A Body of Water (book design)

Background The research contributes to the field of communication design practice, specifically book cover design for works of literary fiction, an exploration of the disciplinary intersection between graphic design and narrative. A Body of Water is particularly appropriate for this kind of exploration, as it is more than usually preoccupied with ways of seeing, and the appeal of the visual, both in art and in nature. The title alone could be taken to refer to the book’s settings along the Bellarine Peninsula in Southern Victoria, as well as the author’s own body as an entity which shifts its identity like water, with its changes of mood, relationships and reflections. Continuous invention of unique visual expressions of literature is an historical requirement of the field, yet little is known about the generative strategies of its practitioners. Contribution The design contributes knowledge about metaphorical thinking as a catalyst in the book cover design process. Responding to a photograph of Farmer sitting on a rock by the sea, two unrelated fragments, a piece of seaweed and a rotated section of a blue Matisse papercut, juxtapose in a mermaid. Their arrangement guides the viewer to perceive the differences in each form and to comprehend the new meaning in their combination (Carter, Meggs, Day 2012). The metaphor invokes the book’s title, A Body of Water. Significance The research findings support the concept that tacit exploration of relationships between dissimilar images and objects is a strategy for visual ‘meaning production’ in communication design practice (Drucker, 2014). Demonstrating excellence in the publication design field, the work was commissioned for publication by Giramondo Publishing, awarded ‘Best Design Literary Fiction Cover’ at the 2021 ABDA Awards and shortlisted in the ‘Best Designed Cover’ category at the 2020 AGDA Awards.