30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 24

To all who celebrate today, happy Thanksgiving! Today's cover was designed in 24 hours by Henry Steadman, a force to be reckoned with. He was able to do several variations on the cover:



Papyrus by Miss K

Siobhan Connelly, freelance graphic designer, loathes the typeface Papyrus. And yet, the Museum of Ancient History and Antiquities has specially requested it for a brochure promoting their new display on Ancient Nineveh. 

Before Siobhan can even get the pictures she needs to fill in the empty spaces on the brochure, strange things begin happening at the museum. As she tries to piece together where this string of bad luck is coming from, she meets Seamus Delaney, a young man with a story about an ancient curse. Before long she is caught up in a web of intrigue and mystery. What really happened in Ancient Nineveh? Why is there a fish motif running through the new display? How much does Seamus know? And just exactly what typeface does one pair with Papyrus?



Henry Steadman has worked in publishing design for 25 years after having mistakenly wandered in looking for a purpose. After serving an apprenticeship in the art departments of various large UK publishing houses, he has been freelance for the past 10 years. He is now hoping that good behaviour and a genuine display of remorse will lead successfully in an appeal for early release.

A sampling of larger images below:

:O Holy Ackerman! Those are INTENSE.

Love the synopsis and LOVE the covers. I think my favourite is the first of the larger ones. Amazing.

The covers are all awesome!

I especially like the first small one as I think it's the only one with the fish motif, something that must be important since it's mentioned in the synopsis. (I wish all had been enlarged so that I could check them out more closely.)

I'd definitely buy the book based on its synopsis.

I like the blue one on the bottom left. Though all are awesome! Sounds like a great book. I would buy it!

I immediately recognized the Papyrus font on the covers and thought it was clever of the designer to use it. Then I read the synopsis and realized the font was actually part of the plot, haha.

Anyway, these all look like they'd fit right in on the mystery/thriller shelves. I like the first one and the middle one on the second row the best.

Omg, awesomeness! Nice work on getting these done. Think my fave is number eight. Definitely sounds like a novel I would read. Looking forwards to seeing it on the shelves ;)

DEFINITELY my FAVORITE(s). I would TOTALLY pick up a book with one of these covers. These are flipping amazing!!

The bottom two in the blocked picture thing are my favorites. :)

Nice work here. My favorite is the one with the blue ankh symbol. Top right.

Wow! I love them all...each one is amazing! :D

Love all of them!

OMG! Wow! i'm so amazed that the artist was able to come up with so many awesome covers! They are all amazing in their own way but I love the blue cover bottom left corner the most - simple and striking!

Also the story sounds freaking AMAZING! I have always loved Ancient Egypt and this sounds like a fantastic mystery/thriller - plus love the fact the MC hates the font papyrus! that's hilarious!

I love the covers, but why are an ankh and Egyptian images featured so prominently? Nineveh was an Assyrian city, located in the Middle East. They worshipped Ishtar, not the gods of Egypt. Not a complaint, just a question.

Finally! Covers that look like they could actually go in a bookstore(no offense intended for all of the other covers made so far). I love the first big one and the first smaller one. :)

I would totally pick this book up if I saw any of these covers. They all look amazing! The designer did an awesome job!

Ancient history, intrigue, and font jokes? Sounds good to me! Also, that first cover is beautiful. Wow!

I HATE THE PAPYRUS FONT, TOO! I would root for this heroine til the ends of time! And really great covers! I think it's phenomenal that so many variations were done in just one day.

I was reading through the covers, and I saw that the titles was Papyrus, and it was written in the Papyrus font! And then, I read the synopsis and found out that the font is part of the story! Very clever- all the overs seem to fit the plot perfectly.

As to the question of 'And just exactly what typeface does one pair with Papyrus?' the answer is NOTHING. Because it should not be used. Ever. It's just below Comic Sans on my hit list of fonts that need to die painful deaths. :) But I'd read this just to see if she ever gets back at the client who makes her use a font she hates. Because all you can do is smile and nod and say 'No problem!' when they suggest something you don't want to use and have to.