Crafting Connection Through Thoughtful Design
In Whispers is a poignant young adult novel that delves into the lives of two Native American teens navigating the trauma and resilience born of the Indian boarding school era. The book balances themes of love, identity, and healing with a thoughtful exploration of historical injustices—crafted to resonate with readers on both personal and cultural levels.
Reflections
For this project, my design approach sought to harmonize the emotional depth of the narrative with the hopeful defiance reflected in Eloy Bida’s cover illustration. I created consistent artwork where needed to fill gaps where no interior visuals were provided.
Typography was a key focus. My solution to the challenge of sensitivity and age-appropriate awareness was blending a handwritten serif title and byline with a clean, if somewhat informal, serif for body text and subtitle. This combination offered a delicate, conspiratorial feel without overwhelming the YA audience.
Set against the backdrop of the 1950s, the story alternates between Simon Pendagayosh and Carolina Shaugobay, tracing their diverging paths and enduring connection.
One notable typesetting challenge was accommodating the dual narrative structure, alternating between Simon’s and Carolina’s voices. I implemented clear subheadings to indicate shifts in perspective, ensuring a seamless and intuitive reading experience.
Eloy’s beautiful layered digital cover art required adjustments to ensure optimal composition and print clarity, particularly in the dark, nighttime scene he depicted. And a bit of reworking to extend it around the spine and onto the back cover.
Design Details
To extend the visual language into the book’s interior, I created additional line art inspired by Eloy’s art and Ojibwe cultural motifs, reinforcing themes of connection and resilience.
Interior graphics included chapter openers featuring a prairie flower and its spiky leaves bent against the wind and a divider line made of one of those leaves. Section divider pages were adorned with prairie flowers and a dreamcatcher motif with intertwining souls and prairie flora—dual profiles of Simon and Carolina. These elements worked in tandem to convey the protagonists’ intertwined yet separate journeys, while grounding the design in cultural authenticity and subtle sophistication.
The moon from the cover reappears on the spine, alongside a refined, illustrated version of Dovetailed Press’ logo, creating a cohesive and engaging presence.
Production assistance included preparing the manuscript for print-on-demand. The result is a thoughtfully crafted book that honors its characters’ voices and the cultural legacy it represents, offering young readers a meaningful and immersive experience.
