Web branding + Book cover design
for Callista Buchen
“The super talented and generous Nikkita Cohoon designed and created this amazing website for me—the process was delightful and personal in a way that helped me with my own artistic process (she had me make an inspiration board! she hand-painted elements!), and I’m so grateful for all that she does.”
About the project: Callista Buchen is a writer and academic, and she needed a website to reflect the feel of her writing and provide a professional online presence to promote her books of poems and online publications. Because I spent so much time absorbing myself in her lush poetry during the research phase for her branding, she later came to me to design the cover for her chapbook Double-Mouthed.
The Branding: The branding design included a logo and hand-painted background for the header, monogram, coordinating illustrations and patterns and selected type. Inspired by a baptismal feel, ocean imagery, the overall feel is refreshing, calming, and a bit eclectic to reflect the author’s work.
The Chapbook: Callista's website suited her work so well, that when she had a manuscript accepted from Dancing Girl Press, she wanted the cover to match her website. She originally considered incorporating some of the oceanagraphic elements that are used as ornaments on her website, but we instead created a design that had the same feel as her web-branding, but drew on imagery from the book itself. Because the research from the web-branding included reading some of the poems that ended up in the chapbook, the branding still fit the feel of the book, even the design for the cover is unique.
Keywords: Refreshing, Baptismal, Eclectic, Quiet, Exalting, Meditative
Website: callistabuchen.com
Chapbook: Dancing Girl Press
Chapbook Cover Design
Branding Elements and Style
Logo with Hand-Painted Header Image