Given that the real Donald Trump has just been indicted by a grand jury in Miami, Florida, I thought it might be interesting to share with you how the cover of my book, The Trump Files, was created. The editing, design and final production of The Trump Files was done by professional editors and designers through Indigo: Editing, Design and More.

In its May 2023 edition of its newsletter, Indigo featured the design work of Jenny Kimura. She is a book designer based in New York City, making books by day for a Big 5 publisher, and books by night for Indigo: Editing, Design, and More. I lucked out when Jenny Kimura was asked to design the cover and interior of The Trump Files. You’ll see why I was so fortunate that she agreed to design my book. In the Indigo Newsletter article, Jenny explains the creative process that she used to design the cover the book. Her work is quite spectacular as you’ll see ahead.

Here is what she has to say , starting with the title of the Indigo article.

They May Be Killed, But They’re Still Your Darlings: Book Cover Concepts That Didn’t Make the Cut

By Jenny Kimura, Collaborative Designer 

Every creative out there knows that the best form of a piece of work is one that has gone through multiple iterations. Whether you’re writing or designing, the best way to start a creative project is to try many different ideas to see what works the best for your vision. After all, there is never just one answer to a creative problem!

When I’m designing book covers, I always try a minimum of three to four ideas, but I often end up with twice that, as my original ideas lead to new ideas, or an idea that didn’t work at first is repurposed in a new vision. But since there can be only one final cover, the other options are usually confined to the depths of my archives, never to see the light of day. Not today!

In this article, I’ll be sharing those almost-could-have-been covers from two books that I designed for Indigo clients over the last year.  

First up is Jack Hassard’s The Trump Files, a comprehensive history and analysis of the Trump administration. For a nonfiction book, I knew right away that I wanted to include some photographic options, as is in line with the political nonfiction genre, but that I also would want to try some graphic, bold approaches that would feel different and fresh. I pulled together concepts using a variety of Shutterstock images and my own vector-drawing abilities.  

I ended up with ten covers to send to Jack with a variety of type, colors, and imagery that encompassed a wide range of ideas. At this point in the process, when I send my concepts over to my clients, I always include the note that we can mix and match any of the ideas present, meaning that if a client likes, for example, Option D here, but prefers the title type from Option J, that gives both the client and me a place to start narrowing down options and also a way to voice what is working and not working, since we often don’t know what we like (or don’t like) until we see it.

Fortunately, there were many options in this first round that both Jack and I really liked, but felt that they weren’t quite right for various reasons. I, for example, personally loved Option C—I loved the play on royalty themes from the playing card, the irreverence and humor, the simplicity. It was the first idea that popped into my head and I knew I had to see it drafted out. I had a feeling it might be a tad too complicated of a connection, but I loved making the card, and thought there might be a way to keep tweaking it, so I kept it.  But I also understand why Jack ultimately preferred options A, B, and D—clean and bold, with big type.

After we narrowed down to those three options, Jack asked to see those with some modifications, plus one color variation on B. When we looked at them all together, the clear winner was B. There was something about that fiery orange-red and big, off-kilter title that just made it pop and stand out from the crowd—and we knew it was the winner.

Once we’d decided, I purchased the final high-resolution images needed for the cover from Shutterstock and created the final image, dust jacket layout, and paperback cover layout.

And that’s how a book cover is made! The cover is just as bright in person as it is here on the screen, and pops on any shelf. The Trump Files is out now! You can order a copy here. Please go to this site to read the full article.

See Jenny Kimura’s past book design work at www.jennykimura.com and reach out at jenny@indigoediting.com if you’d like to collaborate!