School Young Adult Book Cover Design (Evoking trauma, harapan, and marah)

Visuals: A close-up of the cool boy with black, messy hair and haunting grey eyes, leaning against a dimly lit brick wall. His posture is slouched, conveying trauma and hopelessness, and his gaze pierces forward with subtle anger and lingering despair. The background shifts from the faint outline of school lockers on the left to shadowy furniture suggesting a modest home setting on the right—symbolizing his two conflicting worlds. The edges of the cover fade into darkness to enhance the theme of despair and isolation, with a subtle beam of light cutting across him, alluding to hope.

Typography: A rugged and slightly distressed serif font is used for the title "Jalan Luka di Jalan Kelam," in muted red, giving an impression of hurt and anger. The author’s name, "Kaezryn Benedira," is styled in a smaller, clean sans-serif font, in a soft grey, complementing the protagonist's eye color and placed just beneath the illustration for balance.

Layout: The central image of the boy dominates the design, placed slightly to the right for a dynamic composition. The title is prominently placed in the upper third of the cover. The author's name is centralized horizontally at the bottom, in alignment with the focus on clean professional presentation. The background blends seamlessly from the school setting to the home backdrop, offering shadowy but discernible details.

Explanation: The fundamental idea behind the visual composition of this cover is to evoke a strong, emotional reaction from the viewer. The boy, with his messy hair and penetrating grey eyes, becomes the representation of the raw, vulnerable emotions conveyed in the book. The faded, shadowy background adds complexity, showcasing the two main settings (school and his aunt’s home) that mold his experiences without overpowering the emotional focal point. Typography in distressed serif adds an instant aura of emotional grit that matches the title’s significance, while the muted colors enhance the sense of melancholy, anger, and trauma. A matte finish ties everything together with a suitably soft texture, while spot UV gloss emphasizes key elements—drawing readers toward the emotion-filled title and the protagonist’s magnetic presence. The design aligns with the young adult genre while staying strikingly memorable.