Whoever came up with the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" must be a audible user (no shade ;) ). We're definitely in the "picture is worth a thousand words" camp! And that's why we are looking for a talented artist to design a custom cover (illustration and graphic design, back and front) for our upcoming book “Hype Studies: A Glossary”. The volume with be a collection of critical social science essays covering a broad range of topics such as charismatic leaders, market speculation, futures literacy, AI, digital twins, space industry, among many others! For that reason, we envisage a cover illustration that speaks to the notion of hype studies (read more about us here) while also being technology-agnostic. Other than the illustration, the cover will contain the following: the title, names of 8 editors, and the publisher logo. We are very keen on supporting human creativity hence will not accept GenAI use in the work. For inspiration, we attached some beloved book covers which may speak to the aesthetics relevant to this project - see below.
Next steps
Please express your interest by emailing your cover letter to criticalhypestudies -at- posteo.com by 24th March 2026, 5pm GMT. We aim to get back to all candidates by 3rd April 2026 via email. We expect the completion of the project by the end of April 2026. The total payable fee is 800 GBP upon completion of work. The creative process will involve regular communication with our team about signing off the cover idea as well 2 rounds of feedback.
If you’re interested, please send us a cover letter with the following:
- a paragraph about you (100-200 words)
- a paragraph about your idea for the cover (100-200 words)
- max 3 samples of your previous work
- link to your online presence (e.g. website/ portfolio/ LinkedIn etc)
- confirmation of your availability during the stated dates
We look forward to hearing from you! Please help to spread the word among your creative networks :D The commission is fully remote and open to artists internationally.
The commission has been generously supported by the Bristol Digital Futures Institute - thank you!
Images for inspiration
What we like about the cover: Ok, this is actually a poster (or a whole style of them, see here). It is a depiction of one of the most famous Polish 20th novels, a satire on the societal obsession with youth and commentary on identity and conformism. A 'bum' is a major motif of the story, hence it features in the image, yet it manages to do so in a non-pornographic way! We like its grotesque mood - it fits well with the themes of 'emperor's new clothes', featured quite often in our work.
What we like about the cover: it plays with proportions and geometry while using a limited colour palette. The title font is also really cool! It speaks to Hype Studies in a sense that it strikes a balances between the abstract and the figurative.
What we like about the cover: What a fine specimen of the 90s unhinged-core, which is making a bold comeback to 2026 catwalks and design graphics! The chaos of seemingly unrelated images does eventually start to make sense once the readers familiarise themselves with the content. If you're curious what could butterflies, rocks and the speed of light possibly have in common then...well the cover did its job! And just like Hacking's work, hype studies are wonderfully eclectic, combining diverse perspectives and case studies.
