The Novelle

I absolutely LOVE cover design and I wanted to highlight some of my favourite and not so favourite covers out there. In order to put some kind of order to this I have decided to section off the covers into different themes.

 

About A Boy by Nick Hornby

This cover sums up the main aspect of what happens in the book without spoiling anything in the simplest terms; the idea of meeting up with someone and going to the same place. The (almost) repetition of the same design could symbolise the regularity that life can assume or perhaps the idea of doing the same thing day in day out. The black designs are quite intricate but at it's core are actually quite simple as they are just made up of shapes, and even the figures in the cover are just silhouettes. I like the typography and how it is incorporated in and around the gate design; sometimes falling in front of it and sometimes being placed behind.

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The main character of this book works as a fireman and the idea of the book is that all books are to be burned. This design therefore, quite plain and simply sums up this book in a symbol, fire. The colours of red, orange and yellow also accompany this idea. It looks as though it's been painted in acrylic paint quite roughly, and anything rough against a digital font creates quite an interesting contrast of old and new. I guess the idea that this is an old classic book that has had a remastered cover design in the modern day is testament to this. The only thing I don't particularly like about this design in the choice of fonts; I like them both separately, but I'm not a fan of using sans serif and serif fonts in the same design.

Mockingjay by Stephanie Meyer

I absolutely hate this version of The Hunger Games covers SO MUCH. It's messy and doesn't even relate in any way to the story or the themes whatsoever. It looks as though someone got a bit photoshop happy and has layered a patterned brush upon another patterned brush to create this effect and it doesn't look professional in the slightest. They've even created a kind of "logo" on the front which is simply just the letters of Hunger Games which doesn't really fit with anything, as the symbols that people relate to this series are the pictures of birds in the circles so this idea is actually quite redundant.

 

I absolutely LOVE cover design and I wanted to highlight some of my favourite and not so favourite covers out there. In order to put some kind of order to this I have decided to section off the covers into different themes.

 

The Book Of Lost Things by John Connolly

I love the intricacy of this design. The vines that are winding their way through the typography are something that you need to look closely at; there are little details in there that you don't see every time you look at it (unless you're studying it intently of course) - there are lanterns, elves and keys hidden in there but they are being camouflaged with the shubbery of the tree as well. This book revolves around a dark fairytale so this effect definitely fits with the theme of the book. The added silver on the cover adds another magical element as well and if you have the physical copy of the book (which I don't have on me at the moment) you will see that the silver is made of a foil of sorts and actually shines in the light.

 

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Simplicity is the theme in this cover design and sometimes it's the simplest designs that are the best. The bright red and the bold, large, sans serif font really make the design anyways. There's the added symbol of the dodo which does relate to the book, but not so much that it would give anything away about the plot or give away any spoilers. In fact, the Dodo in my eyes just symbolises the hilarity of the book as who would think of a dodo riding a scooter anyways. It's bold, bright, and beautiful and sometimes that's all you need.

 

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

This cover is all about trickery of pictures and symbolism - you have the two simple shapes in the front that symbolise the two brothers, and if you look closely, the heads of these figures also create the eyes of a skull in the background. I love the two forms of the brothers - you don't need to have a picture of an actual person to realise what they are, as sometimes shapes are all that are needed to portray what is needed. It looks like quite a complicated cover but in actuality it's quite simple and just made up of shapes. Again, simple wins the day.