I have been the designer for New Orleans since 2013. For Issue 42 the editors decided to use the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death as the underlying theme.

I wanted to bring in common and repeating themes that were utilized within the issue. I included a simple engraved image (eyes only) of Shakespeare that peaked out at the viewer.

I wanted the cover to be poetic but not too pretty and maintain an underlying feeling of mystery, distress and adversity (all common themes of Shakespeare and the writing within this issue). The themes that came up in this issue were death, being alone, floating, abandonment and love gone awry. The imagery was picked to represent those themes.