Project brief: A book of essays about music published during the span of the author’s 12-year career at The New Yorker magazine.

Approach: I designed the jacket for the author’s previous book, The Rest Is Noise. The bold red I used for both jackets has become known around the office as “Alex Ross Red.” It was decided very early in the process that this new book should also have an all-type design. The vibrating type is intentional and is intended to represent sound.

Effectiveness: Some people have complained to me that the design hurts their eyes. In this case, I take that as a great compliment! Getting the colors just right to produce the effect was the trick, and the printer did a great job.

I hear the music. Fantastic use of type to illustrate musical repetition and sound.