1984, Penguin Classics Anniversary Edition

60th anniversary edition of George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 2009 by Penguin Classics, with a type-heavy cover designed by Jon Gray at gray318. The front showns neither the title nor the author’s name, only doublespeak slogans, set with each line alternating between Brothers (with a modified ‘A’) and Heroic Condensed. The back features hand-lettering of the repeated phrase “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”, referencing a page in the journal of Winston Smith, the story’s protagonist.

I’m not sure if it was an intentional reference or not, but the back cover counters the front not only in its message, style (lettering vs. type), and color reversal, but it also seems to oppose the typography directly: the typeface Brothers is set big on the front.