I've been an Art Director + Graphic Designer for over 35 years—my early years working in-house for both large and mid-sized book publishers.

I’ve continued to design covers independently for the past twenty years now while also working with a wide range of small businesses, corporations, nonprofits, and individuals to help shape their message and presentation through websites, identities, logos and promotional materials. This site is dedicated entirely to my book cover design. All of my other work can be found here.

This site contains a rather large sampling (literally hundreds) of my book cover designs. Yes, that’s quite a lot—here's why...

I reviewed many portfolios during my time as an art director in book publishing. The common wisdom for freelance designers was (and curiously, still is) to show up with only their very best work—a maximum of perhaps 12-15 pieces.

However, I always felt this type of aggressively edited “highlight reel” of one’s work was not able to provide much of the insight I was looking for—

  • Can this designer provide a selection of strong designs to get an assignment off to it’s best start?
  • Do they possess the range/poise to comfortably change direction if needed?
  • Can they initiate solutions to reconcile any potentially contrasting in-house feedback?
  • Typically a designer’s strongest pieces favor work created under fairly ideal circumstances (a great title, excellent photography, etc.), but how would they fare with a more obscure title? Or a nonexistent art budget? Or with extensive cover copy?

Basic questions like these were difficult to address by looking at just a handful of carefully selected images. In that spirit, I hope you find it useful to get a much broader—less edited—look at my everyday work beginning in the gallery just below (also, please be sure to see the original sets of comps shown for many assignments).

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One Title, Multiple Designs

click on images to enlarge each set

About

I have been an Art Director / Graphic Designer for over 35 years—with the greater part of my early years in book publishing. For the past twenty-plus years I’ve continued to design book packaging while also working independently with a wide range of small businesses, corporations, nonprofits, and individuals to help shape their message and presentation through promotional materials, websites, identities and logos.

I’ve managed staff, created presentations in various media and taught a college course in Web Design. However, I will always consider myself foremost a hands-on, problem-solving designer.

I’ve designed covers for Random House, Crown, Putnam, St. Martin’s Press, New World Library, McGraw-Hill, Bloomsbury, Tor Books, Frommer’s Travel Guides, Bloomberg Books, Career Press, Marlowe & Company, New World Library and Wiley amongst many others.

My in-house publishing experience includes both Design and Art Director positions at GP Putnam’s Sons, Paragon House, and John Wiley and Sons.

All of my other (non-publishing) work can be viewed at 744creative.com