Winner AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers 2020

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Book cover
AW Bruna

Background

Grid is a thriller by British author Nick Cook, published by AW Bruna. It was selected as one of the 2020 50 Books | 50 Covers winners by the American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA).

Approach

We wanted to do something that is not very common in the thriller genre: a purely typographic cover design. Portraying the title literally as a typographic grid and only using black and white, the design seeks to infuse suspense. Publishing house AW Bruna was brave enough to only let us mention the authors name on the spine, in order to arrive to a clean and powerful cover design.

Word from the jury

“Unexpected cover for a thriller with its all-type infinity mirror. Interesting that the author's name doesn’t appear on the cover but the word 'thriller' does.”
— Paul Sahre

Many thanks to the American Institute of Graphic Arts for selecting Grid for their legendary 50 Books | 50 Covers awards. Grid is now part of both the AIGA Design Archives and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.