OUGD406 Research Into Book Cover Designs (Studio Brief Two)

Before I start designing my book cover, I want to look at some existing book covers to get an idea of some designs that already exist for other books on the market. Simon told us about a designer called Jessica Hische who has designed multiple covers for Penguin's Gorgeous book series. She uses vivid colours and very intricate letterforms of the authors first letter of their name. They're incredibly eyecatching and beautiful, which has made the series incredibly successful - even if you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. The link to the It's Nice That page can be found HERE.

I then had a look on the internet to see if I could find any other book designs that I thought were really effective. I found a website called 'The Book Cover Archive' which is basically what it is called. The website can be found HERE.  This book cover was designed by Jason Booher. I think it's a really relevant design as the abstract lines create a sort of liquid-feel and all outline a head in the centre.

This is another book design for 'Wide Awake' by Patricia Morrisroe. It was designed by Rodrigo Corral. I think the idea is really simple, however it's really effective as the design is really bold and eyecatching. I think it's also effective as the clock hands show a pretty late time to be going to sleep and that's relevant as the book is about insomnia. It's also effective that they're all pointing in different directions as it's pleasing to the eye and draws your attention to every part of the cover. 

This is a book cover for the book Palo Alto by James Franco. The design was by a designer called Rex Bonomelli. I don't really like this design at all. I think the gradient isn't effective and it doesn't give a feel for the book at all. I also thin kthat the type used isn't very effective as it's hard to tell when the title ends as the title and authors name aren't seperated and they're also the same type size.

This is a book called 'Wall Street' by Steve Fraser. The image was photographed by Getty Images and the illustrator of the book is Hirooki Aoki. I think this design is really effective as it is very relevant to the title of the book. I think the perspective of the image is also effective as it shows how big Wall Street is. It also features the American Flag, symbolising the American Dream. The typography is relevant as it's very traditional.

This is a book called 'Raising The Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation' by Elizabeth Beckwith. It was designed by Jeff Miller. I think the design of the book is really effective as the illustration shows a perfect child and mother who look really happy, however the mother also looks a bit shifty. I don't like the display of the title as I think it distracts from the image and it's also quite hard to read when it's small as the type is quite small.