Creative Youth Center - Let My Voice Be Loud Like Lions: Book Cover Design
In April 2020. the Creative Youth Center of Grand Rapids held a book cover illustration contest for their annual anthology of student work. As I had designed one of their previous anthology books, I was familiar with past cover illustrations used for their books.
For the contest, we were supplied the book title: "Let My Voice Be Loud Like Lions!" Part of the CYC's mission is to amplify kid's voices. I wanted to portray this within my illustration. I know that the organization prefers to be inclusive with their images of children, as their students have diverse backgrounds. It was for this reason that I chose to include the silhouette of a child within the body of a roaring lion that could represent any gender or race.
Since the anthology series is called the "Book of Explosions," I wanted there to be an explosive feeling with the lion's roar. This is a visual representation of amplifying children's voices as well as a connection to the title of the book. I wanted the typography to be playful and stand out against the explosion.
My illustration was selected as the grand prize winner of the contest. The judges felt as though it thoughtfully incorporated the title in a way that spoke to their mission of amplifying students' voices.