Craig Fraser on Designing Land of Big Numbers
Craig Fraser is a book cover designer at Simon & Schuster. Here he takes us through his process for designing the cover for Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen.
Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen is a debut collection of short stories featuring a complex, multi-layered cast of characters dealing with their lives and circumstances in one of the largest and most populous countries on the planet, China.
The tales – at times dark, at times humorous, sometimes surreal – reveal a country undergoing massive societal change, providing an illuminating insight into the hopes, dreams, desires and hardships of its citizens; everyday people who are often at odds with both the modern and traditional Chinese ways of life.
Dauntingly, the brief for this one was very open; essentially to produce a cover which is ‘vibrant and speaks of contemporary China’. Even after reading, it was difficult to know where to begin as the country is so culturally rich, multi-faceted, and the stories cover so much thematic ground.
Trying to avoid the pitfalls of stereotypes and tropes, it became clear I needed a level of authenticity and insight to convey the offbeat personality of the book – and, by extension, China. So I took the leap down the [internet searched] rabbit-hole of Chinese contemporary art.
The trip opened up a whole new stream of weird and wonderful visual possibilities. There was the eye-popping colours of Xu DeQi’s portraits, the ghostly black and white cityscapes by Yang Yongliang and the disarming insanity of Yue Minjun’s demented, Aphex-Twin style laughing face among many others.
One artist’s work, however, grabbed me as soon as I saw it. One of the leading proponents of a 90s cultural movement in China called Cynical Realism, Beijing-based Fang Lijun’s giant piece entitled ‘2002.1.1’ seemed to really chime with the vibe of the book. The ambiguous faces of the figures evoke a spectrum of emotions, from despair to optimism (depending on your interpretation), the colours are vivid, and the flowers punctuate it with dreamlike beauty.
With such a busy image, the type needed to be clean, simple and bold to punch out. Luckily ‘Numbers’ still scanned well when split on two lines which really helped the composition, and bright yellow was the obvious and most effective choice. Filling in the counters also helped lift the title out a bit more and give it its own individual quirk.
The artwork was pretty much a perfect fit for a wraparound jacket. In real life though, it measures a massive 7 x 4 metres, painted with oils onto huge canvasses. The image grab I used for the mock-up (the only one of it I’d found) was pretty poor quality and never any guarantee of actual colour so it was a bit of a gamble (or possibly not very smart on my part) getting approval in-house initially. The challenge then was making contact with the artist in China, seeking his permission, and getting a usable image… it was a proper nervy wait. I tried applying the type to other artworks in the meantime but once you see 1st prize, anything else just doesn’t cut it.
Full cover
Eventually the image was secured, achieved thanks to the intervention of Fran Lima (our amazing S&S Art Dept. Admin guru), who managed to hunt down Fang Lijun’s representation to a gallery in Australia specialising in contemporary Chinese art. After some frustrating time-difference email tennis between Beijing, Sydney and London, I finally got my hands on a high-quality image.
The colours – reds in particular – had a lot more depth than I was expecting and the brushwork is so smooth and seamless. It’s something I would love to see up close in its full wall-covering glory. The book was finished off with soft touch lamination, spot varnish, an emboss on the title type and a yellow board under the dust jacket to complement the title.
I was really pleased with the end result and hopefully it does justice to a great debut.
Final cover
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.