When we started talking about Zero early last year, our original vision was to eschew artwork, and create covers that are purely image and typography led and in the process create something that truly stands out on the shelves. With the first issue set in the Gaza Strip, I researched satellite and drone cam footage of the area and used that the visual language to create that first cover — however, when we started to review things, we opted to incorporate artwork, primarily because we didn’t want to pull the book so far away that a potential audience would be alienated by it (we’re after all making a commercial product). So we developed a system where each artist (including guest cover artists) gives me a black and white illustration that I then integrate in the cover design; rather the opposite of what you’d call the traditional cover design route where whoever designs or artworks the cover only has space to drop in a logo each and every issue.

I felt strongly that each issue should be designed from the ground up, to accurately reflect the individuality of each issue. Even though the use of typefaces and the basic logo are consistent, they are treated and manipulated differently so the difference in each becomes the element that holds everything together. The other, important element is that I want to create an end-to-end design experience: from the moment you look at the cover, read the story and close the comic, the design runs through it and forms a part of the story, never taking you out of the book — I think that this really reinforces the story and reading experience.