends are pen and paper! And a relatively large bin, as several drafts are discarded during this process!”
Ronaldo is certainly not afraid to mix it up when it comes to his design approaches. In 2021, Atmosphere Press published two novels, both about cults (although I have been assured that that's not all they publish!) What fascinates me, though, is how Ronaldo gave them such radically different designs. For Kyle McCord's wonderfully titled Reunion of the Good Weather Suicide Cult the style is pared back, quiet and menacing, while Robin D'Amato's cover for Somebody's Watching You is more playful and bold (despite that scary-ass eyeball).
I asked him to take me through their journeys:
Reunion of the Good Weather Suicide Cult by Kyle McCord
The book tells the story of the sole survivor of the largest cult mass suicide in U.S. history, as he works to rebuild his shattered life.
Kyle already had some clear ideas about what the cover should look like:
—The book is a story of redemption, but there are some deeply dark elements, so a more dour cover would be preferable.
With these concepts in mind, I started testing several different paths.
After creating the sketches, I remembered Kyle mentioned about the bean hook:
—The bean hooks are a spooky image in the book that could make an appearance on the cover.
As it is a very strong visual element, I decided to make one more option. This one needed to be very minimalist - as the hook should be the main focal point of the cover.
After sending them all, he instantly chose the one with the bean hook.
Final cover
This was a very straightforward project, and I’m very pleased with the result.
Somebody’s Watching You by Robin D’amato
The book tells the story of Melody. Her husband joins a cult and, in an effort to hold on to him, she pretends to join the fold.
The main character has a huge collection of records and music is a recurring theme in the story, so an initial idea was to explore it as a visual element.
As one of the main themes of the book is the control and surveillance by the cult, the idea of vinyl gradually changed to the representation of a human eye (hypnosis/manipulation/surveillance).
Lastly, support elements were added, emphasizing rock’n roll and urban culture.
Final cover
A look through Ronaldo's portfolio reveals examples of illustration, photography, bold sans serif font, subtle imagery, bright colour palettes; he uses it all – the diverse range of books published by Atmosphere truly gives him a creative freedom that any cover designer would covet.
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.