Fwis: What’s your background? How and when did you become interested in design?
Jon Gray:When I was 8 I decided to be an artist. Apparently this didn’t pay, but the careers advisor at school said that by adding the word ‘commercial’, I would become extremely rich. (quote) I adjusted my aspirations accordingly, did a basic foundation course and managed to con my way into the London College of Printing. LCP is like the design equivalent of marine training. I went in a boy and came out a … boring graphic designer.
F: How did you get involved with the publishing industry? Do you do work outside of book design as well?
JG: During my second summer at college I managed to get a work placement at a publisher (Little, Brown UK). (should possibly contact publishing houses) Then, fortunately, when I graduated they offered me a job. Since then I’ve worked primarily in books, and the very occasional poster.
F: Do you make it a point to read the book before you design its cover? What happens when you hate the book?
JG: I try to read the books where possible. You always get caught out if you don’t, ‘That character dies at the end of chapter one!’ etc.
You can usually get something visually from a book even if you hate it.
F: A lot of your covers make heavy use of calligraphy. Have you had formal training in lettering? What kind of process do you go through with these covers?
JG: Formal training?! Are you kidding?! Look at it, I can barely write. In terms of process, everything is drawn first, usually on layers of trace, then scanned and manipulated on computer. (quote)
F: What of your work have you been disappointed by, or particularly pleased with?
JG: I get disappointed with a lot of my work. Sometimes time constraints mean that I don’t feel things have been finished off properly or that ideas haven’t been properly explored. Or sometimes you go too far down a particular road, you know it’s not what you thought it would be, but it’s too late and they love it.
F: What is the best cover you’ve done that the publisher shot down? Do you have any sort of funerary ritual for such ideas?
JG: Best cover I’ve done that was shot down I think, was IM OK for Jonathan Safran Foer. He changed the title and there’s no way it was going to work with the new one – ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’.
F: What authors have you been meaning to work with, or would like to work with in the future? Do you find that certain authors require a certain aesthetic, or do you give each one carte blanche?
JG: Anyone who’ll have me.
F: Do you work for both UK and USA publishers? If so, have you noticed a difference in the design sensibilities of the audience or publisher?
JG: I do work for both. There are differences but I think they are more apparent at the commercial end of book design.
Generally a good idea works anywhere.
F: What’s the hardest book that you’ve had to deal with, in terms of concept or content, and what unique challenge did it present?
JG: A book of suicide notes. On the face of it it seems like an amazing project and the chance to do something very powerful. Then you start thinking about the visual representation of suicide and you end up trawling through a bunch of clichés that are totally lacking any respect. I failed dismally.
F: Can you describe your brainstorming/concepting process? Is it a deep meditative stance? War-room frenzy? Long walks on the beach?
JG: It starts off as a deep meditative stance and then, as the deadline comes and goes, dissolves into a war-room frenzy.
F: What one bit of advice would you offer to other cover designers out there? (This is your chance to sabotage the competition, by the way.)
JG: Don’t answer questionnaires unless you have something to contribute. (quote)
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