The Cold Of Summer

Old dangers threaten a new future.

After working with E.L. Williams on the artwork for her debut novel in ‘The Ethereal World’ series, I was honoured to be asked to work with her again on the sequel, ‘The Cold Of Summer’. The project included creating both eBook and full print cover designs for the novel, 3D mockups for use in promotional material, a range of interchangeable Amazon A+ branding designs & banners, and a promotional bookmark.
Following on from the design inspiration for the first book in the series, ‘The First Ethereal’, we wanted to evolve the design of the intricate and intertwining floral artwork to reflect the new flourishing setting of the follow-up and the story's theme of ‘The Very’ re-emerging and the spread of their corruption on this thriving new world.
Making of.
To keep with the flowing, natural feel we wanted for the cover design I decided to hand illustrate all of the main elements of the artwork. After much discussion and sharing some rough drafts and ideas with Williams, we decided on most of the main elements that she wanted to include in the cover that would help portray certain elements and themes from the novel. As the world in this story is a much more hopeful and healthier place than it was in its predecessor, I wanted to portray that with a brighter, more vibrant colour palette and a wider range of blooming flora. I also made sure to include an animal element from the novel into the negative space of the flora design similar to the previous book, this time a crow.
Paperback cover.
As with the previous book in the series, this novel would be available as both an eBook and a paperback through both Amazon/Kindle and IngramSpark, as well as a personal print run by Williams from a UK based print studio. With the front cover artwork being similarly intricate to ‘The First Ethereal’, I wanted to continue the design theme of keeping the spine and back cover simpler and focusing mostly on the text elements.
Mockups.
Williams also required some digital mockups for use in promotional material and to give a visual for the soon-to-be-printed book. I created a few variants for her that would give her a range to use depending on the context and platform, including both paperback and eBook versions and some that included both books in ‘The Ethereal World’ series.
Amazon A+ Material.
After discussing what kind of designs Williams would need to help with product marketing, we landed on a variety of interchangeable designs for Amazon A+ including banners featuring the flora artwork and titles from both books in the series, as well as square designs featuring key artwork, mockups and blank variants for Williams to use as a template in Canva to add things such as reviews or quotes.
Bookmarks.
The final part of the project was to create a double-sided promotional bookmark that would implement design elements from both books in ’The Ethereal World’ series for Williams to include with her personal print run of this novel.
'Quote from author goes here'
E.L Williams, author of 'The Cold Of Summer' & 'The First Ethereal'
Available now on Amazon