Well here is why I needed to sketch upside down Volkswagen Beetle cars in my last but one post. The notion for this cover is a little bit tongue in cheek (for those who haven't read the short story it's about a chap who wakes up transformed into a giant beetle) but something about the idea appealed to me. Perhaps it's the mix of the iconic story and the iconic car... maybe the surreal nature of the plot is amped up that little bit more by seeing a car in bed...? Whatever it is there was also the challenge to show the cover without resorting to the usual design treatment showing images of an actual insect. All the cover and spine text is hand cut from card or paper for that more disjointed, slightly insectish feel. I hadn't planned on the 'headlamp' O's for the title or the tyre tread pattern for the book's spine but they were spur of the moment choices that just seemed like the right thing to do to help with legibility of the title, tie the front and back covers together and also lay on the VW beetle theme a little bit thicker.
