Zena Kanes on Designing Norman Reedus's Novel The Ravaged
Zena Kanes is a designer at Roundhouse Agency in Portland. Here she takes us through her process for designing the cover of Norman Reedus’s debut novel, The Ravaged.
I was thrilled when I got the news I was going to work on the cover for Norman Reedus’ debut novel. Reading through the manuscript is a crucial part of my design process. Some designers skip that step entirely and still create a successful cover, but I feel as though I might be missing out on an inside joke if I don’t. I love to fully immerse myself in the tone, setting, and overall mood of the story. I’ll usually create a playlist that mimics the genre and watch movies that explore similar themes.
In a nutshell, The Ravaged is a fast-paced, up-in-your-face novel of gritty realism, exploring three different personal quests with eerily parallel outcomes. Jack, the first of the 3 protagonists, spent his life amassing wealth, but after losing his family, he has no one to share it with. He heads to South America, where people with nothing teach him what matters. Next, we meet Hunter, a young vet who learns of his father’s death in a mysterious fire. Biker buddies Nugget and Itch ride with him from North Carolina to California. And finally, seventeen-year-old Anne flees Tennessee after her older brother attacks her. She whacks him with a skillet and hops a freight to Alabama with her best friend. Living hand to mouth, they build friendships, uncovering something they never had: family.
Reedus had some great covers to reference from the start, including Cherry by Nico Walker (designed by Janet Hansen). I actually read through an article, similar to this one, where Hansen recounted her design process. It was so validating for me, not just with this project, but gaining confidence in my design process as a whole. Hansen explored many different directions that ended up being dead ends but were still just as important to the process. She took harsh feedback like a boss and pivoted accordingly.
During the initial exploratory phase, my Art Director Stephanie Stanton and I worked to convey the brutality of struggling to achieve the American dream and the nostalgia of American culture. I ended up with about 30 different concepts. From barbed wire to an empty beer can, there was a lot of cliche imagery Steph and I had to get out of our system. There are some concepts that I completely forgot about until I dug through my old files for this article. Norman had also given us a couple of his child’s drawings to potentially include in the cover. I loved the thought of including something so personal as an easter egg and explored a couple of concepts with it, but nothing stuck.
The matchbox design epiphany came to me as almost a last-ditch effort while I desperately sifted through my various Pinterest boards, trying to find anything that would spark an idea (no pun intended). I referenced a ton of vintage matchboxes. It was important to me to mimic the ink bleed, print effect and hand-drawn feel that is the essence of that design style, so I drew everything in procreate on my iPad before transferring it into photoshop to clean it up. I tried out a handful of different fonts, but nothing worked as well as when I lettered it by hand.
It was a real struggle to get the right shade of blue that still “bled” into the paper in the right way. If I remember correctly, I had to duplicate the layer, change the blending mode, and merge it back together a few different times. Some of my favorite comps were solid red on white, but there was some concern with the book jacket getting dirty, so ironically we added grime and stains straight into the design, just like a fresh pair of pre-ripped jeans.
When I initially pitched the concept to the author, I showed the book's jacket as a slipcase, which the book (with matches printed onto the hardcover) slides out of like a true matchbox. I really wanted to drive this concept home, so I printed out mini books and slipcases, taped them together, and shot some photos to include in the pitch deck. It was ultimately vetoed due to costs and logistical issues, but I think that extra effort helped get the cover design through the approval process. I was, however, adamant that the spine still mimics strike paper and is raised to the touch.
The nature of the publishing world means that you’ll pour your heart and soul into a project for months, and it won’t see the light of day until much later. Sometimes not until the next year. A lot has happened since I designed The Ravaged, including leaving Blackstone Publishing to work for Roundhouse Agency in Portland, so I nearly forgot about it until I was told it was featured on the Tonight Show! Ya know, the one with Jimmy Fallon?! I savored my 15 minutes of fame, but couldn’t have done it without the amazing publicists and my wonderful co-workers at Blackstone Publishing. And, of course, Norman Reedus.
Final cover
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.