The brief for this assignment was to select a recently released book and redesign its cover using only typography and abstract textures. I chose the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, which is about dismantling bad habits and forming good ones to have a significant impact on one’s daily life. To express the theme, powdered sugar was sifted into a stencil to make up the title. The word habits was repeated and gradually disintegrated to represent the concept of breaking bad habits. The powdered sugar was chosen to mimic a particularly bad habit and draw attention from the viewer. Multiple weights of the typeface Brother 1816 were used to create a hierarchy between the different elements. This was the only typeface used to create visual cohesion across the entire cover.

Part of my process was trying to get enough light in the scene to show the detail of the powdered sugar. In an early attempt, I used some spare LED strips to get as much light as possible onto the cover. I didn't have any professional studio lighting on hand so I changed my approach and moved the composition to a room that gets more light during the day. 

This is one of the wider shots I took of the cover. It took me quite a few photos to get the framing of the text and the texture on the left just right. In the final version, I rotated the composition so that the shadow casted under the seam was much less visible.