This month, Michelle Argyle at Melissa Williams Design reimagines the cover of Key Man, by indie author Allen K. Huffstutter.
To submit a book for a free cover redesign, email us at booklifeeditor@booklife.com.
Design Note 1: I liked the moody idea of a detective walking in the dark, so I went with an image suggesting night. I also chose to show a Los Angeles skyline to give the reader an idea of the setting.
Design Note 2: Illustrated covers are hot right now, so it was fun to go in that direction for this idea. I went with yellow as the main color of the background and added fire behind the word key to hint at the destruction in the first chapter.
Design Note 3: The author expressed a desire to show wealth on the front cover since it is a large part of the plot, so I put some illustrated cash below the standing man.
Design Note 4: Using a serif typewriter font for the teaser text lends a nostalgic feel to this book set in the 1990s.
Original cover
