Susan Sandover’s ‘9/36’ book jacket design

We are used to unusual requests here. But designing the cover of a headline-grabbing autobiography was a new one even for us. However when author Susan Sandover approached us to design the cover of her memoir ‘9/36’, we had to say yes. 

The book is emotional telling of Susan’s life with her Libyan diplomat husband Bashir and their time in north Africa. As Susan’s first book – and one with such an emotional subject – we wanted to get it right, but also create a visually striking design.

THE VISUAL STORY OF SUSAN SANDOVER’S 9/36

Susan arrived at our studio with a bag of notes, cards, memorabilia – the familiar paper-based administrative elements of a busy working life.

But in her case these had taken on a deeper meaning. Each represented a memory and moment shared with Bashir, or a loss or triumph during their time together.

We loved the idea of bringing these historic cards and notes together and using them together, collage-style.

Quickly it became clear that rather than filling the page, a cluster together would be more visually striking. We then played with tints and tones and coloured backgrounds and a bold, memorable cover began to emerge.

Backed onto a green, reminiscent of the Libyan flag or an army uniform, this was overlaid with typography which might more commonly be associated with spy thrillers.

The result is a bold and instantly-recognisable book – one we hope will be a great success.

Susan Sandover 9/36: the completed book jacket artwork

SUSAN SANDOVER AND ‘9/36‘

This is the moment we really treasured: seeing a photo of Susie with her newly-printed book for the first time.

It has been such a pleasure working on a new genre of graphic design for us. With the book published and widely-available we can’t wait to find out where the project goes now it’s ‘out in the world’.

Susan Sandover 9/36: Susan at home with her book

FIND OUT MORE

Read more about this project

Order the book on Amazon UK