Context:

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a YA novel by #1 NYT bestselling author of Red, White, and Royal Blue Casey McQuiston. I used their previous titles as inspiration for some of the type choices, while adding in visual references to the titular Shara’s stationary and iconic kisses throughout the book. Using art from the jacket by Allison Reimold, I made floral endpapers in a cohesive color scheme. I also designed the case packaging for this project, including a bunch of kisses across a stationary-like speckled off-white case. Casey talked about some of our collaborative design choices in the NYT!

This also had a B&N special edition, which I created alternative specs for (the purple edition pictured, with alternate endpapers and a love letter case stamp). It’s fun to brainstorm two versions of the same title at once, this is an example of them going nicely together visually while still appearing distinct enough for different accounts.

My favorite little touch was The Killers lyric “it started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this” as the epigraph, which I of course smacked a kiss mark on.

Tasks:

Typography and image sourcing, endpaper design, sprayed edges, typesetting entire book.

Skills used:

Art direction, creative project management, inDesign, print production, typography, color theory.

Author: Casey McQuiston, Cover Designer: Kerri Resnick, Cover Illustrator: Allison Reimold