Graphic Journey Blog

Let there be type: Book covers now

It’s clear that most books covers, both hardback and paperback, are typographical these days, mostly over an abstract or decorative background. The type tends to be large so that you can read the title at matchbox size on Amazon. In addition, there are often two of three quotes added into the mix. So, it's a pretty restricting menu for the poor cover designer.

 

I've kept a lookout for what has been going on over the past year or so to see how designers are coping with publisher's ever-tightening straightjacket.

 

Here is my selection of typographical hardback covers, (there may be a couple of paperbacks in there). Anyway, none are an insult the reader.

Amazingly this group is minus any quotes (hooray!)

Designed by Jamie Keenan

 

Designed by John Gall

Designed by Jack Smyth

Designed by Jamie Keenan

Designed by Jamie Keenan

Designed by Tyler Comrie

Designed by David Pearson

Designed by Janet Hansen

Designed by Jamie Keenan

 

Designed by Luke Bird

 

 And the designers of this little group escaped over the wall, to freedom (Hooray! Hooray!)

 

Designed by Designed by Peter Mendelsund

Designed by Pablo Delcan

Designed by Oliver Munday

Designed by John Grey

Designed by Thomas Colligan

 

LOVED COVERS No.23:

This book of 103 poems by Jill Bialosky reveals personal and historical traumas and how we search for understanding and meaning in their wake. The cover image is a perfect metaphor for time, and the cut negative space housing the title. It was designed by John Gall for Knopf in 2020.

LOVED COVERS No. 24

 

For me, a cover can be as quietly beautiful as this one from Hungarian publisher Jelenkor. Sadly, I have no idea who designed it, and you are unlikely to find it in a UK bookshop. But having looked at some of Jelenkor's publications, they don't appear to treat their readers as incapable of accepting a cover that isn't shouting and plastered in every square inch with sales copy. Kék (Blue) 2023.

LOVED COVERS No.19

Covers can sometimes be a total surprise. In 1997, I commissioned Fernando Gutiérrez RDI to design the book and cover for, 'The Commercials Book'. My only stipulation was not to use any of the director's work featured. He unearthed this fantastic photograph by Oliviero Toscani and presented it as the cover. It's all about looking and seeing the potential. Published by D&AD.

LOVED COVERS No.18

With a nod to Martin Creed, designer Jamie Keenan produced this brilliant cover in 2020. It shows the bravery of publishers Granta in this age of dumbing down this historic creative discipline, especially in the UK with its bullying conglomerates.

LOVED COVERS No.16.

A simple but beautiful way of expressing a city suffocating the life out of a woman. Cover by New York-based designer Paul Sahre for W. W. Norton & Company (2019).

LOVED COVERS No.14

LOVED COVERS No.14: Visit any bookshop, and you'll be accosted by a stack of 'personality' publications. 90% follow the predictable formula: full-beed mugshot, overly large type, and quotes. So, it's refreshing to see the occasional alternative approach even if you have to go back 35 years when Mark Farrow RDI designed this cover, and it still looks fresh. World International Publishing (1988)

LOVED COVERS No 8

LOVED COVERS No 8: This sci-fi novel of a near-distant future —millions of kilometres from Earth where human and humanoid employees cohabit. New York-based cover designer Paul Sahre offers the water cooler as the perfect place for these differing species to hang out. Published by New Directions Paperbacks. It was rightly in the NYT Best Book Covers of 2023.

LOVED COVERS No.6

As one reviewer penned - 'Coming. Apart', "offers a vision of sexuality and alienation unlike any other". There's nothing better than a well-chosen, surprising image to express that feeling perfectly. Designer Daniel Benneworth-Gray is particularly good at seeking out these archival gems and creating excellent covers. Published by Deep Vellum 2023.

LOVED COVERS No.4

A cover you have to engage with either attempting to read backwards or holding it up to a mirror. It was designed by the very talented Jamie Keenan, a long-time exponent of cover craft, as here for Granta Books, published in 2018.