A book redesign of Philip Pullman’s critically-acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy. The novels – The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass – follow Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, two children caught in the midst of a war between the creatures of multiple earthly worlds and heavenly powers above. Unknown to the protagonists, they themselves are the key to ending this epic conflict. The trilogy, though targeted towards children, is rather dark and explores themes of coming-of-age in a mature way that adults can enjoy as well. Popular book designs for the novels, however, do not reflect this.
With this project I set out to create a book design that both drew in older readers and reflected these darker themes in a special edition-like aesthetic. The book jacket features a foiled centre piece – the item in mention in each of the titles – and is otherwise a two-tone grey to achieve a layering effect; this visual layering calls to mind the multiple layers of themes within the novels themselves. While the exterior plays with more modern elements like the titular font, the interior is a modified traditional layout to echo the old-time feel of Lyra’s world. Illustrated drop caps at the beginning of each chapter, along with the foiling of the book jacket and the extravagant gold, silver, and amber fly-leaves (in each successive novel of the trilogy, respectively) give the design the luxury of a special edition.
