the stone sky – book cover design

design rationale

The Stone Sky is the epic conclusion to N.K. Jemisin’s award-winning Broken Earth trilogy. The speculative fiction series combines elements of science fiction and fantasy to create a rich new world. Previous covers for The Stone Sky use a combination of text effects and image editing to emphasize the fantasy elements of the series. In contrast, this book jacket brings the science fiction elements to the foreground through a minimal typographic approach to appeal to different readers within the core science fiction and fantasy audience and possibly draw in new readers who do not usually read these genres.

The Stone Sky centers on Essun and Nassun, a mother and daughter who are Orogenes (an oppressed group of people who have the power to move and still the earth). This design uses an overwhelming black sphere to suggest the heaviness of the earth and the tension with the moon that might destroy it. The letters of the word “stone” form an unstable pile threatening to topple, which depicts the instability of the post-apocalyptic world of the novel. The bold weight of the characters in “stone” contrasts the light airiness of the characters in “sky” just as the story juxtaposes Nassun and Essun and the themes of destruction and rebirth. The cover uses a clean, modern sans serif font, Neue Haas Grotesk Display Pro, in various weights to depict the futuristic and technological aspects of the story. The pop of orange highlights the “O” on the cover. The roundness of the “O” resembles planetary bodies but also consists of a larger circle containing a smaller circle, like the relationship between mother and child. The pops of orange—the colour of hot magma—throughout the cover emphasize information, draw connections, and create continuity throughout the design.