Drugs and Human Behaviour

This is a book cover from 1970 done by Diagram. I really like the way that it has tried to express an idea and hasn't resorted to the traditional pills image. I have read a few comments on this and they can't see the link from teapot to scorpian and have taken it on a very literal sence, but I like the fact that it simply implies a change of mood and perception that can occur and therefore suggests some themes that will continue into the book. I had never really thought of looking into non fiction covers before, but the last two posts have really made me consider a different direction angle for my independent project.

A General Theory of Love Cover - Great Design

Since I first saw this book cover by John Gall, it has been one of my favorites. Its one of those designs that when you see it done you realize what an obvious yet striking an idea it is. The book explores the psychology of love, this clever photograph manages to tell you all of that instantly. The thing that I like the most is that the title itself could be visualized in many different ways, however the design shows you that bit more about the book (for example it hints that this is a non fiction study and not a novel). It is these sort of designs that really inspire me as they show that the person creating them has really understood the point of the book and is trying to communicate this to the audience. I would like to research this area and other designs like this in preparation for my independent project after Christmas.

Penguin, "We print the words you do the covers" some of the results

I have been checking back onto this website since I first posted about this initiative. Here are a few of my favorite covers from the 'online gallery'. I think most if not all rival what is currently on the shelves at the moment. They are all very different in style and some of those that have been done for the same title could not be more dissimilar. This shows how people can react differently to the same novel, I love this idea and the results that it has created.

What I loved by Siri Hustvedt - Book cover

When I saw this cover, my thoughts immediately went to a sex in the city style novel, but from the reviews I have read this is not exactly how it is. Geraldine Bedell writing in the Observer said "Her characters inhabit a rarefied world of SoHo art galleries and universities and are so preoccupied with interpreting their lives that you wonder how they manage to live them." This is not what I would instantly link with the cover art, however I can see that it does have a certain reflective element about it. I do like the style and way that the title has been incorporated into the artwork, however, from what I have found out it doesn't lead you into the story as well as some of the other covers I have mentioned.

Then we came to the end, Joshua Ferris, book cover

This very familiar imagery automatically makes you think of an office environment. From finding out what I can about this novel, I can't think of a much more appropriate way to communicate the story's plot. The book's centre is a Chicago ad agency at a time when the industry was undergoing massive change into the digital era and job losses were following as a result. One book review picked up that it was created in a similar style to the office, it drew you into the lives of fictional characters, but ones that you could actually see alot of people you knew reflected within. Although the post it note style has been used a lot in the past, I have not seen it so frequently on book covers. On top of this from what I have read it is a very suitable way to set the tone of the book which is ultimately what the cover sets out to do.

Their eyes were watching god,

I saw this on my housemates course book shelf and instantly I wanted to know what the book had to say. The cover graphics, whilst not shocking or overly innovative work well and look good with the typography that is also on the front. My first thoughts were that it had a very balanced and reflective quality about it, like you sere seeing an image of how the main character felt not looked, I think it was this that made me curious in the first place. From what I have been told and found out from skim reading the first chapter or so, the plot is about the main character Janie who is recounting the events from the last twenty of her life; This obviously is where the very reflective character pose came from. The one thing that did confuse me slightly was that very peaceful images had been shown in colors which are normally associated with danger. This is also something that is a theme within the book.

This cover uses a different technique to simply showing a scene or character from the book, in my opinion it shows a feeling and a theme. The fact that this can be communicated to the author before they even open the book is something I find really interesting, its something that has a large amount of potential for future work.

Elemore Leonard UK book covers

These are book covers designed by Tim Marrs for Elmore Leonard’s UK released books. They stood out when I was looking round a bookshop at the various covers, not because they were the most modern, nor because they were the most innovative. These stand out because of the attention and detail that has obviously gone into their creation.

I have not actually read any of the books myself so can’t vouch for if they are designed to specifically relate to the plot. However, given the differences between the covers I think it’s fair to assume that they are. These illustrations are of a style that is quite popular with a number of artists, yet they are well considered and created, and also very appropriate for the type of crime and mystery genre that Elmore Leonard writes in.

The illustrators personal website is also something I want to mention. It is a well-designed portfolio; its not too complicated, but everything from the page list to the background shows part of his individual style. If you are interested in illustration, it my be worth looking at. http://www.timmarrs.co.uk/

Borders as a Museum?

I was looking through my notes other day and came across the bit where Mike Sheedy had listed Tescos as a Packaging exhibition. Using this same principal, for the most recent book cover design, surely there can be no better place than a bookshop. I know this may sound obvious, but its too often the case for me that when I’m struggling to come up with something innovative and new, I tend to forget the most basic and simple things. So just to jog my memory in the future, there is no better place to explore book cover design (except maybe a library)

Summer marketing Phenomenon

Having just gone through the summer when the final instalment of the Harry Potter series was released “The Deathly Hallows” I felt I had to at least comment on it. I am not going to try and review the books individually or as a series as I am sure that every person out there who is interested in reading the books has already done so. Everyone who has already experienced the world of Harry Potter will no doubt have formed their own opinion, and those that have been less interested will probably not want to read a series review anyway.

I have decided therefore that I would look at the ‘media machine’ and ‘hype’ that surrounded this famed book’s release. On the 21st of July 2007, approximately 10 million people across the world first opened Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Not only was this a phenomenon for the people who worked to keep the plotline a secret, but also for those that have been waiting for ten years to finish reading the series.

At the time I followed the news articles about this book, I was not only one of those waiting to read it, but I was curious about how much interest that it was generating. I remember watching the news the day before it was released to see that some fans had been queuing for 36 hours outside a london shop for it's release. Many people have criticised JK Rowling and the “hyping hands behind Harry Potter”. With this and all the ‘Potter merchandise’ that is on sale, you could easily start to think that this is a worldwide brand and no longer a book series. However, the one thing that I did think was a bit unfair was the criticism of the author for wanting to keep the plotline totally secret. Yes there is no doubt that there was an unprecedented amount of interest and security surrounding the release of one single book. However, I personally have read the books since the age of eleven, which means that it has taken nine years to find out what has happened. If you look at it from that perspective then its hardly surprising most people wanted to discover what happened for themselves.

But even with the secrecy issue aside, you can’t blame the publicists for wanting to capitalise on the situation that they found themselves. As Dave Yoder a writer for Sioux city journal said “There’ll never be another Harry Potter, just like there will never be another Beatles. It’s not just the books, it’s the times that made it a phenomenon.”
I agree with this, the amazing success can’t be contributed to any one thing; no-one at the beginning could have predicted that the fans would become so fanatical about the series, no-one can have guessed that the author would be so well received or that the marketing would even work.

The fans and the media have made the Harry Potter series into the untouchable marketing power that it is today. With this in mind who can criticise the publicists for wanting to make the most of it. Whilst I have not counted up the column inches or the time speant talking about Harry Potter this summer; I can’t help feeling that this book’s release and the hype surrounding it, has got to be one of the most unique marketing events we have seen all summer.

On a different note, with regards to the book cover, I remember this particular article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/06/22/nosplit/booldharry12.xml) which said that there were suspicions that people were opting not to buy the traditional children's version of the book as the preferred the cover on the adult's. Although this is not exactly surprising, it does underline the importance of book covers. If you extract Harry Potter from the exceptional circumstances it was released in and the fact it is part of a series, I wonder how many people would have been put off buying the book altogether if they didn't like the cover.

Articles quoted;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/07/18/nosplit/ftpotter118.xml

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/08/02/news_opinion/dave_yoder/3953aff49d3825418625732a007970bd.txt

Robert Goddard's 'Never Go Back'

The publisher describes this book as being the ‘new mystery by the master of the clever twist’. This is actually a very accurate introduction to this novel By Robert Goddard titled ‘Never go back’. Since reading it I have found out that it is the last in a series of three books about the character Harry Barnett and although I had read several of this authors books, I had obviously missed these other two.

I have started reading mid way through a series without realising it and found it really difficult to finish the book as because you have so obviously missed chunks of what has happened. It wasn’t the same in this case, this book really stood on its own.

Like most of Robert Goddard’s books (and as indicated in the publisher’s released comment), this book tells the story of his lead character’s surprise encounter with an old friend which in turn leads to more mysteries and twists than the reader could ever anticipate. The plot line sees Harry Barnett travel to an RAF reunion in Scotland, back to a place that he hasn’t been for fifty years. After two members of their party die in suspicious circumstances and Harry himself is suspected of their murder, he endeavours to find out the reason behind the deaths himself and hence putting himself into the path of more trouble.

My main impression of this book is that is a very well written mystery novel. Whilst I don’t think it’s my favourite Robert Goddard’s books, it is none the less one I enjoyed reading. My favourite aspect of this author’s books in general is the way that he works to make sure he is always one step of the reader. Whilst I am not one of those people who takes pride in guessing what is coming next, sadly some stories are so predictable that you cant help but come to the correct conclusion. These books are not like this, they always have something else to discover as you carry on, with the result being that you are interested from cover to cover.

Finally a quick note about the cover, whilst I am not a fan of the proportions given to the text vs image (they almost seam to be fighting for your main attention) I actually quite like the decision to use the castle as the subject on the cover. This is a central part to the books plot, whilst its significance stays unknown to some extent until near the end.

The main downside I think with it (apart from the overly large text) is that it is not particularly eye-catching. I suppose that as with Pompeii they are hoping that the author’s name will be the main pull of the book. Whilst this may be true, I still think that a bit more attention in this area wouldn’t go a miss. As Michelle Almond pointed out in her blog, we all know the phase don’t judge a book by it’s cover but lets face it, this is exactly what we all do.

Penguin Books "We print the words, You do the Covers"

I decided to go to into borders earlier to look continue my book cover investigation, I deliberately went in not looking for anything in particular so I could just walk up and down the isles and see what stood out. There were several different ones that I did notice but the most significant were the Penguin Design your own book cover novels.

The editorial Director commented on this innovative project saying “Anyone can draw sketch or scribble their own cover, and make the outside of the book as personal as their reaction to the insides.” I love this idea, every person reacts differently to books, situations and stories, the reason I chose to look at book cover art in the first place was because I noticed very few reflected the contents of the novel.

Have a look at the gallery of art that this has produced, I could talk about the idea and concept of this for ages, but to be honest its best if you view the results yourself.

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/mypenguin/gallery.html

Book Cover art :'Rant' by Chuck Palahniuk

Whilst looking more in-depth at the cover art of Pompeii (see previous post), it made me realise how restricted book jacket design in this often is. It comes across as a less glamorous industry sector, which many designers wouldn’t choose to work in. You occasionally see something really innovative in bookshops within the design section, however I have seen very few examples of this extending to novels.

I am going to make this one of the areas I look into in more detail, as I think if I can highlight the scope of designs within this one category, it may help me to understand ways to be more creative and push the boundaries within design as a whole.

The above example is the cover for ‘RANT: An oral biography of Buster Casey’ written by Chuck Palahniuk. The most striking thing about this design, is that neither this title nor the Author’s name features anywhere on the cover. In fact when you initially look at it the only indicating a title is the ‘R’ which is cut through window to the title which is placed on the layer beneath.

The graphics are undeniably abstract, however as you look closer it could represent any number of things. My initial thoughts were this was designed to indicate a curious yet confused scene which is constantly changing. However looking it again it could also be symbolic of a human heart, which has mutated into an abnormal form and is aggressively taking over the page.

The book follows the fictional life of someone who ‘may or may not be the most efficient serial killer of our time’. Having read this book’s synopsis I can see exactly why the artist has created such a curious image,

I really admire Rodrigo Corral and Jacob Magraw who have designed this cover. Although you are not certain what it may indicate about the plotline, the omission of the title and Author’s name would probably make people curious enough to read the book’s abstract. Having done this you somehow look at the cover in a different light.
Overall I actually like this cover, I don’t think it is in any way flawless and having done some research I have discovered that many books have used the not title technique in the past. But regardless of this I think that the design is eye-catching enough to get people to want to know more about the contents. Therefore in this way it would be a successful design.

Cover art of Pompeii by Richard Harris

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.