This post contains a few of our favorite cover designs from a recent book project called Psycho USA. In each direction the goal was to convey a sense of history, since the primary focus of the book is early American killers. At the same time, non-traditional design formatting was needed to bring readers into the appropriate emotional mindset for “shockingly true horror stories” that actually happened.

One of the best parts of this project was viewing the old wood cuts (done long before photography was invented) with crude drawings of ghastly crimes too menacing for the format to convey. At the same time, there was a sense of irony in how comical some of the drawings were, and in an odd way, the lack of perspective in the characters do a fabulous job of communicating the psycho nature of the criminals. They are drawings that today send shivers up your spine, but I had to wonder, given the time in history, if they would have had the same power when that particular style was the rule of the day. Makes me think a lot about how the development of photography forced American culture to view the crimes in a much more sophisticated and chilling way.

I hope you enjoy checking out what we’ve been up to.

In the fall I worked on a historical non-fiction book called Railroaded which told the story of the transcontinental lines in America. Since there are often multiple comps we are fond of, we thought we’d put together a few to share.

Needing something good to put on in the background while you work that doesn’t sound like everything else? I recently ordered this album in the mail and have gotten pretty into it. There are layers of good sounds in there, and unlike so much overly digital sounding psych-rock, this feels rooted in classic analog tones.

Listen here if you’re at all curious.

Read the full review on Pitchfork.