WHAT DO YOU SEEK
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER? WE BEG TO DIFFER.
A contemporary cover for a book that asks the oldest question in the Gospels.
"What do you seek?" are the first words Jesus speaks in the Gospel of John. He addresses them to two strangers who have started following him without quite knowing why. Dr. Edward Sri's book takes up that same question, and he wanted its cover to reach the same kind of reader: curious, searching, and not necessarily Christian.
His brief was direct. The book should feel contemporary and should not look like most Catholic books.
Challenge
Breaking from the look of the Catholic bookshelf without losing what's inside.
Religious publishing has a familiar visual shorthand, and readers recognize it instantly. To people already in the pews, it signals "this is for you." To everyone else, it often signals "this isn't."
The cover had to earn a second look from someone browsing a general bookstore or scrolling online. It also had to stay honest about the book's depth and never feel like it was hiding its faith to make a sale.
Solution
A lone figure, a vast desert, and the Word written into the sand.
While we explored a vast array of different concepts, the final cover shows a single man walking through an immense desert. Anyone can see themselves in that image, believer or not: a person searching, small against something much larger, heading somewhere he can't yet see. The desert is also one of the oldest places of seeking in Scripture. Israel wandered there for forty years, Christ fasted there for forty days, and the early monks went there looking for God.
Look closer and the dunes aren't only sand. Scripture runs through them, forming the landscape under the seeker's feet. A casual browser sees a striking contemporary image. A reader who lingers sees what the book argues: the answer to the question has been underfoot all along.
Result
A Catholic book that doesn't look like it's only for Catholics.
Dr. Sri got the cover he asked for: modern, approachable, and open to anyone asking the question the book explores. It draws in seekers at first glance and rewards believers on a second look, widening the circle of readers without watering down the message.
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