Here are a few more mock-ups I did for the 2006 math cover (that led to this book) By the way, we have highly able art and design staffers at BW. It’s not normal for writers to mock up covers this way. I just did it to tinker with language and concepts. As you can see, I was experimenting with different approaches.

This one, while provocative, was not considered highly appealing.

This one, while both provocative and appealing, seemed a bit… off message.

This looks to me more like something The Economist would put on its cover. The one difference: My shameless self promotion in the cover language.

I knew this one was too quirky. Didn’t even show it to anyone.

For a while I was playing around with language involving slate and abacus. It was a bit oblique for a mainstream magazine, I decided, so I kept it to myself (until now).

Just for contrast, here’s what you get when the pros get involved. This one is by art director Jay Petrow.

(previously posted on blogspotting.net)