Book Covers: Design Matters

There's something to be said about book covers: Well done, they elevate the greatness of a book; poorly done, they intensify the disappointment in a not-so-great book. While there is wisdom in the adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," there's also the reality that first impressions matter.

I have no degree and have never taken any courses on design, so I lack the technical language to describe why a design works or does not work for me. Still, I find myself examining and critiquing various aspect of design that converge into a good book cover: color, layout, typeface, artwork, creativity, and originality.

My willingness to buy the e-reader vs. the physical or paperback vs. hardcover copy of a book is entirely dependent on the cover. There are some book covers that I appreciate as pure art and find them worthy of being framed and displayed. (e.g., Neil Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe series).  For this reason, I love when a book's cover entices me, for it shows intentional effort. I like knowing that a bit of extra consideration went into tempting me to part with my coins, though I am aware that, generally, a lot of thought goes into the design process. Still, there are too many that I consider to be the result of a design template, lacking originality.

This is why, I've been...confounded by book covers of late that seem to lack creativity, originality, or "point of view," as contestants on Project Runway liked to say. When said books are critical darlings or runaway bestsellers, I am genuinely irritated. Take the following books, for example:

Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You (2014) is a work of beauty. It's my number 1 recommendation of books read since its publication. Then came Little Fires Everywhere (2017), which I couldn't wait to get my hands on. One look at the cover and I lost all interest. The visual elements of the cover (color, image) are not the issue: the model set of the neighborhood clearly establishes the setting and sets the tone, both crucial elements of the story. What I couldn't get over, however, is the title design. Why that particular layout? And more egregiously, why that particular typography? I did read the book, eventually, but in audiobook format. Compared to its predecessor, I found the book a big disappointment.

Jojo Moyes's The Giver of Stars (2019) and The Peacock Emporium (2019) both represent a shift from her previously better book covers, one that I find to be incomprehensible. As for the Giver of Stars, in particular, again, what is going on with the title font? The color palette also seems off, but I guess if the story is set in Montana, the cover is effective. That's the vibe I'm getting and I haven't checked to see if my guess is accurate. Of the books featured, Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (2019) is the only one I own...in e-reader format. It was a Kindle deal I did not want to pass up in my desire to support a fellow brown person. Not as egregious as the others, I just wished On Earth's cover was better. In all, these books represent covers in which the layout and typography are problematic. Color as a means to convey tone is one aspect of their design that I think most of these covers effectively capture. 

Knowing, of course, that appeal is very much to personal taste, when it comes to the final designs featured above, I'm left wondering, Were the publishers on a time crunch? If these are the best of what publishers settled on after many iterations from designers, what did the rejects look like?!