Beautifully Designed Book Covers

Great book design can be said to achieve two things: they announce and brand themselves. Some become Jurassic Park level iconic, with the book's cover art replicated in their paperback and international editions, and even movie posters--if the book is successful enough to capture Hollywood's attention. They're the type of covers that you can't imagine being anything other than what they are, though I have liked another cover of Educated (2018) that I think also captures the essence of the story (not the one with a childhood photograph of Westover on a swing). 

Below are a sampling of favorite book cover designs, along with my reflections of a few of them.

         

I hope that whoever was involved in the design of Shusterman's Arc of the Scythe book series received an award. Everything about those book covers bring joy: the paper on which they're printed, the graphic but simple nature of the image, the typography, the color. Overall those books' covers are art. I was compelled to own a physical copy of Scythe (2016) and want a large enough version of the trio to frame and display.

   

What a beauty is Trevor Noah's Young Readers' adaptation of his memoir, Born a Crime! My initial reaction to this book's design was stronger than it had been for the original because it so clearly communicated its intended audience. The bold graphic image of Trevor Noah in a chill, relaxed pose; the bright color palette that incorporated all the colors of the South African flag; and the on brand allusion to the original hardcover edition at the bottom with the color and grafitti texture, graphic, and font type below It's Trevor Noah honestly made me gleeful. Though I already owned the hardcover and intended to buy the young readers edition to add to my classroom library, I ended up keeping it for myself. 

   

There's a lot of writing on the cover of A Woman of No Importance (2019) and yet, the cover doesn't feel too busy. The trick, I think, is in the slightly askew nature of all the words on the page, coupled with a very on point typography and color palette. The old photograph of a woman pictured in a trench coat from the back and the muted color palette with a blue overlay effectively establish the setting and the tone of the book. I need not have read one word of this book to grasp that this story is specific to WWII espionage. 

She Said (2019) is also particularly striking in design because of its brilliant simplicity centered around the typography, scale, and color scheme. What I love about this book's cover design is that it centralizes and elevates the experiences and voices of the female victims/survivors. The chunky, bold red typography taking up most of the space clearly communicates that.

Nothing else need be said about the cover design of Queenie (2019) other than that it is exquisite, another cover I would love to have framed on my wall. I am so happy that the paperback uses the same design as the hardcover.

In all, I love the design of the covers featured here because they all effectively establish the tone and encapsulate the subject matter of its respective book. Also, in the case of most of these books, the story or writing within is just as captivating.