How Are You Really!?
May 24, 2023
Category: recent work
how are you really!?
Well TBH, I was freaking out.
Let’s set the scene — it’s spring 2021. I get a client inquiry for branding with a note that they were referred to me by Jenna. Cool, Jenna who? Cut to my Instagram DMs and Jenna freaking Kutcher is in them. SHE WAS THE JENNA and she had referred the company she was an investor for to me for a branding project — whaaaaaaaaaaat!? Long story short, the company didn’t end up rebranding as it had initially planned. I remember feeling so bummed. This felt like life was teasing me. I was thisssssssss close to getting to work with someone I had looked up to and been inspired by for literal years.
Fast forward eight months or so and she was back in my DMs — cue the mini heart attack! She wanted me to design the cover of her new book! So why am I telling you this backstory? I just want to remind you that sometimes things don’t always happen at the exact time we expect them and just because something is a no right now doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen in the future.
If you aren’t familiar with my background, I spent the first few years working in the magazine industry (more on my journey from the corporate world to biz owner here), so to have Jenna reach out about the cover of a book was a full-circle moment for multiple reasons! Not only was this taking me back to my roots in the print space but I’d also looked up to Jenna for YEARS as I sat at my corporate job feeling uninspired and binge-listening to the Goal Digger podcast. Her podcast really helped me through the beginning phases of (and has continually kept me motivated through) my entrepreneurial journey and now she was needing design work done by me! (Somebody come get Ashton Kutcher, I literally felt like I was on an episode of Punk’d.)
You’re probably like, okay, Bri I get it, cut to the chase. But sorry, taking a moment to acknowledge that a true pinch-me, dream moment happened! Anyway back to the story — Jenna reached out after receiving a book cover that didn’t fit the vibe she was going for. She needed something that better resonated with her and her audience. A cover that felt true to her AND would stand out amongst competing authors.
If you haven’t picked up on it already, I’m a huge fan of processes so I started Jenna’s project similar to how I start any branding project with strategy. (More on our strategic branding process here!) While Jenna has built a personal brand, it was important to her that her face wasn’t on the cover because she really wanted to create a design that spoke directly to the reader and allowed them to ask themselves the hard questions.
With that in mind, I knew the design needed to be extremely impactful while also representing who Jenna is. For Jenna’s cover, this included presenting two initial concepts for a cover design both of which aligned with the goal of her project and had thoughtful design strategy behind them. The goal we established was to create a bright, uplifting, and inspiring book cover that makes Jenna’s book jump off the shelf. Once we nailed down a concept based on her goals, we worked through several rounds of refinement to achieve the cover of her dreams!
At one point in the process, I suggested doing an upside-down question mark because the playfulness of the shape really helped fill the space. I was a little nervous Jenna might think it was a dumb idea but her response was actually the opposite. She loved how the upside-down question mark visually represented flipping the script and asking yourself deeper questions.
From there, we leaned into golden and orange tones but on a brighter scale as a way to make readers feel inspired and excited to first, pick up Jenna’s book and secondly, to implement life changes. The result was a bold, colorful, playful, and inspiring cover design for a book that skyrocketed to the New York Best Sellers list, was featured on the Today Show, in the aisles of Target, and on billboards in Times Square just to name a few. To see my design work and collaboration with Jenna all over was a true woaahhh moment — HI, PINCH ME.
Once we wrapped up her cover design, we helped Jenna create a few fun promo materials such as gifs to share on social and to set her up for success to create a landing page on her site. I didn’t realize it at first but the design of her cover was so much like designing a brand. The cover needed multiple elements in order to achieve a memorable feeling that not only attracted readers but also that set her up for marketing success. From the fonts and the hand-lettering to the watercolor textures and the colors — it all helped readers visually resonate with her cover and the promotions for her book.
Check out what Jenna had to say about our project in her own words on Instagram and take a listen to the guest spot I had on her podcast, Goal Digger, as we chatted through the design process for her cover design!
Let’s uplevel your brand and #allthethings that go along with it! We’re here to help you with your website design, custom packaging and collateral, and SO MUCH MORE.
So reach out! The magic is waiting.
