The Secret life of Cowboys
| April 11, 2008

This is a cover designed by Paul Sahre and Josh McDowell. The book's content is about the life of a man who transplants himself from that of a suburban dweller to a hard working cattleman. Throughout his western parade he attempts to disguise his shameful city life with cattle drivin', rodeo riddin' and ranch runnin'. Eventually he falls into depression and has to see a therapist.

The cover's photography (by Jason Fulford) "reinforce[s] and reject[s] the romantic idea of a life of a cowboy." "The symmetrical design is offset by the unpredictability of the handwritten scrawl."

I love the simple juxtaposition of the two images. The bright colors and scribbled type bring all of the elements together. Having the images on the top and bottom also reinforces the idea that they are directly related to one another.

I asked Paul about this cover and he states the below:

jason shot the bottom image specifically for this cover and the image at the top was his response to "hey jason, do you have any generic images lying around of the southwest that i could use on the cover?"
our model was graphic designer rodrigo corral.

i remember being very happy with this cover when i finished it, but am now a bit conflicted about it. in retrospect, i think this cover was really influenced by a chip kidd cover for a book called "darling" although at the time i was not aware that i was channelling it. i do occasionally use my own handwriting in my work, but in this case, i really do think i was sort of aping something that was already in my head. i think it is sometimes ok to be influenced in this way, i personally think that we (designers) have the responsibility to be aware of it when it is happening.

I really appreciate Sahre's honesty and struggle with the design process. Either way, I really appreciate this cover.

Tags:  book cover, design, josh mcdowell, paul sahre

Topic: Book Cover Design