The front cover of a book titled 'Higher Love' with a background of pink and purple gradient palm trees. The cover features a quote by Donna Brazile and a description of the book by Anne Kiehl Friedman.

Higher Love’s cover captures the electric dreaminess of psychedelics, as experienced through the female gaze.

There’s a beautiful scene in the memoir where Anne, fueled by a micro-turned-macro dose of LSD, is immensely moved by the rugged, life-giving nature of a ragged palm, identifying it as the ultimate juxtaposition to the “manicured, domesticated, constrained” vision she’d assigned to her own body.

It was this scene specifically that influenced the cover, the view of a woman looking up at melting palm fronds against a subtly celestial sky.

A woman in a pink dress (Author Anne Friedman) standing beside a table with multiple copies of a book titled "higher love" with palm tree illustrations, in a room with purple walls and a window with blinds.

Sole designer on the project, I worked directly with Anne to translate the book’s themes into visual art.

Publishing your first book (a memoir, no less) is stressful and vulnerable, with the book’s cover serving as its face. I listened closely to understand what Anne needed: feminine and sensual, mature and personally resonance (vs. commercial appeal.)

Three copies of a book titled 'Higher Love' by Anne Friedman, with a cover design featuring pink palm trees on a pale background, placed on a table near a window.
A bouquet of vibrant flowers includes orange, red, white, and yellow blossoms with green leaves, placed on a black marble table. Next to the bouquet, there are five copies of the book titled 'higher love' stacked horizontally.
A bouquet of vibrant flowers includes orange, red, white, and yellow blossoms with green leaves, placed on a black marble table. Next to the bouquet, there are five copies of the book titled 'higher love' stacked horizontally.

Photos by Danielle Flowers @amberirisphotography

Women have been told that road trips and psychedelic trips are too dangerous, which is probably why both have been mostly a guy thing. In Higher Love, Anne Friedman lives them out very personally, and takes us along with her. We discover why such adventures are actually safer than a 'feminine' trip, and our world expands right along with hers.”

- Gloria Steinem

This design leverages exclusively open-source elements, lowering administrative complexity & avoiding fees.

As an first-time author, self publishing for the first time was an enormous task. Using open-source elements meant one less thing on Anne’s plate during the process. Using the Adobe Suite, I edited the photos heavily to achieve the desired effect. Small tweaks to tracking for the title and leading for the body elevated the highly-accessible Google Fonts.

A colorful nebula in deep space with pink, purple, and black hues, surrounded by numerous stars.

Aldebaran S (via Unsplash)

Silhouettes of palm trees against a colorful sunset sky blending shades of pink, purple, and blue.

Jordan McQueen (via Unsplash)

The image features the phrase 'higher love' written in large, black, bold letters on a white background.
A text excerpt discussing Anne Friedman's life and struggles with societal expectations, achievement, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

DM Serif Text (Title), Urbanist (Body)

A color palette with nine rectangles arranged in three columns and three rows. The colors include light beige, pink, coral, magenta, purple, and dark blue.

Custom color palette

Book cover titled 'higher love' with a pink geometric tongue shape with an acid tab on it and blue ocean background
Book cover titled 'Higher Love' with colorful, abstract background of green and yellow shades and plant leaves
Book cover titled 'High Love' by Anne Kiehl Friedman, featuring a background with upside-down palm trees and mountains at the top, transitioning into deep ocean water, and then the city of Copenhagen under water at the bottom.
The cover of a book with a pastel-colored background featuring abstract designs and palm leaves. The title in large green letters reads 'higher love,' and beneath it, smaller text states 'a memoir by anne friedman.' At the top, there is a quote in green text.

Early explorations ran the gamut, from bubblegum vectors to earthy nostalgia.

After an initial conversation with Anne about the book’s tone, significance, and themes, I provided several options for how we might bring them to life. We selected the version with the pink palms and serifed text as the direction to pursue.

Book cover titled "Higher Love" by Anne Kiehl Friedman, featuring orange and pink palm tree leaves against a soft gradient background of yellow, orange, and pink.

The next round honed in on the visual themes and desired level of complexity.

While I loved the cinematic feel of the bold, disorienting layered photographs, Anne gravitated toward the more lyrical feel of the simpler cover, as it felt more in-tone with the book’s writing style.

Book cover for 'Higher Love' by Anne Kiehl Friedman. The background features pink and purple palm trees with a light pink gradient. The title is in large dark blue font, and the author's name is below in smaller font. There are quotes and a brief biography of the author.

We landed on the lyrical, spacious design, translated into a beautiful hyper-feminine palette.

It was amazing to be able to bring Anne’s vision to life; I felt honored that she entrusted me with the work of designing a cover for what is, in essence, the story of her life.