Some titles you forget the second you hear them. Others lodge in your chest and stay there. The Weight of Sparrow Tears is one of those.
Eric Audrey came to the INABC Jobs Board looking for a cover designer for his story set in eleventh-century Kyoto: a forbidden romance between Haruko, a maid pulled into courtly life, and Masanori, a nobleman’s son. Their love is fragile, impossible, and beautiful.
The challenge? Design a cover that captures the lushness of the setting and the heartbreak at its core, and make sure it feels right for Audrey’s specific time period. Eric’s brief was clear: no photorealism, no cozy rom-com vibes. This story needed tragedy, elegance, and metaphor. On his creative brief, he was quite specific: “I want a cover that will lure a reader with its beauty – something that catches your eye like that perfect necklace in a jewelry store….This is not a sans-serif kind of book. I like silhouettes and/or people (perhaps an over-the-shoulder view that highlights the period clothing and hair rather than the face…”
Enter designer Nejc.
Preliminary Stages: The Mood Board and Creative Brief
Eric chose Nejc after reviewing dozens of portfolios that responded to his brief. Eric provided countless references that spanned everything from Heian-era architecture to yamato-e paintings to the sparrow/warbler metaphor at the heart of the story. The collaboration began with blossoms, moons, and seasonal motifs, imagery steeped in Japanese tradition.
It would have been easy for a designer to get lost in the details. But Nejc didn’t just sift through references; he distilled them. Blues and indigos for melancholy. Cherry blossoms for fleeting beauty. Sparrows as a quiet symbol of fragility. Each choice nudged the design closer to the emotional center of the book.
Nejc treated the brief like a compass, not a checklist, and that made all the difference.
Round 1
The first concepts leaned wide: florals, silhouettes, layered landscapes. Some covers tested how far color could push emotion; others experimented with sparrow symbolism. Think of this stage like sketching the edges of the territory.
As Nejc explained: “The goal of the first round is rarely to design the perfect cover for the book, but rather to establish the proper art direction.”
Not every draft was a winner (they’re not supposed to be). But even here, Nejc’s range showed. He was willing to try bold, imperfect experiments to see what would stick. That courage to explore gave Eric a clear sense of what the book wasn’t, and by contrast, what it might be.
Round 2
By the second round, things began to take shape. Sparrows began to take flight across the page. Blossoms bloomed with purpose. Colors deepened from soft experiments to confident contrasts: sunsets, indigo skies, moonlight.
“The main challenge was balancing the book’s historical elements and coming-of-age romance within a modern book cover style,” Nejc said.
This wasn’t about “options” anymore. It was about circling the one design that felt inevitable.
The Final Design
The winning design landed in midnight blue: sparrows in motion against a luminous sky, blossoms etched in delicate contrast, a sense of motion and stillness all at once.
It’s a cover that doesn’t just decorate the story; it embodies it. A jacket that whispers of loss, beauty, and fleeting love, while still bold enough to command attention on a crowded shelf.
Nejc added: “Apart from Eric’s fantastic collection of reference material, I drew a lot of inspiration from historical works such as Utagawa Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, a famous series of woodblock prints I have in my personal library. Similar works ultimately inspired me to limit the color palette, in homage to yamato-e’s more restrained use of color.”
That’s Nejc’s strength: he doesn’t just make covers that look good, he makes covers that feel like the book.
Every cover has a backstory. This one began with a brief on the INABC Jobs Board and ended with a design only this story, and only Nejc, could have brought to life.
If you’re an author looking to translate your story into something readers can’t ignore, the Jobs Board is where it starts. Post your brief and find your next Nejc.
