Essence: Assault on the Mind
After designing the cover and interior for Mario Loomis's second book, Primordium, he decided to have me spice up his debut novel as well. Essence: Assault on the Mind is the first of a science-fiction crime novel series following FBI Agent John Rocco. In this episode, Rocco faces a dangerously brilliant neuroscientist who has managed to breach dimensions with his mind, and plans to use an app called eTelepathy for widespread mind control. In order to stop him, Rocco must pursue this perpetrator beyond time and space, into the supernatural realms of the soul.
Mario's medical background lends itself to incredibly believable science-fiction, where concepts like string theory are made tangible to the average reader. His literary style is classic, elegant, and mature, while exploring futuristic concepts. To visually communicate this I used a paper texture and medical illustration style paired with a space image, and selected two contrasting fonts: one rather Star Treky sans-serif with a classic bold, serif that feels a little like an old literary newspaper. The 3D painted hand breaching into the 2D sketch was meant to hint at the antagonist's ability to cross into other dimensions.
These style elements are repeated throughout the interior formatting of the novel as well. The same puppet strings from the cover hold each chapter number, and the font pairing is seen in the running heads and chapter titles. Every so often a hand-drawn squiggle will make an appearance, reflecting the cover's illustration; but the overall look remains crisp, clean, and classic.
