After designing the cover for K. M. Szpara’s first book, Docile, Irene Gallo, publisher of Tordotcom, asked me to work on his second novel. First, Become Ashes is a contemporary fantasy novel but they wanted to stay far away from anything evoking classic quest or genre fantasy, going for more of a crossover upmarket literary look. On Docile I’d had good luck working from the clear and useful ideas suggested by the author and editor and felt good about the simple brief: something type-driven, using imagery of fire and/or meadowlarks, possibly evoking a phoenix. Irene also mentioned the “bright and unusual” color used on Docile, suggesting the possibility of establishing a sort of strong color brand for the author.