David Drummond on Designing Ripping Down Half the Trees
David Drummond is founder and principal of Salamander Hill Design, based in Elgin, Québec, Canada. Founded in 2002, the studio produces projects that include posters, book covers, promotional materials, magazine illustration, packaging and identity development. Here he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his process for designing the super cool cover for poetry collection Ripping Down Half the Trees.
This is a poetry collection about the cruelty of life in Sioux Lookout - northern Ontario. It deals with racial injustice and what happens to the under privileged when the modern world oppresses people and the environment. The challenge for me was to find of way of representing environmental degradation, with its impact on people, in a new way, without resorting to visual tropes, such as a photograph of a clear cut.
Before landing on the final direction I presented two different directions
My first idea was to show a tree bleeding. I liked that it shows, not just environmental harm, but also the toll of environmental devastation on the underprivileged people that live in communities like Sioux Lookout. The feedback on this one was that it was maybe too literal and a bit gory. It brought to mind a poster for a Japanese horror film.
The second idea presents an iconic Canadian image in a different way. Instead of showing the loon as it is usually seen, floating peacefully on a lake or as a coffee table ornament, I decided to show it being hurtled through the air. It is almost like an angry response from the people that have been colonized through history. This option was deemed a bit too obtuse and didn’t strike the right tone. The feedback was that It has a slightly humorous feel which doesn’t fit with the blatant social critiques of the poems.
I finally settled on a chainsaw, with the teeth being new subdivisions that push nature and people out.
Final cover
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.