Romek Marber (25 November 1925 – 30 March 2020) was a Polish-born British graphic designer and academic known for his work illustrating the covers of Penguin Books.
[3] He stated that “the newsprint paper and the coarseness of the halftone printed by letterpress [of the Economist] suited the boldness of my work… Black with red is simple and dramatic.”[8] When describing the process of designing the covers, Marber recalled the prolonged wait for editorial decisions to be made, and enjoying the speed of the illustration process.
[11] Marber chose to retain the green colour for the series, though he used a 'fresher' shade,[11] and kept the horizontal banding of the previous Edward Young designs.
The design was seen as so successful that Facetti adopted it, essentially unchanged, for both the blue Pelican and orange literature covers.
Marber edited his original designs for Dorothy L. Sayers books by adding a small white figure, which he included in different postures on each cover.
[9] In 2010, Marber published an autobiography of his experiences during World War Two: No Return: Journeys in the Holocaust (Richard Hollis; 1st edition, 2010).