The first decision I needed to make in this MOD, before even writing a word, was to look at how they marketed this book. The "Eighth Story" (which I've covered) and the symbol of a nest with wings. 

I am a very visual thinker and storyteller. I've been bothered for so long by the artistic choices they made for this play. The main branding decision was this icon of a winged nest with a child inside. Is that supposed to be Albus? He seems to be the Cursed Child. But the wings are black... Delphi, the Augurey, had a tattoo of wings on her back. Is she stealing the nest? Stealing him from the nest? I'm so confused by this visual metaphor!

Especially because it is nearly identical to existing imagery that's firmly associated with Harry Potter lore. It looks exactly like a Golden Snitch. And there is a child hiding inside the nest of the Snitch, just like the Resurrection Stone. Uhm, what in the world are we actually trying to say here? It's bewildering. 

Then we have the font. It's not a bad font, it's just a design decision with which I happen to STRONGLY disagree. The Harry Potter font with the integrated lightning bolt is iconic. It's known the world over. Why would you not run with that? Why? It makes absolutely no sense. This infuriates me because (just like changing Muggle to No-Maj for the new Fantastic Beasts film series) they're amending something that's firmly defined in the minds of the fanbase for no reason other than the fact that they can. 

Keep that new font, that's fine. Just go back to the original title image — to what we know and to what makes us comfortable. Here's the compromise, and what I would have suggested from the start, had I been involved in the decision-making process:

Most published play scripts are basic and straightforward. They are simple manuscripts, intentionally unadorned so as not to influence the interpretation of those who are tasked with creatively producing and staging a new version of this play. 

Nearly every script for purchase today has a rudimentary style, simple lines and color story, and often a hand-drawn quality. Now, take the Cursed Child cover. I get that it's Harry Potter and why not make it exciting if you can, but it's unnecessarily flashy, overly designed, and intentionally jumps out at you. Not only does it feel nothing like a Harry Potter book, but it also doesn't feel like a play. It's obvious that they were trying to give us something between a novel and a play because they want to sell a lot of them. There were flagrant efforts by marketing and design to deceive the public into thinking they were buying a new Harry Potter book and not a play script. I've covered this in NOT MY CANON!, but this was pushed in posters and evidenced in the initial cover design where there was no wording to express to consumers that they were about to buy something that was not a novel. 

Therefore, I wanted a fresh start with the cover. Incorporating the new title design, I found a shockingly appropriate drawing in the public domain and modified it to fit within the typical style of script covers. 

Here, we have Harry — striped Hogwarts scarf and all — ready to swipe the sword of Gryffindor at his newest foe, the fearsome Augurey. The gothic design harkens back to the heyday of theatrical entertainment while referencing the medieval nature of magic in the wizarding world, with dragons and castles and ghosts, with magical forests and lakes. 

Side by side, I think the choices I made were not only appropriate but necessary. It is no longer unclear what this play is about. 

This is the first example of how I am modifying the existing play to fit within my vision and personal preferences. Right here is a glimpse of what you can come to expect in the MOD. I'm quite pleased with my decision and I think it's much closer stylistically to what fans were hoping to get from the start.