When Joanna Stern's cold email landed in my inbox I assumed it was a joke. The Wall Street Journal senior tech columnist was writing a book for HarperCollins and somehow I was on a shortlist of illustrators she was considering? Clearly a glitch in the Matrix but she picked the analog guy to illustrate a book about artificial intelligence which tells you something about both of us.

I Am Not A Robot is Joanna's account of a year spent letting AI do almost everything for her. Drive the car, plan her meals, diagnose health issues, write her emails, be her premium tier lover. For the book I drew 50-ish spot illustrations for the interior, the robots and Joanna herself for the cover, and created Brainstorm Grotesk, my first hand-drawn typeface that sets the title and goes on to become the official font for New Things. Briana handled the complete design and layout of the cover, which, despite what they tell you, is exactly what people judge the book by.

To celebrate the book wrapping I got BookBot tattooed on my arm. Joanna did not get the tattoo because she is a wimp. What is a BookBot? Read the book and find out!

My Role:
Illustration, Design, Human

Partners:
Author: Joanna Stern
Design: Brainstorm / Briana Feola
Publishing: HarperCollins