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. 

Book cover research

I thought I would have a look at some of my favourite book covers from the books that I own and find out a bit about who created them and why I like them. When I went to my book shelf there were a few that really stood out to me straight away so I thought I would write about them. 

'The book of lost things' has a book cover designed by Rob Ryan, an artist known throughout the world for his paper cut art. This book cover is vital to my research because it is done using the medium that I want to use to create my book cover. I love the colours and composition that has been used, I think it really makes the book stand out with the use of bright red for the background. I also like the subtle bits of imagery such as the keys and the old man used throughout the cover that give hints to things in the book. the cover doesn't give any of the story away and makes it look mysterious which makes me want to read it more. It also has a strong use of typography which is what the penguin brief asks for so this book cover has helped me out in terms of ideas for the typography. 

'The girl who saved the king of Sweden' and 'The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared' are two very similar book covers that were created by Jonathan Pelham, a book cover designer from London. These books were both written by the same author and thats why they have the same style design. Although these book covers aren't created using paper cut I still think they look like they could have been because they both use very blocky colours. Although these covers mainly use simple shapes to make up the images they still maintain a very illustrative look. I think that my favourite things about these covers are the bright eye catching colours that are used and how the typography is used, these books both have a lot of text on the front but the way that it has been handled doesn't make it overpowering at all. looking at this book cover might help me if I decided to do a book cover for 'Oranges are not the only fruit' as that has quite a long title. 

The last book cover that really caught my was 'Mr Penumbras 24 hour bookstore' designed by Adam Simpson, It has a very graphic cover that focuses a lot on the typography but it cleverly incorporates imagery linking to the story in the book. I think that this book does a really good job of subtly liking the cover to the story as the cover is very modern and looks computer generated whilst still using slightly older colours, and the story incorporates both an old traditional book shop and very modern technology. I think it is the style and boldness of the imagery that attracts me to this book cover. The colours are also very bold and striking so that draws mw in a lot as well.  I would like to use this book cover for colour inspiration as they work quite well as modern retro colours. 

 Overall looking at these book covers has helped me to realise what I like in a book cover and I have noticed that they all have a strong use of colour and especially typography. This is something I am going to try and research and learn about because typography is not my strong point but I really love how it looks and i'm really interested in it.   

Modern puffin book covers

WARNING: Very long post :)

As this brief is to create a new book cover and for the carries war brief in particular states that they would like the book cover to attract younger people as well as parents, I thought that I should look at modern puffin covers to see what works currently within the market. All of the puffin book covers are so different, it is clear that there is no straight forward recipe to creating a book cover. This makes it quite hard because any style or layout could work as long as it is eye catching and fits the book. One thing that is noticeable when looking at all of the book covers is that they are pretty simple but very effective. I have looked at a few different book designs, I think that some of them were previous entrants into the penguin book design competition, and discussed what I think works best and what I think doesn't work very well. 

The first three book covers that I looked at were covers for Grimm's fairy tales, they're all very different but work really well in their own way. In the first cover i think that the way the text works with the image is very nice, the trees give it a lovely frame. I also really like the hand drawn look that it haves it gives it a very modern feel, the colours used also give the cover a really nice mood that fits the books theme. 

This book cover works really well in my opinion because it is very quirky and modern looking but still has a raw un processed look which personally I love. I think the font also works really nicely because it fits so well with the style of the drawing.  The black used throughout the image adds an undertone of darkness to the image and this communicates the darkness of the books contents well. I think that the back of this book cover could have been slightly improved because it looks very bland compared to the front of the book but other than that I think the book is very well composed. 

The final Grimm book cover that I looked at is very dark compared to the other two but I think it works just as well. Although I personally really like this cover, in my opinion I think that it may be slightly too dark for children and it could scare them. Design wise, I think it works wonderfully as it is composed really nicely, I like how the tongue is used to describe the path that the children are walking on. I also really like the bright yellow and red against the dark black and grays that are used. The font is also very fitting as it looks a bit creepy like the rest of the cover. 

Overall I think that I like the second cover the best out of the Grimm covers because I feel as though it is appropriate for children of all ages and genders and it has the right amount of darkness to not scare a child. 

 This James and the Giant Peach book cover is more simplistic compared to the other book covers that I have looked at but it works so well for the story. It describes the shape of the peach using all of the characters from the book, I think this is a very clever thought out book design. The typography, I feel, references Quentin Blake's style which is really nice as it brings the book design back to the original style that would have been used to illustrate this book. I also like the peach stone on the back. I think that the simplicity of this book cover works nicely 

The next book cover, A Little Princess, is a lot more illustrated in a traditional sense as even though it could have been digitally created, it looks like it has been painted. I think the colours work really well and make the book have a lovely, happy look and feel to it. I really like how all of the main characters are featured on the cover because I feel as though it makes me want to read the book to learn all about them. The typography interacts and overlaps the illustration which is quite unique but I think it works well as it makes the image look like the typography is a well considered part of the whole image instead of looking like an afterthought. 

 The cover below caught my eye when I was looking at different designs because the composition of image and typography work so well together. I love the brush strokes used on the otter because it makes the illustration look interesting whilst remaining realistic, The really fluid position that the otter also makes the image flow really nicely. The only thing that i'm not too sure about the design of this cover is the authors name because it looks quite separate from the design, it looks a little bit like it was just put on as an after thought. Other than that this is a really lovely book design.

After looking at all of these book covers, it is hard to pin point what works best for a cover design as they are all so different, but all work so well. I think that the key to creating a great book design is to really consider the imagery and typography and how they work together, but at the same time always referencing to the themes in the book and the target audience.

Inside Random house

Whilst researching book covers i though that I would search for youtube videos that have tips on creating book covers. I came across a really good video by random house where different book cover designers take you through their process and share their tips. Its a great video and gave me some really good advice that I can apply to my own process, such as making as many different versions of the cover until I get the perfect one and letting the text interact with the imagery.  

Carries war- existing book covers

Ive started reading carries war an i'm almost finished it nothing much has happened but this book transports you back to the time of evacuation in the war really well. The story is about a brother and sister that get evacuated to wales and end up staying with a grumpy old man (Mr Evans) and his sister Lou. Overall there is quite a bit of imagery throughout the book but not a really gripping storyline. I think it could be challenging coming up with a concept for this book cover but i'm going to try out a few different things to see what works best.

 I have looked at some existing book covers and they all seem pretty similar just featuring carrie in a war setting done in an old fashioned style, although I haven't finished the whole book yet I don't quite understand why in some of the book covers war scenes are happening in the background because to my knowledge so far, she has been evacuated away from the war so i'm not sure if they really work too well. Im aware that the war theme of the story should probably feature on the cover but I think id like to make the cover look more modern as the penguin brief stated that they want a book cover that a child would pick up and ask for and I think if the cover is too mature and old fashioned looking then this wouldn't happen. I think this will be quite challenging and will take a lot of research and experimentation but will be fun to try out. Here are some of the book covers that I have came across.