Designed To Conquer developed the creative direction, book design, website, and print production support for Across The Orange Sea, the first fantasy novel by Derek Aurelius.

Book Cover Design & Character Illustration for a Fantasy Novel

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Project

Book development and author website

Client

Derek Aurelius

Industry

Author, creative writing, publishing

Focus

Full Book Design, digital strategy

One visual system. Twenty-six different moments.

Derek Aurelius is a Bronx poet, artist, writer, and student of culture with a powerful creative vision: Across The Orange Sea, the first installment in an 8-part fantasy drama saga.

Across the Orange Sea is a Black fantasy novel, the story is set in an East-African-inspired world and grew from Derek's studies in Africana Studies and Arabic at St. John's University. What began as a passion project developed into a larger literary universe with the potential to become a long-term book series, brand, and creative platform.

Designed to Conquer was brought in as the full visual architect of the book — the cover, ten original characters, and 26 Chapter illustrations. Building it meant reading the full 464-page manuscript cover to cover, not for reference, but to understand the world well enough to illustrate it honestly.

Derek had more than a manuscript. He had a layered world world with gods, deserts, trials, ancestral memory, and a personal creative identity that needed to be communicated clearly.

The book needed to feel like a real artifact from that world. The cover had to create intrigue before the first page. The interior needed visual rhythm across hundreds of pages. Every chapter opening needed to feel intentional, not templated.

Turning fantasy manuscript into a fully designed book.

The Challenge

Interior Art

Each chapter receives a graphic near the chapter number, creating a visual cue helping readers enter a new scene before the prose begins.

Cover Design

The cover uses a dark, textured foundation with gold-orange title treatment, faint ancient markings,.

Editorial Structure

Roman numerals, classic serif body text, and expressive display typography give the book a literary fantasy feel with structure and weight.

The cover carries the drama. The interior carries the reader. Together, they create a book that feels designed rather than simply formatted.

The title typography was chosen for its imperfect, hand-shaped energy. It feels closer to something carved or uncovered than typed, which works with the book's themes of secrets, sand, and ancient power.

Cover design, interior design, and visual rules for the book.

Creative Direction

26 Chapter Title Pages

The chapter openings turn the interior into part of the storytelling.

Inside the book, the chapter graphics give readers a repeated visual ritual. Before the prose begins, the page already signals that they are entering a new part of the journey. That small moment matters in a fantasy book because it helps the world feel built, not borrowed.

Typography, graphics, & chapter illustrations shaped the reading experience.

Graphics

Chapter graphics were used beside the chapter numbers to create rhythm and visual continuity.

Typography Choices

The title typography uses an expressive display style with a carved, artifact-like feel. The body text uses a classic serif reading system.

Chapter Illustrations

Illustration moments give the reader visual entry points into the story. The artwork supports the tone of the fantasy world.

Website

The website gave the book a digital platform.

After the book design direction was established, the website extended the same visual identity online. The site introduced Derek Aurelius, presented the book, and created a professional destination for readers, media opportunities, and future installments.

The website was structured as a paired service: author introduction, book overview, visual storytelling, and clear paths for discovery. It supports the book without replacing the printed experience.

The project included layout and production preparation for a long-form printed novel. That meant reviewing page structure, illustration placement, cover wrap considerations, image quality, spacing, margins, and export requirements.

The final design needed to hold up in print, not only as a screen preview. That production thinking helped keep the book professional from cover to interior pages.

Print Production

The final design had to work as a physical book.

Print production support focused on the details that affect how the book moves from design file to printed product.

Image and illustration placement

Cover wrap preparation

468-page interior layout

Print-ready file preparation

150 Copies Printed

Taking work like this seriously is what makes a studio worth bringing unusual problems to

The non-creative entrepreneurs DTC builds websites and brand systems for don't need someone who can draw characters. But the authors, publishers, and creative producers who need a designer able to operate across disciplines need to know that studio exists.

Across the Orange Sea is proof that it does — a project that doesn't show up on most design studios' capability statements, built with the same rigor as any brand system or website DTC ships.

Dre Steinberg

FAQ

Book design, creative direction, and print production questions.

Turn your manuscript into a finished book experience.

Designed To Conquer helps authors and creatives develop book covers, interior layouts, chapter systems, websites, and print-ready files for professional presentation.

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