Cherie Wise is the author of popular titles “Silent Melodies” and “Keep the Plant Alive.” Known to explore the quiet heartbreaks and offbeat humor of everyday life, with a mix of tenderness and dark wit, her writing shines a light on the complicated inner worlds of ordinary people. Her latest novel, “SmallGoodThings”, is a dark comedy about sadness, survival, and the reluctant search for hope.

I was approached to help design the cover for “SmallGoodThings”. The overall design was to embrace the typographic and illustrative style found on posters that litter a typical government office building–sterile, informational, legible. In other words, function over beauty. The other part of the design visually reflects the main character’s reliance on medication and the emotional fog it brings. It’s meant to evoke the dazed, liminal state she often inhabits—suspended between feeling numb and just barely staying afloat. This visual tension mirrors her internal struggle. She’s caught between detachment and the small, persistent pull toward life.