The Iliad
While there are countless interpretation of this classic Greek legend, this book jacket design echoes one that reads Homer’s great epic as one of tragedy, suffering, and the loneliness of divine destiny. Heavily influenced by the play adaptation by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, “An Iliad,” I try to capture the poignant heartbreak with minimalist symbolism: a lone poppy, symbol of death, struck through by an arrow.
Approaching a book is much like approaching a meal—you eat with your eyes first. In designing this book jacket, I wanted to create an experience for the reader that primed them for the work they are about to read. On the bookshelf, they see a spot of blood on the otherwise pristine spine. Striking imagery standing out on a minimalist white background. As the reader turns the hardcover book in their hands, they see on the back a field of poppies—a battalion of stories coming to an end, the desolate loss caused by war.
The famous arrow that pierced Achilles’s heel does not make an appearance in The Iliad itself, but given the cultural understanding of the Greek legend, it made sense to include a bow-and-arrow pattern in the inside front cover of the book.