Alissa Dinallo’s designs grace the covers of many Ventura books - from the more complex Paris Savages, Matryoshka and Raptures Roadway to the minimalist cover of The Warming. To celebrate the release of Paris Savages, we chatted to Alissa about the origins of her design career, the evolution of a book cover, and where her inspiration comes from.
Tell us a little about yourself – how did you get into book design, and what do you love about it?
While I was at university (UTS) I met a brilliant tutor by the name of Zoe Sadokierski, who was a former book designer from Allen and Unwin. She really opened my eyes to the possibilities of book design as a career. As I was completing my degree, I managed to get a job at Allen and Unwin archiving books. Once I was in-house working I got to understand how the design process worked and eventually applied for the role of junior designer. After 3 years at Allen and Unwin I moved to Penguin Random House. At the end of 2015 I decided to start my own business as design freelance for all publishers in Australia and worldwide.
When you received the initial cover brief for Paris Savages, what was your process of coming up with the resulting concepts? Talk us through your process.
This is the third of Katherine’s books I’ve designed. I love her writing, and have a good understanding of the mood and tone she conveys in novels. I wanted to create something dark, naturally beautiful and subtly Australian. I knew I wanted to use flora in an eye catching, clever way. I was originally inspired by the beautiful Ernst Haeckel illustrations, which have a great sense of dark, yet beautiful mystery. As I worked on these concepts, Ventura felt we needed a human element, so I focused on creating covers that hinted at a female character. I tried overlaying illustrations of Australian flora onto a woman’s skin/face. Whilst working through these concepts I started collaging a woman’s face with leaves and flowers. And that’s how I eventually arrived at the final cover.
some early concepts of Paris Savages
How long does it usually take you to come up with concepts once receiving a cover brief from the publisher? Do you have a number of concepts you aim for?
Depending on the urgency of the cover, it generally takes me around 3 weeks. This gives me time to read the manuscript properly and come up with key imagery I think best illustrates the text, whilst keeping it commercial/appropriate to the books genre. I don’t aim for a certain number of roughs, but once I’m on a roll I can produce a lot, and I generally need to cull them before sending them off.
Where do you draw your inspiration from as a designer?
I’m always looking at how image and text interact in the world. I’m always taking note/photos of cool shop signs, menus, movie posters, artworks, logos, vintage books, and other graphic design (the list is honestly endless). Social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest also allow me to catalogue inspiring visuals so I can look back at them when I receive new briefs.
What is the aim of any cover you design?
There are a lot of things you want to achieve when designing a cover – from good design to a product that sells. But I think the most important aim for me is to honour the work of the author, and give their hard work a brilliant face for the world.
Do you have any other memorable Ventura covers you’ve worked on?
I have to say, Paris Savages is one of my all time favourite covers with Ventura. I also loved working on Katherine’s previous books (The Better Son and Matryoshka). More recently I loved working on The Warming and Rapture’s Roadway.
