The Making | 01
What the cover almost was.
~
I found finalising the cover one of the hardest decisions this season. From the type size and placement, to the texture, colour and shade. The majority of the decisions were made via a photograph or through a screen, long before the material ever reached my hands.
The first sample that arrived was a deep chocolate brown. Opening it, running my hands over it, it was smooth to the touch which was beautiful, but the texture had been printed on, rather than embossed into the material itself. I sat with it for two weeks before making a decision. I picked it up constantly. Photographed it in different light and tested it, but it never quite felt right for the brand.
Ordering another sample wasn't really an option. DEAR JOE is self-funded, and I was re-building it while on maternity leave so every dollar had to be considered carefully, samples included.
The time came to commit to the bulk run and I was still debating the cover material. I found myself scrolling back through messages with the factory, looking at all the material images and video they'd shared. Here I remembered a material that had previously caught my eye earlier in the process. A textured, pebbled cover with a natural dark chocolate hue. I took the plunge and ordered 300 units without ever laying my eyes on it in person. I was terrified, but I knew the original sample wasn't it.
When the airfreight samples arrived from the bulk run, I was nervous opening the box, worried I'd made an expensive mistake. Then I saw the cover and the biggest smile spread across my face. I knew I had made the right decision and I'm thankful I trusted myself.
I'm a tactile person. I've always been the kind of reader who chooses a book by how it feels as much as how it looks, despite what everyone tells you. It wasn't just how it felt in the hand. It was how it looked wherever it ended up, in a bag, on a café table, on the dining table sitting next to your morning coffee.
The branding follows the same thinking. Small, quiet, set low on the cover. Not because subtlety is a trend, but so it can move through your day without announcing itself, in a meeting, on a table at a café, tucked into a bag. It took several rounds of mock-ups, printed and tested at different sizes, before the placement felt right. Every detail, down to the font size, was a considered and deliberate choice.
That's the balance I was trying to strike. Something you want to look at and admire, and still reach for daily without feeling overwhelmed.
~ Erin