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I began by reading the story and identifying repeating themes & imagery, key story moments, and overall mood. I also kept in mind my target audience-- readers stumbling across this who a) do not yet know what the story is about and b) are deciding whether or not to continue reading on. It was important to me to accurately capture the feeling of the story in the cover layout. 

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I went through two main rounds of sketching. An initial phase of getting ideas out onto paper. And a secondary phase of honing in on character design and gesture. Below are some highlights.

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I also decided to go with a hand-lettered font so that I could capture the exact forms I was looking for. I took inspiration from Film Noir titles because of the time period that Shirley Jackson was writing in, as well as the mood of the piece (long shadows, mysterious figure, name of the article itself).