The cool thing about being a graphic designer and a writer, is sometimes I get to design my own books. Done was the original, self-published version of 52 Amazing Things That Became True of You the Moment You Trusted Christ prior to FaithWords purchasing the publishing rights from me. It was also the version where I had complete control of the design and got to do all the fun things I wanted without needing to seek approval.
I chose the specific cross on the cover for the way it represents how our identity in Christ being a mixture of many different truths from Scripture coming together to create a singular picture of who we are. I also felt with so many book covers in the religion genre sticking closely to earth-tones and other muted hues, having a bright burst of neon on the shelf would really help it stand out.
The biggest interior challenge with a book like this, is the length of the chapter titles. It’s helpful for the reader to have chapter titles as running heads, but when they’re this long they don’t always fit on a single line. I solved that issue by running them vertically along the left spine. This still allowed for easy navigation, and also allowed them to run as long as they needed.
This treatment also allowed for another graphical nod to the power of Christ—the spot in the upper left separating the title from the running head. Yes, it’s a paint drop from the cover, but in black and white it looks a lot like a drop of blood. I love the imagery here of Christ blood being the seal on your life… the thing that ensures all these promises are already “Done” because of what He has sacrificed to make it so.
DONE. by Stephen Kuhn
5.25 x 8 Paperback
2015