I won an ABCD award for Jimmy Juliano’s Dead Eleven

I’m particularly proud to have my cover design for Jimmy Juliano’s Dead Eleven recognised as the Best Crime/Thriller Cover at the 2024 ABCD Awards. The Academy of British Cover Design’s awards ceremony was a wonderful celebration of the year’s top book covers. A special thanks to Jamie Keenan and Jon Gray for organising such a friendly and supportive event. The winning cover’s art direction was masterfully guided by Jason Booher at Dutton Books.

I had a lot of fun designing this early 90’s VCR inspired cover. Once we honed in on this direction it became a fantastic collaborative process, incorporating additional text from the editor for the cassette label and unique elements like a skull forming the shape of a cliff edge.

During the initial design phase, I also explored several other concepts that reflected themes in Juliano’s inspiring writing, including 90s aesthetics, the OJ Simpson Bronco car chase, a creepy island and curtain-twitching neighbours. Some of my favourite alternative designs are showcased below.