The making of the cover design for Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Affects Everything by Hermann Simon

Getting the task: cover design, author’s portrait, price formation.

Starting to work, searching for associations. The first idea is a portrait constructed from financial symbols.

The picture is abrupt, the portrait does not look respectable.

Trying to separate the image of the author and the symbols. The result is two portraits with different angles and color solutions; individual elements became more clear and definite.

The angle of the portrait, the color scheme and the majority of details are approved. Working on “cardboard,” a preliminary drawing for creative search. Simultaneously new suggestions on creative elements and layout come up.

The final sketch of the cover is ready.

Making adjustments concerning placement of details and poses of the animals.

Collecting final variants of all elements needed for typesetting.

Typesetting and sending the client two variants of the title layout with the typesetter’s comment:

“The title (Confessions of a Price Formation Master in Russian) aligned to left margin with a hyphen is there for a purpose. First of all, the long name is broken down for better legibility. Secondly, ‘price’ now stands away from ‘formation master,’ hinting at what the expert is actually teaching us.”

The client chooses the design without the fancy title and gives feedback on the author’s suit:

“I don’t understand the ink blots on the suit. These watercolor stains will look like dirt when printed. You need to make a regular respectable dark blue suit, no dirt. It is a serious book.”

Fixing, making the suit jacket more uniform in color.

Making adjustments to the spine, preparing for printing.