Cover Stories takes you behind the scenes with Tyndale designers as they share the inspiration, process, and details that make each book cover unique.

I had the joy of recently designing Growing Up Saved and I’m begging anyone who grew up in the evangelical church during the 1980’s to early 2000’s to read this book!

The core theme of this book is beautiful: GOD LOVES YOU just as you are—in your brokenness, your shortcomings, your failures, and your quirks.

Kristen brilliantly deconstructs the messages we received, whether they were straight from the pulpit or internalized through subtle (or not so subtle) messages from the particular group we were a part of, and then she reconstructs the truth of the gospel to speak healing into our hearts.

This final cover design was my “wild card” option and it is basically the total opposite look of all of the initial direction.

My concept for the cover art came from remembering the typical Sunday school imagery I was used to seeing in my church, you know, white Jesus with His “perfect” cookie-cutter followers who never did anything wrong and appeared to have it all together?! They had to fit the mold, like Little Sally Saved, but some of us didn’t quite fit in, so I trimmed her out and wrinkled her up a bit to symbolize the discarding of this false Christian image that we are compared to.

The title is a rounded serif, all lowercase to hearken back to your youth and create an approachable feel, since Kristen’s voice is very down to earth, as if you are talking with your friends.

The yellow background brings hope, as this book sheds light on the fact that you are a beloved child of God.

Swipe to see some fun marketing material my coworker friend Olivia designed!

– Julie Chen, Senior Designer