Rodrigo Corral. I heart Rodrigo Corral. I think what I like most about him is his range--he can do very commercial, as in the case of the wildly popular design for
The Fault in Our Stars or in the case of Jay-Z's
Decoded, and then he can do something really weird, like
Fight Club was when it first came out. And he subsequently has designed all of Palahniuk's books, including
Lullaby, which famously does not have the title or author on the cover (see below). He also did the glow-in-the-dark cover for
Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four Hour Bookstore, if you remember that one from an earlier post of mine. (Side note: I finished it and enjoyed it more than I thought I would when I was halfway. It still has some issues, but in general, it's quite lovely.) He pays attention to the books he designs for, creates images that make sense for them, and sometimes makes unusual decisions for layout and materials. Definitely look at his website as it is stunning in and of itself, and you can work your way through some of the projects to see the interior in addition to the cover. Case in point, Jay-Z:
A random sampling of other covers of his that I like, including the iconic one for James Frey:
Say what you want about Frey's infamous fictional "memoir," and h
is dubious subsequent publishing project, but that cover is pretty darn great. And for your further reading pleasure,
here's a profile from the Wall Street Journal from when Junot Diaz's
This Is How You Lose Her was about to come out.
