Rafaela
Romaya
Art director and book designer
Art director and book designer
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Yehrin Tong.
Canongate Books, 2014–2018.
The complete series is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London from June–December 2021.
The design of Michel Faber’s series has been celebrated with numerous awards, including winner of the V&A Book Cover Illustration Award 2015 for The Book of Strange New Things. The title also won a shortlisting for Best Cover Design at the British Book Design & Production Awards and also at the ABCD Awards. Read more about the creative process here.
Some Rain Must Fall, winner, AIGA’s 50 Books | 50 Covers, 2016 and shortlisted for Best Cover at the ABCD Awards in 2017.
Under the Skin was shortlisted for Best Cover at the ABCD Awards in 2018.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Canongate Books, 2014.
Richard Brautigan’s cult classic novels were reissued to mark the 30th anniversary of his death and to celebrate his part in the counter cultural movement in American writing.
Cover design by Mark Ecob. Illustration by Andy Bridge.
Cover design by Rafaela Romaya.
Cover design by Rafaela Romaya.
Cover design and illustration by Alasdair Gray.
Cover design by Rafaela Romaya. Photograph by Duncan Buchanan.
Series design by Rafaela Romaya.
Canongate Books, 2015–ongoing.
Launched in 2015 to showcase the classics and future classics on Canongate’s list, the brief was to create a branding identity that could be applied to existing book covers to bring them into the series, as well as to new books, across all genres.
The distinctive spines unify the series on the book shelf for collectors.
This is a small selection from over one hundred Canongate Canons created to date.
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
'Embrace' illustration by Paul Thurlby.
'Father and son' illustration by Jean Jullien.
'He didn’t half give that a bit of welly!' illustration by Stanley Chow.
'Fun' illustration by Margaux Carpentier..
'The Big Apple' illustration by Remko Heemskerk.
'Playtime' illustration by Deanna Halsall.
Canongate Books, 2020–ongoing.
A new series from the creator of the world-renowned bestselling book, Letters of Note. In themed collections, they bring together letters from people as fascinating and diverse as Prince, Anne Frank, Groucho Marx, Frida Kahlo and Mae West as they write about love, fathers, football, sex, new york ... and cats.
The Human Cosmos
Jo Marchant
Canongate Books, 2020.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
A Room Made of Leaves
Kate Grenville
Canongate Books, 2020.
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Charlotte Day.
Coming Undone
Terri White
Canongate Books, 2020.
Designed by Rafaela Romaya.
Artwork by Debbie Smyth.
Paperback edition, 2021.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Artwork by Januz Miralles.
The Midnight Library
Matt Haig
Canongate Books, 2020.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Come Again
Robert Webb
Canongate Books, 2020.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Lettering by Joel Holland.
Livewired
David Eagleman
Canongate Books, 2020.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Antlers of Water
edited by Kathleen Jamie
THE LIVING MOUNTAIN
Nan Shepherd
Antlers of Water
Canongate Books, 2020.
Design by Rafaela Romaya
Painting by Anne Campbell.
The Living Mountain
Canongate Books, 2019.
Design by Rafaela Romaya
Rootbound
Alice Vincent
Canongate Books, 2020.
Designed by Rafaela Romaya.
Painting by Laila Shawa.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Samin Nosrat
Shortlisted for Best Cover at the British Book Design and Production Awards, 2018.
Canongate Books, 2017.
Designed by Rafaela Romaya.
Be My Guest
Priya Basil
Canongate Books, 2019.
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Dan Funderburgh.
That Old Country Music
and Night boat to tangier
Kevin Barry
Canongate Books, 2020 and 2019 respectively.
Design and illustration by Rafaela Romaya.
The Infinite
Patience Agbabi
Canongate Books, 2020.
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Debra Cartwright.
The Flame
Leonard Cohen
Canongate Books, 2018.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Leonard Cohen.
American Histories and Philadelphia Fire
John Edgar Wideman
Canongate Books, 2018.
Paper cut design by Rafaela Romaya.
The Book of Joan
Lidia Yukavitch
Shortlisted for Best Sci-fi Cover
at the ABCD Awards, 2019.
Canongate Books, 2018.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Florian Schommer.
Stay With Me
Ayobami Adebayo
Canongate Books, 2018.
Design and painting by Rafaela Romaya.
Solar Bones
Mike McCormack
Special edition hardback with gold sprayed edges.
Canongate Books, 2017.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
Heather, The Totality
Matthew Weiner
Canongate Books, 2017.
Screen print double cover design by Rafaela Romaya.
The Awakening
Kate Chopin
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
THE AWAKENING
Canongate Books, 2014.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
Simon and Schuster, 2010.
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
Lettering by Steven Raw.
A2 Posters available at Waterstones.
Redeployment
Phil Klay
Canongate Books, 2014.
Design by Rafaela Romaya.
The Last Holiday
Gil Scott-Heron
Winner of Best Cover Design
at the British Book Design
and Production awards, 2012.
'Words have been important to me for as long as I can remember. Their sound, their construction, their origins' Gil Scott-Heron
Canongate Books, 2012.
Art direction and design by Rafaela Romaya.
Illustration by Oscar Wilson.
Limited edition 6-colour A2 screen printed poster
signed by the artist created for publication.
Rafaela (Rafi) has been designing books in a career spanning over twenty years. Since 2011 she has been Art Director at Canongate Books having previously worked at Simon and Schuster, Pan Macmillan and Faber & Faber. Her work has been recognised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, AIGA, British Book Design & Production Awards and the ABCD Awards, amongst others. She judged the inaugural ABCD Book Design Awards in 2014 and the V&A Illustration Awards in 2016. She is a visiting lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art.
This site showcases a small selection of work, if you would like to see more or have a freelance project in-mind, bookish, or otherwise, please get in-touch.
Collaborations have included: THOM YORKE, STANLEY DONWOOD, KAI & SUNNY, BIG ACTIVE, TERRY GILLIAM, GRAPHIC THOUGHT FACILITY, GRAY 318, HERE DESIGN, HUMAN AFTER ALL, CHRIS MOULD, PEANUTS, CHRIS RIDDELL, RICHARD ROGERS, TIMOROUS BEASTIES, YEHRIN TONG ...