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Design Category
Book design, 2006
Design firm
Simon & Schuster (New York, New York)
Collection
(2007) 50 Books/50 Covers of 2006
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This cover is a redesign of the granddaddy of all novels about the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union. The design references a late-1930s Russian aesthetic while still feeling like it could have been designed in 2006. The cover also reflects the fate of the jailed main character, Nicholas Rubashov, an aging revolutionary who is imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the party to which he has devoted his life.
“The use of mock Russian constructiveness aesthetic and colors—red and black—are appropriate for this classic of Soviet Union history. But the design is not a pastiche. It’s a contemporary spin on design history that is new again.”