HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover 2019
Finalist
Designer: Keely O’Shannessy
Title: The New Ships
Publisher: Victoria University Press
Format: 210 x 138mm, 366 pages, paperback
Judges’ comments: “Beautiful palette and image crop/abstraction/texture communicating an immediate connection to the content. The back cover is a little harder to read.”
“A striking cover that sails somewhere between Dazzle ships and the breeze just filling the sails of a yacht. The design decision of hand rendered type sits well on the illustration — lettering hinting at the letter codes on yacht sails. The back cover rightly does not try to compete with the impact of the cover, with a blue expanse giving contrast to the front cover and simple space for the blurb to float. The red colour choice of the blurb does however slightly submerge visually in the blue making it ever slightly difficult to read in parts. Nevertheless, the designer’s visible hand and colour and compositional choices make this a want to pick up and turn over title.”
“Love this cover. It really stands out against usually funereal NZ fiction. It reminds us of Dazzle ships which beautifully complements the mysterious and intriguing narrative. A clever and neat abstract interpretation. Works really well on the shop floor where NZ fiction is so often ignored. Love the handcrafted feel – you can see the slightly irregular brush-like strokes – a lovely detail.”
