The thing that I love about designing book covers
is it's always different, and that's
also the thing that's really hard about it.
Coming up with something that's not
going to be the same as everything that's out there
is really tough.
But when it works, it's the most rewarding thing ever.
My name's Lynn Buckley.
I am a book cover designer at Penguin Random House.
I was always looking through design annuals
when I was in school, and this was
before Pinterest and design blogs.
And I just was always drawn to the book covers.
So, then, I went to this exhibition
at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum.
I saw the covers there, along with all these other
forms of design, and I just thought this is really
what I wanted to do.
Sometimes-- this is going to sound really weird,
but I will ask the characters what
they would like for the cover.
Somehow sometimes, I'll get a little answer, which is--
it sounds really ridiculous and kooky, but it works
[LAUGHING]
sometimes.
So, hey.
I have always combined illustration and digital design
in my work.
When I was in school, I was a painting major.
So I like to make things, and then scan them,
and/or photograph them, and somehow use them
in the designs.
There's a lot of just playing around
with things, images, photographs, type
until something works.
How many versions of a cover do I do?
It's-- yeah, you don't want to know.
Sometimes, I've done three covers.
I've done hundreds for one book.
So when I started working on Back Talk,
I usually try to get myself in, kind of,
in the mood of the characters.
And this one was definitely not hard to do.
[LAUGHING]
It's a book of short stories, mostly about young women.
Many of the women in the stories are not saying everything
that they want to say.
I was hoping to, with the design,
somehow capture the character's exasperation,
I think, with not expressing their desires and their needs.
One of the things that's great about this book
is the title Back Talk or Talk Back.
You can play with the design on the words.
I also wanted to get a face to be there, but not be there
somehow
[LAUGHING]
To be covered over, especially covering over the mouth.
The author of Back Talk is Danielle Lazarin.
And I get to meet her today, which is very exciting.
She was kind enough to send me a thank you note
after she got the design.
Knowing that I have made the author happy
is definitely a high point of my job.
Remember that?
Oh, I forgot about that.
Well, it looks better.
I had an ego moment where I was like,
could my name just stand out just a little bit more?
There was, I think, like, gray or something.
I was like, can we just make that pop a little bit.
I forgot about that, but yeah.
I wasn't surprised to see a woman on the cover,
but I was surprised at how much I liked the woman on the cover.
And I loved how painterly she was,
and how thoughtful that interpretation of a woman was,
and then, how direct she was, though I do wonder, like,
was that something-- did you always know that there
would be a woman's face on it?
No, I mean, I really wanted to do like--
I guess I didn't do that many, I thought I did a whole bunch--
but like, something where she was talking back.
Yeah, let's look at it, again.
[CHUCKLING]
The more I look at it, the more I love it.