As a book designer I spend my time crafting solutions to design and marketing challenges. On the best days, I make people really happy.

So how does one package an author's gift to the world? Read, muse, confer, consult, research, draft, scratch that, and that... revisit, reconsider, read some more, muse some more, confer some more...

These efforts are collaborative in the best sense of the word, in that they involve the author and the whole team that contributes to bringing a book into the world. Here's a glimpse at the evolution of the gift wrapping for Amy Spurway's CROW:

The title sparks immediate delectation over the most fascinating of birds.

...Dabbling and sketches morph into comps:

Amy's CROW is collecting experience, memories, family, and friends. What could be dangling from those talons? Fuzzy dice, air freshener ("Huh?" says the author, "I don't get it.") A puzzle piece ("Nope," says the author)...

I finally get the images right and determine to create a tactile experience, to boot: an uncoated slightly gnarly cover stock to let you know that this is real, that there's fibre in these pages, that this book will wear with age, as we will do.

Crow is it out in the world this month. Hope you enjoy holding the baby. Thanks, Amy!