HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover 2025
Finalist
Designer: Todd Atticus
Title: Bad Archive
Publisher: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Format: 210 x 138mm, 256pp, perfect bound. Cover is matt laminated with flaps
Typography: Cover font Avant Garde.
Todd blew the cover type up slightly to make it look softer and more retro, to fit with both Flora’s writing and the grey archival box in the image.
The type deliberately cuts out of the frame to mimic a misprinting, a further echo of the book’s title.
Publisher’s Brief
“Designer Todd Atticus developed the full concept for the cover of Bad Archive. Guided by the feel of Flora Feltham’s writing—and having been provided with a mood board from the author—he proposed the shell headphones, an object from one essay, as the central focus. He briefed photographer Russell Kleyn with surreal, narrative-led references, and his bold design decisions shaped a subversive, playful aesthetic. The cover resists the conventions of both essay collections and archival order, forming a visual narrative across front and back that reflects the book’s spirit and announces Flora as a fresh, interesting new voice.”
