cover of Perforated Heart | JASON HEUER

Books aren’t often enough made to be intrinsic art objects. The tendency, rightfully so, to an extent, is to put the burden on the words, forgetting the book itself any further than the cover design. But sometimes, that simple cover design can be tweaked to be more than a simple 2D image.

Take Jason Heuer’s Perforated Heart design, in which he takes the literal interpretation of the title to create an image with a perforated stroke. His original concept, which called for die-cutting the individual perforations, was deemed too expensive. But the compromise – a negative relief style to imply perforations – still intrigues. Had the cover been full of holes, the brilliant red cover color would have been all the more justified. Still, as seen here, the concept works.

Perforated Heart, with it’s recessed perforations, is as close as a cover design can get before it transcends the 2D format. And when that happens, we get legitimate book art objects.

Read more about the design from Jason Heuer himself, here.