A Book for Healing
The creation of the updated edition of Gifts from a Challenging Childhood required a delicate balance: projecting professionalism while offering gentle guidance as a supportive friend.
After meeting with author Jan Bergstrom to discuss her goals, I explored a variety of cover possibilities from her suggestions, from abstract art to Zen sand gardens, inner light, a rising phoenix, and cliché ideas like a family holding hands or an illustrated brain—anything but a literal gift as she tried on the first edition.
My goal in this self-help book was to provide a friendlier, more welcoming design than the first edition and to incorporate a variety of tabular charts and personal exercises.
In the end, my idea of a photorealistic cover illustration of a kintsugi vase with flowers, the vase broken and mended with veins of gold, provided a subtle but powerful metaphor for inner strength and healing that really clicked.
Details from the Design
Design Reflections
Design Objectives: Designed to appeal to adult readers coping with childhood trauma. Professional and supportive, while overcoming the limitations of the first edition—a confusing cover and poor typography throughout, which were unwelcoming as they were difficult to read.
Creative Process Highlights: The cover set the tone for the book, though initially it was challenging to break out of clichéd ideas. My reflection on the book’s underlying theme—of healing and embracing the difficulties—made the broken-and-mended vase a natural choice.
The interior features numerous tables and diagrams and, along with the supplemental handout, provides a systematic, professional approach that helps readers find a guided place of healing. But spots of whimsy and levity can still be found—the occasional illustrated flower or branch, which help differentiate this book from the dry, stagnant visual approach seen in so many self-help books.
Design Choices: The decision to go with a sepia-tea-toned seamless background added a warmth that was lacking in the first edition, as well as a quiet image despite being full-bleed. The patina provided a natural, full-wrap cover without interfering with the blurbs and other back-cover information.
To carry the theme into the interior, the professionalism of the typography is paired with the somewhat playful plan line art in the chapter, part, and front matter pages. It is quiet, but encouraging.
