I came to work on this brief after a we’d had a few rounds of visuals from a freelancer that weren’t quite working for the cover meeting. They were great designs, in keeping with the cover style that had been established with his two earlier novels, but the meeting felt we needed to step away from this look for the third novel. I had voiced some ideas in the meeting and so, with the deadline looming, my Art Director asked me to try some new options. Naturally, my ideas evaporated as soon as I sat down to work on the cover and I mentally kicked myself for having been so chatty in the meeting. I talked the brief through with Alice (the editor working on the novel and all round lovely human) and this helped give me a bit more of a steer, although I was still a bit stumped. An accident involving a scalpel and the tip of my finger resulted in some much needed reading time in the glamorous location of Ealing Hospital A+E waiting room! I whizzed through the novel in the couple hours that I was waiting there and returned to the art dept inspired with some ideas and a comedy bandage.

In this episode we interview Jo Thomson, a freelance book cover designer who previously worked in-house at Pan Macmillan. Thomson is the recipient of a British Book Design & Production Award for Best Jacket for Not Working, by Lisa Owens. She also earned and ABCD Award for her cover design of Haus Frau, by Jill Alexander Essbaum.

"Designing the cover for The Wonder was a slightly daunting prospect. To begin with I received the brief just as Emma’s best-selling novel Room hit the cinemas, raising hopes ever higher for her newest book. In addition the hardback cover of her previous book, Frog Music designed by Katie Tooke and illustrated by Emma Farrarons, is one of my personal favourites.

So no pressure then…"