The design challenge was to create an interesting jacket that would appeal to readers of literature and of political and social commentary.

Since the book is quite varied in subject matter—Vargas Llosa discusses politics, literature, art, Bob Marley and so on—I did a lot of research, looking for a single image that might capture the overall feeling of his essays. One image would not be able to capture the complexity of the content, and therefore I decided to use different decorative borders on a textured background. I felt that this would better illustrate the book’s depth and richness. I chose to print the sans serif face over the script to contrast the seriousness of the political and social commentary with the more lighthearted writings.