In April 2017 I was approached by the digital production company The Ink Factory and digital agency TH_NK to create a cover design for British espionage author, John le Carré. It featured his latest George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies. While the cover designs didn't make the final cut, I wanted to share the process and proposed designs from this great opportunity. Much thanks for the art direction provided by Phil Wilce (TH_NK) and Callum Dodgson (The Ink Factory). As embarrassing as it was to admit, the extent of my John le Carré knowledge started and ended with the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy film. This drove me to dig deep into his author history and research what had been done for his books design over the past 30 years. This included patterns, common themes and cliches I may have wanted to avoid.