I was approached by a Boston based author who was looking for a cover design and identity for her YA Novel, The Ivory Rite. With an unknown title at the time of project initiation, the brand identity and design of the novel was integral to launching Ms. Hartford's career as a novelist. She also requested website design services as well as headshots for her brand.

Johanna Hartford is a digital freelance writer who was born and raised in Massachusetts. She fell in love with literature at the age of 9, after memorizing Romeo & Juliet. When her bank account allows you can find her traveling the world with her best friend, but she loves New England in all seasons, and thinks that snow is magical. She does her best writing in yoga pants with the help of Gatsby, her live-in consultant, a particularly talented (yet marvelously ill-behaved) Australian Shepherd. Her writing has appeared on Cosmopolitan, HuffPost and MOGUL Inc. The Ivory Rite is her debut novel.

Since the target audience of this novel included young adults, I sought out teenagers who would be interested in reading this novel. Working as a high school art teacher during the time of the design, I asked the school librarian to name a few students who she thought would give feedback regarding brand identity. I chose a small group of 4 students who felt comfortable giving me feedback and advice. We talked through a few designs with the author and met multiple times for feedback. Using other book covers as inspiration, I researched popular young adult novels. I asked myself "how did those designs correlate to the book content? What worked well and what did not work?" I was also intrigued at how book cover designs change over time with re-release or new publication. It seemed like the designs, rather than being timeless, relied heavily on current design trends.

I also provided photography and web design services for the Ivory Rite identity.