(His original entry is below, on the left.  We added the (C) gates and the colour photo later. It was fun working with him.  FWIW I would have liked to keep the black back cover and the arch shaped back flap text.. but I am still really happy with the result.)  I also tried to make sure that the designer got the credit he deserved on the book cover, and through our publicity.  Competitions can be creative and joyful ways of getting new ideas — I have never met Tony, who lives in Australia — but he had exactly the cover design I wanted. They can also be designed exploitatively in ways that undermine professional designers — we tried to hit a middle ground.)

The winner of the popular vote was a striking design by bernardoanao.

At one point in the competition, the person whose head appears actually identified himself!   I also really liked another of bernardoano’s entries.

But as you can see, some of the entries were downright strange….though let me be clear, there are some days when I feel like this also…