Designing Book Covers and Movie Posters: Blending Storytelling with Visuals

Bringing Fantasy to Life: The Lunar Throne

One of my favorite personal design projects was creating a fantasy inspired book cover called The Lunar Throne. Since fantasy is one of my favorite genres, I wanted the cover to reflect a sense of mystery and otherworldly adventure.

I started with a stock photo of a woman, then blended her into a background that combined a castle with an outer space setting. This gave the piece a dreamlike, surreal quality. To enhance the atmosphere, I experimented with a Photoshop technique for creating realistic lighting and shadows, which quickly became one of my favorite tools.

I adjusted the light source so that it fell naturally on the woman, then stylized her appearance with an animated, illustrated effect. This made the image feel less like a photograph and more like a painted book cover, something that would catch a reader’s attention on a shelf.

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Reimagining Film Stories through Poster Design

Along with book covers, I also designed a set of movie posters based on two films I personally love: Past Lives (2023) and Aftersun (2022). Each poster challenged me to think differently about tone, color, and emotion in design.

Past Lives

This film tells the story of two South Korean childhood friends who reconnect years later in New York. It’s a love story, but in a more nuanced, bittersweet way than traditional romances.

For the poster, I wanted to keep the minimalist, thoughtful aesthetic that reflected the film’s emotional tone. Using stock photos and Photoshop, I built a layered composition that symbolized both distance and connection. By leaning into soft colors and restrained typography, I let the story’s emotion shine through without overwhelming visuals.

Aftersun

Aftersun explores the relationship between a father and daughter on a holiday trip, with subtle themes of memory and depression woven throughout.

For this design, I decided to create a movie box cover using photos from the film itself. My focus was on highlighting the intimacy of the father daughter relationship, while still leaving space for the film’s deeper, more difficult themes. I leaned into muted tones and layered effects to convey nostalgia and emotional weight.

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Reflections on the Process

These projects pushed me to experiment with Photoshop tools, from advanced lighting effects to compositing techniques that combine multiple images seamlessly. More than anything, I learned how design choices like color, composition, and typography can carry an entire story before someone even opens a book or presses play on a film.

Working on The Lunar Throne, Past Lives, and Aftersun reminded me why I love combining design with storytelling: both invite the audience into a new world.