Penguin Press commissioned designer David Pearson to re-imagine covers of five classic George Orwell novels. Among them is this standout cover for “1984,” with both the title and the author’s name “blacked out.” In certain light you can see the title under the “redaction,” as this graphic portrays.
Pearson says that the design went through numerous iterations “to establish just the right amount of print obliteration. Eventually we settled on printing and debossing, as per the Great Ideas series, with the difference being that the title and author name were then blocked out using matte black foil. This had the effect of partially flattening the debossed letters, leaving just enough of a dent for the title to be determined – though I can’t vouch for it’s success on Amazon.”
