Author: Kobo Abe
Designer: John Gall
Publisher: Vintage Books
Genre: Literary. Readers of Japanese fiction.
Typeface: Alternate Gothic No 1. and Bodoni Old Face.
Imagery: From various sources.
Specials: Matte Varnish

John Gall was kind enough to share with us his process on the Kobo Abe covers. His process and thoughts on collaboration are about as unique as the product's end solution. Thanks, John, for showing us these lovely covers and sharing your thoughts on them!
—Jason Gabbert

My first job out of college—a foot in the door kind of thing—was at a mass market publishing house. In order to make it work, I had to figure out what would make a good cover and then do the exact opposite. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough and never wanted to work in publishing again.

These are a set of novels by Kobo Abe. Some words used to describe him: avant-garde, surreal, Marxist, absurd, black-humored.

Strict paperback format 5 3/16 x 8.

Reading the books and compiling notes and images.

These covers were created in collaboration with Ned Drew and we had a blast working on them.

A number of years ago Ned asked if I wanted to participate in an email collage project he was working on. One person starts a collage, emails it to someone else, they add to it and pass it back. I think there is a name for it now (photoshop tennis?) but this was way before all that.

I really enjoyed the process and thought, "Wouldn't this be a great way to design a book cover?" Then: "Actually, wouldn't this be a really horrible way to design a book cover?" Regardless, I decided to give it a shot. I contacted Ned, and off we went. After the first back and forth I knew we were on to something.



Well, one thing I am always trying to do—which is one of the hardest things to do—is to come up with something new and original. I want to surprise myself. I want to create images in combination with type that no one has ever seen before. As time goes on and the further we become acquainted with a particular format, the harder it becomes to break free. We know too much. We know the problems and we know what works, so why diverge? Designing these covers had an element of unpredictability that excited me. We knew where we were starting but didn't know where we'd end up. Mind you, this is opposite of the way I usually work, which is to define the problem, come up with a concept, then execute.

These covers are less about communicating a specific idea and more about type/image juxtaposition. The concept is really about the process and the unlikely combinations of images that result.

This approach worked well for these particular books but it would be difficult to attempt on, say, a book about how to train your turtle. There needs to be some room for interpretation. That said, Ned and I have since collaborated on a bunch of editorial illustrations for the NY Times, New York Magazine, Wired, etc. Its great having to only come up with half of an idea. I have tons of those!

I learned a lot about collaboration. In our field one has to collaborate with others who have different areas of expertise: editors, publishers, authors, illustrators, photographers, etc.. But at some point the collaboration stops and its just you and the book cover. For the Abe's it was a 50/50 thing on my turf. I had to cede some of the control of the design, which was scary but extremely rewarding.

01.04.10 // Ian Shimkoviak said:

These are simply wonderful to behold. The process described is nothing short of genius. It is true that this kind of stuff could only work on this type of book in terms of marketing and sales, but the notion that it would work even for this, is wonderful to behold in the end. Gall never fails to amaze.

Great post.