After reading After Dark by Murakami, I was very much inspired to redesign the book cover. Of course, the cover was already really nice but I had some interesting ideas that I wanted to experiment with. 

The goal was to reflect the atmosphere of the book on the cover and simultaneously create an eye catching design that is appealing to readers 18-28 years old. 

With a lot of type experimentation, I decided to create a spin blur on the wording 'After Dark' because I thought it represented the overall night time vibe. As if you're tired and looking at a street light, it has a bit of that hue around it. This is what I wanted to reflect with this graphic. 
Another point that I knew had to be shown was the fact that this is from a Japanese author. I always enjoy reflecting the origins of people and things in my projects and this time, it was no different. The text on the cover is almost all in Japanese.