The Red Shoe

Shortlisted for the 55th Annual Australian Publishing Association's Best Design Young Adult Fiction Award.

Full cover (gate-fold paperback) for young adult/adult novel. I used collage (turps release print, white pastel, pencil, pen and Photoshop) to create a slightly haunted look for this disturbing but beautiful story. Click on the image for a larger view. I was asked to design the first chapter to look distinct from the rest of the book – it was added after the manuscript had been edited, to introduce the Red Shoe story, which is read allowed in this introductory chapter and is an important allegory in the novel. I produced illustrations in the style of the fairytale books I had as a kid. I always liked the Red Shoe (despite the fact Karen gets her feet axed off at the end for coveting red shoes, a crime I'm absolutely guilty of):

I was also briefed to design a series of pages in the style of a 1950s newspaper, which are scattered through the book. The author supplied copies of the original newspaper articles, a few of them are collaged above on the endpapers (in red). I used them as visual reference and developed a template reminiscent of the layout. These news stories set the tone of the era and are generally grim and foreshadow the tragic climax.