Objectives

• Understand the purpose of cover design• Become acquainted with the process of designing a cover• Realize the design needs for a series of covers

Definitions

• Books are multipage publication formats with a substantial volume of organized and sequenced content, including reference, children’s, literature, nonfiction, textbooks, limited edition and fine press, and image-heavy books.

• A template is a compositional structure with designated positions for the visual elements.

Cover Design

• A cover must grab a reader’s attention. Whether a reader views a

reduced version of a cover online or in a catalog or sees it in its actual size displayed in a bookstore, a cover must beckon you to pick it up.

• A cover design is both promotional and editorial, and should give the reader a sense of what the book or magazine is about.

How We Are Hungry: Cover© John Gall (Daniel Chang, Illustrator)

The Process of Designing a Cover

• Once you have generated a design concept, visualization and composition are next.

• For cover design, required components are book title (and subtitle), edition, author(s), and possibly other elements.

• The cover is a reader’s first experience with a publication.

After the initial reaction to a cover in a bookstore, online, at a newsstand, or on an eReader, once the reader starts reading, a new relationship develops.

Often, a reader will contemplate the cover.

8: All True: Unbelievable: Cover© Nicole Caputo

Integration of Type and Image

• Type and image should work cooperatively to communicate the subject and design concept, working in a supporting, sympathetic, or contrasting relationship.

• There are four basic routes: All-Type Type-driven Image-driven Visual-verbal synergy

City of the Snakes: Cover© Catherine Casalino (Designer, Illustrator)

Cover Design Checklist

Attract readers with an attention-grabbing design Display information in a clear visual hierarchy Express the essence of the book’s content Suggest the genre Differentiate it—make it unique Consider proportions of trim size when composing Design the spine for graphic impact and readability Type and image should work cooperatively Treat back cover and spine as part of the “whole” design

• The entire cover—including the spine, which is a key player in a bookstore environment—must be considered as a whole. Both the front and back can be treated as a continuous design.

Compositional Modes

• Consider the following structures as points of departure: Approximate symmetry: The composition is arranged with

almost exact correspondence on either side of a vertical axis. Modular grid: Produces unity and continuity, helps maintain

alignment among graphic elements, and can be rearranged to create different zones or forms yet still remain unified.

Major focal point versus multiple focal points: Establish emphasis in a visual hierarchy with a main focal point.

Parallel or corresponding movements: Create alignment through parallel or corresponding arrangements of type, image, rules, and any or all graphic elements.

Compositional Modes

Rhythm, pattern, color: An all over pattern and/or thoughtfully positioned repeats of color can create rhythm and visual connections.

Divisions: Achieve consonance, a whole composition through a connecting structure of corresponding parts.

Transparency: Type is positioned over a large image. We read the type and see the image (almost) simultaneously, where one complements the other.

Canvas of interesting juxtapositions: Arrange type and image into interesting juxtapositions, yet respect the principles of emphasis and visual hierarchy

Compositional Modes

Corner to corner: Diagonally transverse the surface by a pulling-like action from opposite corners to achieve active spatial tension.

Open space: Open areas of the spatial field are active players in the overall composition.

Illusion of space or movement: Create illusions of spatial depth or movement in a variety of ways by manipulating the picture plane.

Fractured or ambiguous space: Graphic space that is fractured or ambiguous does not reflect how we see the natural world.

New Covers for Existing Books

• When designing a new edition for a popular existing book, several factors must be kept in mind: Target the audience (current and future readers). Design a cover that represents the content as an

enthusiastic and intelligent approach to the book’s topic. Make clear to current readers that this edition has new or

revised subject content and illustrations through an updated cover design.

Differentiate the cover from the current competition. Make the author’s name easy to see and read.

Designing for a Series

• When designing for a series, corresponding visual elements and positions will help people recognize and identify the books as belonging together. Among the covers or

jackets, there should be similarities, for example, method of visualization, composition, placement of the elements, type treatments, color, or use of visuals.

Albert Camus: Cover Series© John Gall, Art Director; Helen Yentus, Designer

Designing for a Series

• The author’s name, book title, and visuals are usually placed in the same position on each cover, or there are only slight variations in position.

• A template unites each individual cover within a series so that the viewer can easily identify and relate each cover to another in the series. A cover can be a “fraternal twin” to the next, with enough

variation to distinguish the individual titles within the series. Others allow for greater variation, creating the look of

“cousins” among the covers, where there is some family resemblance, but they are not as close as fraternal twins.

Joyland Series: Book Covers© David Gee, Brian Davis, Emily Schultz(Art Directors)

Summary

• Books are multipage publication formats with a substantial volume of organized and sequenced content, including reference, children’s, literature, nonfiction, textbooks, limited edition and fine press, and image-heavy books.

• A cover must grab a reader’s attention and, in visual shorthand, communicate the book’s substance.

• Cover design is both promotional and editorial.

• A cover becomes part of the entire reading experience.

• Four basic cover design routes are all-type, type-driven, image-driven, and visual-verbal synergy.

Summary

• There are several basic ways of structuring a cover, called compositional modes.

• There are special considerations when designing a new cover for an existing book.

• When designing for a series, there should be similarities among the covers, for example, method of visualization, composition/template/placement of the elements, type treatments, color, or use of visuals.

• For a series, often a designer will create a template—a compositional structure with designated positions for the visual elements.