As with most covers on novels I see this as being very predictable which is a shame, as people tend to use their innovative skills purely for when working with design titles. You can tell that in places the designer has made an effort to keep the feel in keeping with the book but sadly this has been done by the usual black background, faded image which is normally not the main focus of the book but looks quite distinctive and then the large scale coloured text.
I did a bit of work on book jackets in my A-level to mixed success. I found that although I personally didn’t like the covers, a lot people I asked who were less interested in design often said that they did.
The main thing that I don’t like about the design is that the cover is so non-distinct. The book could have been set in any time period from imaginary to an actual event and fails to highlight the books biggest asset, the enormous amount of research inside. The book is largely based on historical fact and therefore this should have been one of the first things the viewer is aware of, in doing this it would probably be more likely to reach the type of reader that will best appreciate it.
Thank you for reminding me about the cover art, I would be interested to hear other peoples opinion on this design and cover graphics in general.
3 comments:
I just wanted to tell you to check the title of this blog entry... :) Robert Harris?
Otherwise I agree with you on the book cover, they really should've considered their target group.
As always I find your insights most memorable and intelligent.
I have to agree with you here.
Walk into Waterstones and you can begin to see patterns of similar book covers. But I guess there must be a limit to how many ways you can present this sort of information and keep the author and publisher happy?
Also, I'm not sure how much of a say the author has on these matters. Say if you were to design something really clever and creative, would the author be happy with that, or would they think it overshadows their work?
If that is the case, maybe the bland covers are intentional, thus keeping the content of the book as the main focus...?
I haven't really given book covers much thought before, but this seems like an interesting area in terms of design.
Thanks Martin, I didn't notice that one!
Thats a good point Zahid, i often wonder when you see a bit of a dull design (on a nationwide poster campaign for example) if it was a lack of inspiration from the designer or the customer wanting it that way. Sadly there is no way of asking a designer that.
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