Beautiful Book Covers
Jun 05 2009
I love books. I love design. I love me a good book cover!
“But I’m a web designer! What do I care?” you say. Well, so am I my friend! Looking at media outside of the web is so crucial for inspiration for me, though. It gets me thinking outside the confines of my screen. For some reason, getting away from the media that you typically work with can really generate inspiration.
Book covers are also somewhat similar to the home page of a website. They have to communicate the essence of a story. They have to be captivating enough to grab someone’s attention enough so that they will read the whole story (or browse the entire site, if you will.) Sometimes there is a lot of information to convey, sometimes a little. You have to think about hierarchy. What is most important to communicate? Least?
Books covers are an awesome place to look at great typography:
The Murder by John Steinbeck. Designed by Gray318
Embryo Culture by Beth Kohl. Designed by Charlotte Strick
Ravens in the Storm by Carl Oglesby. Designed by Rodrigo Corral
They are also a great place to get ideas for color palettes:
Demonology by Rick Moody. Designed by Paul Sahre
Cool It by Bjorn Lomborg. Designed by Chip Kidd
The Golden Road by Caille Millner. Designed by Darren Haggar
You can find some great use of visual metaphors by looking at book covers, too:
Happiness by Richard Layard. Designed by Jamie Keenan
White Like Me by Tim Wise. Designed by ?
How to Think like a Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman.
Designed by Rodrigo Corral.
Finally, if you’re not able to go down to the bookstore and peruse the shelves, here are my two favorite online resources about book design: (note that The Book Cover Archive has a ton of useful links in the footer!) They’re always great for when I’m in need of a creative recharge!
Posted by verity at 1:38 PM
Published in Design, Inspiration on Friday, June 5th, 2009
Tags: book covers
June 5th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
LOVE that Embryo Culture one. I am a sucker for anything handstitched.
One of the interior design blogs I read (Door Sixteen) is written by a book cover designer, and she posts her covers on Flickr which I think is awesome. I like that you get to see the rejected ones plus the final one.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I just love Chip Kidd covers. I ran across The Book Cover archives a while back and it really sucked me in. I think a follow up post should take place in a few months after you find some more you are in love with. Nice post.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Very cool post V. I wonder if publishers have changed any of their criterion for choosing book covers. I would love to be a fly in that meeting.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Book covers are my favorite. I found this site that has a pretty good search that tells you the designer and publisher. I can flip through all day! http://covers.fwis.com/