Crime and Reheated Cabbage
Author: Irvine Welsh
Designer: Darren Haggar
Publisher: WW Norton & Co
Art Director: Albert Tang
Typefaces: Crime: ITC Souvenir, Pica;
Reheated Cabbage: Egyptienne SB Bold Condensed, Helvetica
Genre: Crime

These book covers, especially Crime, have always screamed at me from the shelf. The cover for Crime made me wonder who this Welsh fellow was. Is he funny… Sinister…? Turns out he's both. Read Darren's design commentary below. Thanks Darren! Also, make sure to click through the slideshow of proposed comps on both books.
—Jason Gabbert

Firstly, a big thank-you to Albert for giving me the opportunity to work on these projects. Secondly, a nod to Jae Song for doing some amazing overnight photoshop work that I couldn't have done in a month of Sundays.

About Crime:
A Scottish detective, Ray Lennox, is placed on psychological leave after a gruesome child-murder case. He and his fiancee, Trudi, take a trip to Miami to relax and recharge. While she flicks through bridal magazines and makes plans for their wedding, he hits the local bars and overloads on drugs and alcohol. It's downhill all the way from there when he gets caught up with the wrong sort of people and another child in danger.

About Reheated Cabbage:
A selection of short stories.

About the covers:
The brief was, make it big and bold‚ so that's what I tried to do. I was influenced by the cover treatments of Welsh's previous books, especially the original UK covers for Filth‚ and Porn‚ (both amazing), which were published while I was still working in London. Not much more to say really.

About the images:
Crime: The lollipop was shot by Cormac Hanley and came from Getty. It refers to a particularly hard-hitting scene about two-thirds of the way into the book. I presented other comps, some of which were probably too off-putting (although I did like the fluffy bunny face down in the grass). I considered replacing the stock shot with my own photograph, but Albert was happy with it as it was - probably for the best.

Reheated Cabbage: The trick here was finding an image that reflected Welsh's style of storytelling as a whole, rather than something that related to a particular short story. I thought the mood of a photograph by Martin Parr might work - his images are bright and cheerful and somewhat ironic. I tried shots of seagulls, pigeons, fry-ups, lager, chewing gum, rotten food, before stumbling across the photograph of a rat by Andrea Fremiotti on Gallerystock.

07.20.09 // Ian Shimkoviak said:

The end result on both these covers is perfect. a blend of boldness and subtlety that catches your eye immediately. While the comps were energetic and fun to look at, I think the final ones will strike home as the reader goes through the book. The lolly pop one is gruesome and yet approachable. Something horribly nasty/sexy/scary/ and bottom line f'ed up about it. Also digging that type treatment. Can't wait to read these...

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09.22.09 // Thomas Ng said:

Darren's new cover "Inherent Vice" is also really impressive. Breaks right out of molds. And elegant too.