God's Politics
Joeseph asks a great question on his new blog:
Do the elephant and donkey help or hurt this?
I say the whole thing needs to be trashed — a god idea that didn’t pan out. (That was a typo — couldn’t resist leaving instead of changing to “good idea.”)
Put in your two cents here.
Comments:
It was a good week over at the Times with respect to the “does this make it better or worse?” question. The God’s Politics book is a good example; here’s another.
When you say the whole thing should be scrapped, do you mean the party symbols or the whole cover? I like the old bible or hymnal look for this subject.
I do, as well — but feel that if you remove the sticker, people generally won’t “get it” as being a political book from a distance.
In other words, I would have made some of the same decisions, trying to “politicize” the old bible look — but would have tried the stickers, found they didn’t work, and moved on to other ways to do it.
Not sure what would work with that look, though, which is why I probably would have walked away from the idea entirely.
Maybe I suffer from “obviousness?”
The cross being off-center…
Drives. Me. Crazy!
I like the concept, with the sticker — I think that’s a necessary element. I think this cover is ‘almost there’.
The problem might be the unsuccessful type treatment for the sub-head and author name. They don’t look like part of the bible. (and yes, that cross… )
Did they really need two sub-titles here? They’re a little confusing.
I certainly wouldn’t have positioned it so that the donkey’s head is chopped off. Jeez.
Great question, Diane. Even the HarperCollins web site doesn’t use both. (There’s no mention of “A New Vision for Faith and Politics in America.”)
I agree about the white type. It feels slapped on. The title and “A New Vision…” subtitle keep with the metaphor (or illusion) of an old bible/hymnal. It’s good to have some variation, but perhaps an ital or SC wold’ve been better.
I would’ve tried covering the cross all together. The three symbols are conflicting. Obviously, that’s the point. But, covering the cross would be making a stronger statement.
Stickers = good idea that makes the cover current
Typography = seriously lacking in style; the “Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It” could have easily worked on the sticker and made the sticker more important; move the other front sales copy up under the title (one line, italic would be nice); make the author feel like part of the cover instead of slapped on (he’s not well-known, so downplay him; if his name is important, tell the buyer why)
the cross = center it; there’s no reason not to, and a Bible wouldn’t have it slightly off center like this
overall = a neat idea that was not completed before going to press; of course, the reality is most likely that the client drove the cover to this point; ah…clients…gotta love ‘em