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In the latest installment of “Before and After,” four book designers discuss recent examples of their work. Each designer shared early concepts for a cover as well as the final design that ended up on the book.

Peter Mendelsund wrote about his experience designing a cover for Julio Cortázar’s experimental novel “Hopscotch,” which turns 50 this year:

I spent weeks working up various “Hopscotch” covers. I could’ve spent years. I still occasionally feel the urge to continue designing “Hopscotch.” But for the time being at least, here’s the final. It features the steps of a tango, superimposed on a “rayuela,” a hopscotch field. Using a game of hopscotch as a visual device always felt like the most apt (and most obvious) solution for the cover. (“Hopscotch,” the novel, may be read like any book: front to back. It also may be read by “hopscotching” through the chapters according to a set of instructions given by the author.) Where this cover succeeds: It reflects a little bit of the crackling improvisational energy of the text. Where it fails: It misses the book’s pathos.

The entire slide show can be found here.