← All Projects Graphic Design · 2025

Dune Book Cover

A redesigned cover for Frank Herbert’s Dune, created during my exchange semester in Brisbane, where I followed the course Image Design at QUT. The project combines minimalist sci-fi aesthetics, negative space, and photographic silhouettes to create a cinematic, high-impact visual.

Graphic Design Photoshop Photography 2025 Exchange Program · Australia

Moodboard: imagery, symbols and visual direction

Inspiration: typography and colour palette exploration

Silhouette & Negative Space

Inspired by the work of Olly Moss and other minimalist poster designers. They often use silhouettes and negative space to suggest shape and story in a simple way.

Gradient & Colour Palette

Inspired by desert landscapes and night skies. Warm orange tones and deep blue colors are often used in sci-fi visuals to create contrast and atmosphere.

Futuristic Typography

Inspired by clean and geometric sans-serif fonts often used in sci-fi design. These typefaces feel modern and minimal, with shapes that suggest movement and flow.

Research & Direction

I analysed existing sci-fi book covers and identified what makes them effective. Silhouettes, gradients, bold typography, and negative space appeared as recurring elements.

I explored the key visual themes of Dune, such as dunes, planets, the night sky, and isolation. A colour palette emerged early, with warm orange tones for the desert and deep blue and black for space.

Sketching & Ideation

Six initial concepts explored different directions: negative space within a letter, oversized type integrated with dune shapes, silhouettes containing a planet, and abstract geometric forms.

Two stood out: a profile silhouette with a scene inside the head, and typography that blended directly into the dune landscape. Both relied on scale to tell the story.

Visual Exploration in Photoshop

I worked on each element separately: the planet, the dune shapes, the typography, and the silhouette. Then I brought them together and kept refining the composition.

For the silhouette, drawing in Photoshop created hard edges I wasn't happy with. I photographed two friends in profile and refined the cutouts with the smoothing brush. The result had the organic, cinematic quality the design needed.

"The constraint of minimalism forced every element to carry meaning."

What started as a design brief became a study in restraint. The strongest version of the cover was always the one with the least: no texture overlays, no character detail, no decorative elements. Just shape, colour, and space.

The project reinforced that good design communicates clearly. Negative space can say more than a detailed illustration ever could. The viewer completes the story themselves.