A Long Way Down- A different path

This Cover that I have made for a “Long Way Down” by Jason Reynold was a piece made to convey the ominous feeling of confusion and intent that the book has. It was created while trying to interrelate the mood and tone of the book as that was my goal. I tried to overcrowd the piece to show the constant thoughts Will has in the book, as well as the facts and knowledge, revealed to us as we read on in the story. I also wanted to have signs of what Will went through and the actions he wanted to take to “fit into the cycle”. But most of all I wanted a book cover that you would pick up and greatly question the numerous things going around, which makes you wanna read the book so you could understand the strange contents of the binding of this book.

When it came to the layout of the book I placed the “L” from the title in the middle to show the destination Will is trying to reach. The caution tape symbolizes these crimes committed to bring us to where the story begins and revolves around. I also made sure to add only one silhouette in the picture to confuse the reader to think: Is Will actually alone? The glitched-out button for the lobby floor is like that to represent the end of the book, how it could go on to end in multiple ways, and the unease that level holds.

Finally, we talk about colour choice on the cover. I decided to have a lot of blues because blue is usually a calming colour but it also can have a cold feeling to it. When things seem to calm around you know that something is off. The yellow tones were mostly added to break the blue and add some contrast to the cover. Using yellow as the source of light gives something that is there, you're sure that there is a source of light in the cover because unlike blue it doesn't have a vibe of mystery. When you look at the blue areas you can’t be sure of what's there, it’s not a very clear place. You don’t have any way of knowing where anything is. But with yellow, you can infer a lot of things and be almost positive about it. This was a cover that I think is very fitting to the story and one that was able to convey interesting things to someone who may pick the book up