Author: Daniel Tiffany
Designer: Natalie F. Smith
Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Photograph: Weegee (Arthur Fellig), Warming Up (ca. 1938). International Center of Photography, New York. Getty Images.
Something about the image and type interaction on this cover pulled me in. This is a very subdued treatment creating a very bold statement. Thanks again Natalie!
—Jason Gabbert
The audience for Infidel Poetics is scholarly and the author seemed to be hard to please. Luckily, it didn’t take long to come up with the cover concept. The author suggested the WeeGee photograph and the book summary provided was full of visual language:
From past to present, audiences have thrilled to find themselves in verbal darkness, whether deciphering slang-filled lyrics or listening to urban hip-hop. Infidel Poetics is a tour through the underground uses of obscurity. Tiffany’s subject is the pleasure of cruising the unknown in a text, of sampling the tongue of cultural “infidels,” as they were called in the eighteenth century, who trafficked in the worlds of crime and radicalism. He illuminates the tradition of “cant” and its eccentric genres (thieves’ carols, beggars’ chants, gallows songs) and relates it to a historical genealogy of modern nightlife.
Within an hour of seriously considering the cover I had an idea. I sent out this message to the design department:
Odd question. Does anyone have any white chalk or know of some around the office? (I want to try to write the name of a book title on black paper with white chalk.) Thanks for your time! Natalie
Before anyone replied, I thought to try an eraser so I could get to work right away. In high school I would write on all my Mead notebook covers with erasers. I found an EraserStik in the supply closet and it worked out well.
I set the title in Interstate Hairline, which was knocked out on a black background. I used the EraserStik over the letters on the printed piece and scanned it into Photoshop. Only a little finnessing was needed before placing the title over the WeeGee photograph.
10.20.09 // Ian said:
Beautiful. Reminds me of NYC parks in the winter when i was growing up. eerie but subtle.
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10.20.09 // Henry Sene Yee said:
I Love everything about this cover. Beautiful image, great type.
If I found an image like this, I would be too afraid to screw it up with my
type. Natalie blended the two perfectly.
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10.20.09 // Courtney Baker said:
Natalie is so talented! I love her ingenious ways of using handwritten titles without making them look cheesy or too trendy.
