Comments Requested
I’m unsure whether solicited cover reviews are adherent to blog etiquette [they’re welcome anytime here…!], but I have attached a jpeg of a cover I am currently designing. This is my second cover, though this lack of experience may well be offset by the fact that I happen also to be the author. The font is Boris Black Boxx about which I can’t say enough good things. There are lengthy explanations behind all of the design choices, should you find them necessary.
P.S - If you’re worried about the large empty space between title and author, it’s been reserved for a blurb.
Here ’tis:
Lucy, Lacy [bad, bad typo — I apologize] there are some elements that I really like on this cover. The script fading into your photo, for instance, and I’m not adverse to mostly- or even all-white covers.
That said, I’ve got to take issue with your love of the font — and how its used. It’s hard to read on-screen, is likely going to be harder to read on a crowded shelf, and isn’t going to meet with the kind of success I imagine you’re hoping for.
My advice? Keep the illustration and script montage — and redo everything else.
What does everyone else think?
Comments:
I absolutly agree on the font. Watch out how the ‘r’ and ‘d’ in ‘Word’ are crashing, kern those suckers out! ‘A Collection of Verse By’ seems distorted? Did you streatch the font? Never ever stretch a font! Get an expanded version of the face if you need it. Also, think about using a serif. It has a more ‘literary feel’. The sans seems more immature for a collection of poems (which I doubt you want).
Leave off the blurb on the front and keep it on the back. Front blurbs always seem déclassé.
Finally, look at the Nora Ephron cover on the site here. See all that beautiful white space? (Which is yellow, but still…) Use the white space. Love it. There is so much going on here, step it back. Think about hierarchy. What do you want the reader to see first, the picture or the title? (Guessing here tht with your white/light text, the pic is most important). Make the title smaller and let the pic stand out. And ‘A Collection of Verse By’ can prolly be miniscule… Pull out any book that says ‘A Novel’ in 12 points on the cover to catch my drift.
I completely agree. Image works fine, typeface looks like WordArt.
Does the title need to be so big? I’d be tempted to drop the point size significantly and let it sit nicely in that white space. At the moment the image is quite delicate but the type is clunky which unsettles the overall design.
There’s so much (well-placed) empty space… keep it!
Don’t go waisting it by filling it all up with massive titles.
And I’d also suggest a more “classic”, more elegant font.
I agree with all of the above.
I’d add a lobster and some butter
The photo illustration has a ghostly effect. You could really use the whiteness to enhance this ethereal quality. But as is, the white space here disintegrates the design, rather than giving it order and breathing room. The font looks like a bad cut of Gill Sans Ultra Bold, beefy and inauthentic. If you used the real Gill family, you could use the lighter weights, achieving variety plus harmony, and not have to resort to pale tints and drop-up shadows on white type to lighten the heft. And true Gill is elegant, having a “literary” quality others are suggesting. This could be a lovely jacket. Let it be so.
It’s not Gill Sans. Writers aren’t designers. Get one.
I agree with Eric. If I saw this book in a bookstore, I would wince and walk away. Designers serve a crucial role in the production of successful books. Don’t do yourself a disservice by trying to design your own cover.