CLIENT /// Penguin /// PROJECT /// Penguin design awards 09 – Donna Tartt – The secret history – cover

BRIEF /// Design a fresh and bold new look for this cult classic in order to bring it to a new generation of readers.

Illustration - Joe Ward | Art Direction & Design - Matt Daniels

SOLUTION /// Working with illustrator Joe Ward, this was our submission for the penguin design awards 09. The typographic concept was to describe the Greek influence within the book, using an ancient Greek method of writing called boustrophedon meaning in Greek epigraphy ’as the ox turns’. Boustrophedon describes the script on early Greek inscriptions in which lines of text run alternately from left to right and reversed right to left, as the ox pulls the plough in successive furrows.

The illustration of the snow hare is symbolic of the character Bunny, whose cracked glasses lie unearthed in the snow next to the hare, while a group searches for Bunny in the background. The frozen location was an important aspect within the story that is emphasised through the black and white illustration and icicles on the barcode.