Portfolio
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/51/51788/attachment_51788993 "For her novel, Single Player, Jaimie didn't want her main female character's face to be visible. Though her book is quirky, the subject matter is quite heavy, dealing with fear and even grief. Clearly, the cover couldn't look cheesy. My design goal was to capture the fun and quirkiness of the story while juxtaposing it with the gravity of the circumstances. To prevent the cover from becoming cluttered, I chose to include the cancer ribbon and the gaming console right into the title. This gave me more space to play with. I took advantage of the entire full jacket and I created the scene I envisioned: a young woman laid on the couch in her room and a cute black lab waiting eagerly to go outside for new adventures.")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/40/40075/attachment_40075759 "Even though Lianne’s book is about how magic happens if we stay true to following our passions, it is also down to earth and often humorous as touching on subjects like life after death, law of attraction, natural health and spiritual practices.
Lianne started her project by suggestion the use of abstract elements like a bird in flight for example. However, I truly felt it was better to use their dog on the cover because it relates to the whole meaning of the book—Leela is a sanskrit word meaning dance of life. To my great pleasure, Lianne really liked my concept and we kept refining it by integrating different natural elements to really catch the beauty of life. I admit I have a personal affinity for memoirs and Lianne’s book is no exception. Her book is a proof that life only seems like a series of un-related events, when, in fact, it is intrinsically connected and is worth living no matter how difficult it might get. I am proud to be part of Lianne’s book!")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/52/52160/attachment_52160710 "Magpies and Magic by Timothy Michael Lewis is aimed at teens and adults who like to read fantasy fiction. Tim's design suggestion was to have a magpie flying towards the reader with a dragon in pursuit. The aim was for the magpie to be the main focus of the entire cover. However, when flying, magpies have very wide wings stretched out. It was going to be hard—if not, impossible—to have a flying magpie fully on the cover without shrinking it considerably. So I came up with the idea of having the magpie sitting on a branch in full close-up. The dragon would be in secondary plane getting ready to attack the magpie. It was a great compromise. And that also made the cover highly visible as an eBook. Color wise, I used strong contrasts and warm hues. Font wise, the fantasy type seemed the best option. The overall mood I went for was action-adventure, fun, and magic.")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/51/51974/attachment_51974494 "Matthew wanted his religious fiction book cover design to have a realistic or impressionistic art style, such as paintings, renderings, photo compositions, etc. He also had a pretty specific scene in mind. He wanted to have the silhouette of an elderly man sitting on a park bench. However, after realising his scene wasn't working as expected, he fully embraced a more artistic and creative interpretation. One of the things I absolutely love about his book is the striking, dramatic discrepancy between the two realities Norman is living in. There's everybody's reality where life goes on normally, and then there's his reality where everything comes to an end. Book readers are usually very drawn to duality because it's intriguing. So what better way to create a more dramatic effect than to somehow depict both realities. That's how I came up with the idea of using the back cover to depict Norman's apocalyptic vision, and the front cover to show the true reality.")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/54/54248/attachment_54248448 "For Kokoda Trial, one important request was for the designer to use two images provided by Rosemary and Mr. Richardson. The first was the photo of a memorial plaque designed by the author himself. The second was a partial map of the Kokoda Track as it was in WWII, and showing Templeton's Crossing. Historical memoirs are amongst my favorite books to design. I love them because they tell the true stories of those people who made a difference. But there's always a challenge when designing a WWII memoir. And that's avoiding to make it look like a WWII fiction book. It really helped that Rosemary provided real-life materials. This way, my focused was on finding a clean layout to tie in all the elements. I avoided the textured, grungy look because those effects are more suited to fiction books. Instead, I created a clean layout with emphasis on the emotional, personal side of the story.")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/50/50849/attachment_50849330 "Initially, Sunnie wanted to use photos from her personal library. They depicted how middle school student girls were assigned to polish the floors of the school’s hallway. The scene was a good metaphor, but the photos were dark and low-quality. So, I decided to take a different more creative approach. I gave an original spin to the cover by using the reflection of a Korean female model in both modern and traditional clothes. The top image is that of a woman dressed in a traditional costume while the bottom part is the reversed version of her wearing modern western clothes. In the end, I created an organic flow of the full jacket by using a subtle magnolia branch—the national flower of South Korea. Sunnie wrote a great book about breaking out of customs and traditions. Her book is not only for those familiar with Korean life. It is for anyone interested in a heartfelt true story. I was very happy she was open to a more creative approach than her initial cover suggestion.")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/50/50543/attachment_50543233 "The Accidentals is a book about three teenagers each with different problems in their lives. Marissa, Jake, and Kaya get tickets to the Echo Music Festival in various ways, and they each hope to use the festival to improve their lives. But when they get there, they recieve a mysterious message and get recruited for a mission. Their mission is to reveal the true identity of a British pop star. The author wanted a simple, yet sophisticated cover to catch the eye of 12 to 16 year olds (primarily girls). The cover needed to be a mixture of the teenage romance novel type and the heist type, spy covers. Having the three teenagers on the cover wasn't necessary. However, it was the best thing to do so that the book would attract the right audience—teenagers. I aimed at keeping it simple, it needed to be clean, and uncluttered.")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/37/37929/attachment_37929321 "In order to create a cover that was going to be visually striking even in thumbnail view, I needed to convey the idea of activist feminist motherhood with a simple, uncluttered image. However, I also wanted the design concept to be creative and out-of-the-box, something that would raise eyebrows and intrigue. I ended up using simple everyday items that a housewife would instantly recognise—a hand in a kitchen rubber glove holding up a frying pan. Even though the scene is meant to be simple, the message is strong and iconic—a radical housewife. Holding Shannon’s book in my hands, I couldn’t be happier. It’s got that beautiful polished look with witty touches that I usually admire in other book covers. I am so happy Terena and Shannon chose to work with me. I am also extremely proud to be part of a project meant to help home-stay moms—especially that I am one of them!")
:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/54/54582/attachment_54582747 "I took a dive into the project knowing that the cover wasn't supposed to look like the typical winter-holiday book. However, it had to instantly let viewers know that it was about Christmas after all. Tough plan! No classic green and red color scheme, not even the starry glitter we are all so used to. Yet, one important detail turned out to be my piece de resistance: the actual dates of the Advent Calendar. I bought a great vector file of number badges, and started playing with it to make each badge simpler. Next, I worked on integrating the beautiful photos the authors provided. I worked the magic of Photoshop brushes and masks. In the end, I placed the cute doll images—the little star's friends—on the back cover. Turns out we got the perfect pattern for our special Christmas book.")
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:format(webp)/99designs-contests-attachments/19/19435/attachment_19435364 "Given Dave’s thorough description, my approach was to create a scene based on the main spherical elements that made up the plot. The offering hand conveys the idea that the spheres represent the gift. The central light beam shining from behind the title created the perfect contrast. This contrast helped the cover become really eye-catching, intriguing, and mysterious at the same time. I loved every minute of the design process for the Gift. Dave is an open-minded person and a creative writer. I was extremely happy my cover design complemented his intriguing story. The Gift has got a lot of great reviews since its official launch. Both the story and the cover got amazing praise in Dave’s interviews.")
About
I am a passionate, creative, versatile self-taught graphic designer with strong work ethics based on integrity, hard work, and respect. To find out more about my work, feel free to visit my official website, https://pixbeedesign.com
Country:
Canada.
Member since:
September 12, 2009
Reviews
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jjcousinY
reviewed almost 2 years ago
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Anonymous client
reviewed almost 2 years ago
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Nellista
responded almost 2 years ago
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Anonymous client
reviewed over 3 years ago
"Nellista is a perfect typesetter. She is both a talented artist and a detail oriented technician. She is highly recommended. "
Anonymous client
reviewed over 3 years ago
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Nellista
responded over 3 years ago
"I can not say enough about Nellista. She goes above and beyond the call of duty to deliver an excellent product. She is such a talented designer. Besides that, her press files are flawless, which is so appreciated because lack of knowledge in this area ..."
Anonymous client
reviewed almost 4 years ago