"Five Red Herrings" by Dorothy L. Sayer | Book cover design

Self initiated cover design for "Five Red Herrings" by Dorothy L. Sayer.

This story is set in Galloway, Scotland during the 1930s, so I wanted to aim for a design with somewhat of a period feel, to give it some context, but without it being a parody of an obviously 1930s Art Deco layout.

Without giving away too much about the story, as you can see from the back blurb it's a murder mystery which is set around the death of an artist in a small Scottish fishing town, the five 'red herrings' being the innocents of the six suspects. The paint tube being pierced was a play on the title of fishing, and the blood drops collecting in the 'V' happened to form a small fish-like shape in a vaguely Art Deco style (which came about as a complete accident when I was designing this).

This is a digital collage using photography and handdrawn elements. The paint tube and hook were treated digitally to give a strong halftone look, with colour layers aded in Photoshop and Illustrator. The final layout was set out in InDesign.

Main title typography: Rammetto One and Vina Sans

Subheader/author name typography: Semplicità

Body text: Semplicità