Waterstones trip: Book cover research

A few days ago I went to the waterstones in Newcastle and looked at different book covers that I liked. There was a large variety of different styles that caught my eye, this might be a long post because there were so many books that I liked. I think I will just include a line of text under each photo stating what I like about the cover just to keep the post a bit shorter. 

 The contrast of the bright rainbow spine against the realistic subtle drawing of a robin is what attracted me to this book, I feel as though it added a modern element to a classic looking book cover. 

This book cover attracted me because I like the use of white and orange against the harsh black background, I also like how the imagery looks like it has been done using a paper cut or digital technique and the text has a very hand  rendered look to it, it adds a unique look to the cover. 

I think that the colour use on this cover is really lovely, the off white cream colour really sets it off nicely and also gives it a more retro feel. the use of three colours is also really good because it makes the cover more striking.

The above cover has really good use of typography and although the cover is very simple I think that it works really well because it has strong concise imagery. 

 I think the very hand drawn look works really well for this book cover because book covers usually have a very finished pristine look to them but it is a nice refreshing change to see something like this that isn't prefect and looks very raw. I think that the more finished looking typography might help with tying it all together and making the book look professional.  

 The above book has a really nice lino cut look to it,  I like that it looks more like a piece of art rather than a book cover. it is very unique for a book cover and thats what really attracts me to it. I also really love the use of colour because it is quite a strange selection to have chosen it it works really nicely. 

The above cover is very simple and mainly focuses on the typography, it is very simple but effective. I think that the colour choices are what makes this book look really nice and elegant. 

 Through the woods cover is very bold and dark, i really like the use of the black red and white. I don't think these colours are appropriate for the book covers that I am designing but it works very well for this book cover. This cover really draws me in because it looks very dark and mysterious. 

Again its the hand drawn quality of this book cover that really draws me into this book because its not usually something that you see an the front of a book. I think this book is more of an an art book but I still really like the design of it

The above book os so unique because the imagery is made from tissue paper, I think this is so unusual and creative. It is very effective and delicate looking. This book is helpful because I am planning on creating unique book covers using paper cutting and ideas like this are helpful to me. 

This life of Pi book is so simple but so effective. The shapes and colours that are used are very striking also the fish underneath the boat add a more interesting element to the image. 

The cover for Gulp has a very clever use of imagery and typography, it works very well and when I saw it I thought it was really impressive looking for such a simplistic design.

The Wolf Princess cover is very simple and whimsical, it looks like a fairytale book cover. I really like the use of snow interacting with the typography I feel although it draws you into that world a bit more.  

From this waterstones trip I have found that a lot of different things look good on book covers and its getting the right balance of typography and imagery that really helps the book look like a finished cover. I am going to really consider the typography in relation to the imagery that I create and hopefully that will make my cover more successful.