Revisiting Baldwin’s Work.
A project for Book and Zine Design at Fordham University, this project consists of image-based and text- based book cover treatments for a reissue of all of Baldwin’s works, as well as interior layout for a compilation of Baldwin’s work.
The image-based treatment plays on the Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality, a phenomenon important to the work of a queer Black writer in the mid 20th century. In this cover, Baldwin exists at the intersection of his varying identities. The cover also draws on the concept of the racializing gaze in the ever-present stare of Baldwin, which appears at the intersection of the black lines.
The text-based treatment calls on Baldwin’s strong writing style. The semi-autobiographical nature of his writing is iconic and recognizable, as is his use of the first-person. Baldwin’s fearlessness toward powerful “I” statements was the inspiration for this series of covers, which feature white text on a black background.
Interior layout for a compilation of Baldwin's work, "The Cross of Redemption."