The art of cover design
Congratulations to Silicon Valley native and writer Adam Fisher on the publishing of critically acclaimed Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley, a self-described labor of love that examines three decades of the evolution of Silicon Valley. We were thrilled to be brought in to design the cover of this important work tracing the oral history of people who have created a new culture. Our design symbolizes the narrative trajectory of the story by illustrating the evolution of the industry and the physical growth from orchards to tech industry parks.
Our printing technique included four metallic and two neon inks, the colors of which are reminiscent of a holograph, on a matte paper finish. The debossed illustration has a prominent tactile feature. It expresses the small scale of the area developing exponentially to show the iconic tech giants that have set up shop in Silicon Valley over the years and to-date; from Atari and Napster, to PayPal, eBay, Twitter, Facebook and Google. With the text aligning to the right side of the page and illustration on the left, it creates a strong composition on a display, while triggering a right-to-left reading of Silicon Valley’s history.
This project is a first for both Fisher and Yves. In the age of digital books, Adam finds the production of this cover to be an important contribution to the literary world, pointing out that, “This design breaks new ground and could serve as the standard for the physical design of books in the future.”
