Author and creative director Adrian Shaughnessy briefed Bibliotheque, the U.K. design group, to produce a typographically led, content-driven cover, as well as an internal layout for his book How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul.

The brief was to create a cover that would appeal to idealistically minded young designers but also reflect the book’s core message, which is that design is not just about formulaic solutions to commercial problems, but is also about encouraging designers to use the power of expressive design in both commercial and noncommercial settings.

“As this is a practical book,” explains Bibliotheque designer Jon Jeffrey, “the list of contents became the basis for the cover design. We designed a cover that reflected the information-driven layout within, which we also designed. The design of the cover—and the internal layout—uses only two colors in an attempt to show that a restricted budget need not result in lack of impact and effectiveness.”

A typographic cover with soul—and a functional table of contents as well.