Rehabbing, Romance,
and Ruffled Feathers
A book cover and full dust jacket for a tropical romantic comedy, designed for GRA340. The cover had one job: make a playful beach read look like the most fun thing on the shelf.
Two opposites fall for each other while saving a sanctuary.
Project Overview
A romance worth judging by its cover.
Course
GRA340
Genre
Romantic comedy (fan fiction)
Tools
Adobe InDesign · Illustrator
Deliverable
Full dust jacket layout
The Concept
Two opposites, one wildlife sanctuary.
Toucan Tango is a fan fiction novel inspired by The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. Written for adults who love lighthearted romance, it reimagines a romantic comedy inside a tropical wildlife sanctuary, where two mismatched people have to work together to save a cause and stumble into love along the way.
The title is a play on two can tango: it takes two to make a partnership work. That wordplay set the whole direction. Two bold toucans on the front stand in for the mismatched leads, perched close enough to dance but facing opposite ways.
Every choice leaned into the upbeat, tropical mood, so the cover reads as warm, witty, and unmistakably a beach read before anyone opens to page one.
Visual System
Color & type.
Coral and cornflower set against a warm cream suggest energy and fun while keeping a polished, print-ready finish that echoes a poolside afternoon.
Pacifico gives the title warmth and adventure, Montserrat keeps the subtitle clean and modern, and Bree Serif adds an approachable voice for the jacket copy.
The Cover in Context
Made for the beach bag.
The same cover, photographed where its reader would actually meet it.
Sand and sea
The hardcover staged as a vacation pick, where the tropical palette feels right at home.
Poolside read
Cover and title legible at a glance, even in bright sun on a lounge chair.
Front and back
Both faces of the paperback together, showing how the front art, spine, and back-cover blurb hold up as one piece.
The Full Jacket
One grid, front to flap.
The jacket lays out the front cover, spine, and back cover on a single flexible grid so everything lines up and reads cleanly when it wraps a real book. The tropical illustration concentrates on the front, with leafy accents carried onto the spine for continuity.
The back cover carries the author bio and book summary, balancing visuals and copy into a polished, print-ready layout. The two toucans, lush leaves, and coral-and-indigo palette tie every panel back to the same playful, adventurous story.
The Takeaway
The toucans, the palette, and the script title all pull toward one thing: a cover that promises a fun, flirty escape the moment it catches your eye.