Clare Connie Shepherd on Designing Pondweed
Clare Connie Shepherd is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Brighton, United Kingdom. Here she takes us through her process for designing Pondweed.
The concept of the cover is to show an irregular and frustrated voice that is trapped and submerged in strands of pondweed that is set against a backdrop with a hopeful ray of sunlight. Pondweed is both beautiful and dangerous, displaying both light and dark areas. Pondweed is a symbolic icon that runs throughout the book written by Lisa Blower. The story of Pondweed is told from the personal perspective of Ginny, a 70-year-old woman. Ponds act as a metaphor for the small worlds and remote communities that we live in. It also reflects how Ginny feels; so immersed by Selwyn, her partner, that at times she feels as if she is swimming in him. He is her pond.
My design process is itself immersive. I always read the manuscript, make detailed notes and write down conceptual approaches for the book cover. In this case, ideas developed around feelings of immersion, entrapment, class, humour and beauty. Drawing by hand is the process I use to collate my ideas and thoughts. I then develop a range of visuals to start with. The first set of designs included handpainted type with photographs of caravans, goldfish in tumbler glasses and one particular visual which included a single strand of pondweed at close range. I like to think of this idea as pondweed being ‘under inspection.’
This idea developed into a cluster of strands of pondweed entangling the title type. The irregular, handpainted capital letters positioned in and among strands of pondweed on the bottom half of the cover show the voice of someone who is trapped and shouting to be heard.
The final visual shows a collection of pondweed strands underwater and at close range with a ray of light shinning through at the top. The ray of light is there to reflect themes of hope and the humour in Lisa Blower’s writing.
Final cover
The style of writing by Lisa Blower informed the style of typography. I designed the cover for Lisa’s last book, It’s Gone Dark Over Bill’s Mother’s. The hand painted, irregular sized capital letters fitted the unpolished collection of voices from this collection of short stories. A collection of voices we rarely hear today. My admiration and affection for the characters described in her novels runs deep. These are people from small flats, terraced houses and mobile homes with net curtains and flowers on the window sill. These are real people with real lives. After reading the manuscript for Pondweed, I knew that the style of lettering should be hand rendered as this suited the voice of Ginny who was the main character.
For Pondweed I painted the title type and authors name in black ink and then submerged this into water. The handpainted and crafted type soaked in water emits the feeling of the human touch and a natural free-ness like water. White ink was used in the final visual as it stood out against the vibrant aqua colours behind it and it includes subtle traces of black ink that bleeds from the title - like ink running through water.
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.