This is my favourite book of all time. I’ve read it more times than I can count. It influenced not only films like 28 Days Later, but also my own writing (yes, I write stories). For this design, I wanted to explore a punk, grunge and a distorted take on biology, which naturally led me towards greens and serif typefaces. 

This is my second favourite book of all time. Watership Down was heavily influenced by The Lord of the Rings. For this design, I wanted to highlight the main characters, Hazel and Fiver, and base it around an illustration. The illustration depicts a rabbit warren, with the shapes themselves representing our heroes’ journey. 

This is my third favourite book of all time. Flowers for Algernon was originally a novella before being expanded into a full novel. For this design, I wanted to reference the Rorschach tests that Charlie, the main character, takes as part of his journey to becoming more intelligent. The illustration shows Algernon the mouse depicted as an inkblot. 

This list wouldn’t be complete without The Hobbit – a book I must have read every year as a teenager. And before you say The Lord of the Rings is better, for me this is where it all started (including being terrified by the original animated Lord of the Rings film). For this design, I wanted to show how Gandalf is the doorway to adventure, and to highlight one of my favourite action sequences: when the eagles rescues the heroes. 

As a massive science fiction fan, I had to include another of my favourite books: Foundation. I came to this one later in life, but I still admire its ambition and storytelling. For this design, I wanted to keep it simple and clean, sitting within empty space. Out of my five designs, this is the one I feel is the weakest, and I’d definitely love to revisit it in the future.