Jim Tierney on Designing How to Find Your Way in the Dark
Jim Tierney is a book cover designer currently residing in Pennsylvania. Here he takes us through his process for designing the cover of How to Find Your Way in the Dark.
When Art Director Brian Moore asked me to design this cover, both the title and manuscript were still unfinalized, but he described the novel as a sprawling coming-of-age story about a young Jewish boy navigating life in America between the World Wars.
The story begins with Sheldon Horowitz witnessing his father’s murder at the hands of a possible crime syndicate, and follows his journey through New England as he seeks vengeance. Along the way, he experiences the rise of American anti-semitism, gets caught up in a jewel heist, participates in the birth of modern stand-up comedy, and ultimately joins the Royal Canadian Air Force.
With so many complex themes to tackle, we felt it best to keep the cover design mostly type-centric, with expressive colors and small spot illustrations to represent various stages of Sheldon’s journey.
Another direction I wanted to focus on was the theme of “performance”: both literal on-stage showbiz as well the expectation of Jews to assimilate into American culture.
The day/night comps were well-received, but the author felt they were a little too whimsical for a story with so many heavy themes, and wanted to see a bit more “friction” between the light and dark. Additionally, they wanted to replace the bomber plane with something more symbolic.
In order to tone down the whimsy, I refined the typography, made the sky more dramatic and cloudy, and replaced the bomber with a passenger pigeon.
This overall composition was approved with a final request for more dramatic color in the sky, and to bring back the bomber plane. The final result is a more nuanced balance of hope and uncertainty, with the airplane doubling as a symbol of escape and freedom, as well as a looming threat of global violence.
Final cover
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.