Designing book cover is a tricky process—your writing can be eloquently brilliant and moving, but if your cover is visually awful, chances are no one will bother to pick it up.
Perhaps you have heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but honestly who can easily do that? Awesome books deserve equally awesome representations, because it’s true: design is the driving force of the book—it’s what makes you gravitate yourself to the shelf where the book of your dream comfortably sit on. Designs help deliver even the most delicate nuances of your writing, engaging readers into opening and binge-reading each page of the book. Like falling in love at the first sight, a great cover may create an emotional tie the moment you take a look at the book.
Now you’re probably wondering: what kind of cover can do such magic?
Like the previous post, we have compiled some cool and creative book covers to inspire you in 2017. You might want to take a note.
01. Combine typography and photography
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Mike Roberts, Cannibals in Love, design by Na Kim (via Macmillan)
Stuart Dybek, The Start of Something, design by Suzanne Dean and art by Marion de Man (via Penguin Books)
Almost every designer loves to go all digital when it comes to designing or illustrating book covers, but combining a photograph with a typography or handcrafting it from the scratch adds the warmth to the covers.
02. Embrace custom typography
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Jonathan Safran Foer, Here I Am, design by Jon Gray (via Macmilan)
This one is hand-lettering done right. Studies show you only have eight seconds to attract the readers, but we’re a hundred percent sure that this book takes less than that.
03. Repeated pattern in monochrome
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Janna Levin, Black Hole Blues, design by Janet Hansen (via Janet Hansen)
Steven Millhauser, Voices in the Night, design by Janet Hansen (via Janet Hansen)
Although the idea of repetitive shapes might seem simple, using well-chosen and beautiful patterns in a monochromatic palette can make a design look compelling and ethereal.
04. Simple lines
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Anuk Arudpragasam, The Story of a Brief Marriage, design by Janet Hansen (via Macmillan)
Robert Moor, On Trails, design by Jim Tierney (via Simon and Schuster)
One of the many things we like about these covers is how both manage to capture and carry the weight of the mountains of the stories by only using simple lines and typography. Small details lead to bigger picture. Simplicity at its finest.