A welcome nod to classic fiction designs of the 1960s and 70s. Full of suspense, but warm and eye-catching. The dripping clouds are so intriguing. Lots of text but its all balanced well, still readable with all the toy parts too. Atmospheric and very arts and craftsright up my street (yep, cover design is so subjective). Chang-Rae Lee, My Year Abroad; cover design by Grace Han (Riverhead, February) But as we wind down 2021, it is useful to remember the good parts, the pleasures small and large that got us through. Joy Williams, Harrow; cover design by Kelly Blair (Knopf, September) Beautiful and intriguing. Can you imagine receiving this in the mail? Na is so good at capturing the core of a text in the simplest yet most memorable way possible. Awesome colors. Incredibly beautiful marriage of typography and image. Gotta love the commitment to form and technology. Very well done in that regard. The colors remind be both of a psychedelic sunset and an oil-slick rainbow. Its a brilliant cover. , Thanks for including 3 Ebook Launch cover designs in your post (The Thought Cathedral, Insanity and Twisted). This cover is so playful, evocative, and incredibly beautifully crafted. Ornaments incorporated so well. The three Os used to convey the three different viewpoints is thrilling. A refreshing and modern take on a historical biography.
Top job with Photoshop manipulation. Gray318 never ceases to amaze and delight! I love it. Reminds me of an old box of chocolates, both simple & delicious. Every element in the collage is lovely, and its intriguing for what it leaves out. This is just so good. She is a power-clashing maximalist with an inordinate disdain for the color navy. Great contrast, colors, and concept. One of the most playful covers Ive ever seen, so full of life and wit. I love Dave Drummonds concepts.
I love all that empty black space and how the rigid lines turn a bit fiddly when they get chopped. About as vertical as you can get and I love how the image sits somewhere between photographic and illustrative for that blockbuster movie poster feel. In an age when big type dominates, I love seeing a design that begs you to look closer and examine it. Are you looking for book cover design inspiration for your upcoming self-published book? Such a unique and sharp cover. The drippy lettering is full of character without compromising the art it sits on. Feels really fresh. Gorgeous illustration, cleverly hidden child gives it that childish feeling and colors are stunning. Really cool, original idea. Great picture too (thats where my love for skyscrapers show haha). Love the colors, simple image and how they used typography here. Hi! The horse trapped in that black pool is such a sublime and devastating image. Mesmerizing, with so many great little details. Each element is so carefully composed and clearly considered hereI can feel it! Its so fun to look at! Not sure if its a book cover, probably not, but I just had to include this brilliant use of Woodys face and skyline of Manhattan. The metallic effects and tactile finish are just brilliant. Every time I see this cover I want to pick it up. to make me feel like a hip, well-read lover of poetry. The fonts! I just keep trying to look over thisobstruction(is it in my eye? When a cover is so beautifully thought through it makes me very happy. Well, friends, its been another tough year. A good example of how design can drive the eye on a well-structured cover. Love the color scheme. Creative! This cover is so creepy yet beautiful! The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Simple, clean, classic . An absolute trend in 2017/2018 with person/silhouette and a visual blended into it. I love the illustration and the depth.
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami. The weathered golden rays and textured painting with more modern type really hits that right balance of evoking a story from the past with a contemporary feel.
Pola Oloixarac, tr. Thank you so much. Really good cover. From typography-centric to fluffy, 2021 was a banner year for book cover designs, with our list encompassing an eclectic mix of styles, aesthetics, and vibes. Great to hear! Very elegant, great colors (blue goes to white then red). so, yeah, maybe even without the title. I feel like this one is deceptively simple and the cut out section reveals an inner truth only found in the book itself. It has such a sweeping feel that matches the novels epic tale. Great manipulation. Beautiful cover. The combination of the lush green background and the surreal floating horse is incredible. Looks and feels like a classic. Great colors! Another Holmes cover and another beauty. Has a lovely depth and charm to it while also encompassing the subjects enigmatic life. A fitting book to start your freelance career with? Its wonderful when the art and title work together as perfectly as they do on this cover. There is a common misconception that books are all about the words printed on their interior pages. The collage and lettering are both so strong they could exist as separate entities. That horrible condensed Garamond, everything just a tiny bit lo-res and all the elements looking like theyre stuck on with no thought. The stunning illustration with the handwritten title and the understated author name makes this cover feel like a true work of art. The ultimate eye candy! Everything just works out very nicely here. Book has taken a while in the writing of, so will bookmark this page and check back again. The cool smoke effect adds nice differentiation and untraditional title adds a nice flavor too (the wave effect of it). They came back with a grand total of 101 glorious covers, representing work by 67 different designers for 54 different imprints. The design is doing so much, so well, using surrealism, collage and color to deconstruct genre and gender archetypes. Unwrap the jacket for a full shelf of spine design that delights in every genre! Who knew!? The text is really good too. Reptilian and human at the same time, a composition that controls your eye and an image that leaves you with so many questions. A really appealing, memorable color palette, and the long title is handled so well within the space. Instead of broadcasting to the reader, this design makes you do the work. I almost hold my breath when I look at this jacket. OMG this is the longest title ever and Im so inspired by how the type is really playful yet clearly legible among the spots of artwork. There is a fine line between simple/genius and simple/not-done-yet. Mona is the best cover of the year. Love the original and detailed illustrations. Adrijus, youve written an excellent article.
Great colors too. I spent a while staring at this cover and being impressed about the three eyes lining up perfectly. A perfect expression of an instagram post rendered as book cover, and I love the addition of the water droplets that give it that extra dimension. A timeless design. Theres a great tension here: flat vs. dimensional, muted vs. boldits all a touch awkward and, as a result, most intriguing. Great manipulation, great colors and bird. Totally captivating. Its quietly powerful. So original, love how they used the receipt here. The power of the figure looking out at the world through that O is memoir perfection. But as you may know if youre a frequent Literary Hub reader, I also like stats, and therefore I have tallied the best of the best for you here. The artwork looks like a ship or could also be rocks which is such a smart way to get ones attention. Again, quite minimalistic, not too much colors but it works really well. Vibrant colors and large type are every publishers favorite look but after a while it can be difficult to do it in a fresh and intriguing waythe beautiful rendering of the type on this cover combined with the intense contrasting colors makes this so effective. Love how the layers bring focus to Pessoa. Through the Eyes of Joanna by Edith Ivie. The people in the Z letter (and water) look so cool. This one looks great. Sands match it well, and it has the feel it needs to convey. Here is a collection of some of the best book covers I have seen online as Im always on a lookout for some gorgeous book covers that are very original, or well made, have an incredible concept or manage to get your attention while being surrounded by other covers. Awesome typography. Adam Morris,Mona; cover design by Thomas Colligan (FSG, March), Kristen Arnett, With Teeth; cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead, June). I love the handmade quality of the illustration and type, it makes the cover feel very intimate, which is perfect for the material. Great illustration and interesting use of sans serif font to go with it (adds modern feel to this). Keep up with all things PRINT by subscribing to our weekly email newsletter. Theres quite a lot going on but the balance is great. . Not sure about the font choice but effects and illustration are great. 49. Love the perspective of the text. Beautiful, beautiful type and I love how the letter forms mirror the organic shapes of the illustration. Great colors, great use of the lighthouse. Rachels stands out to me because of the playfulness and surreal quality. Love the movie poster feel. Feel free to skip that part if youd just like to look at some pretty book art. I think it can be hard for commercial thrillers to look new and different, and still invoke the category. A book with 32 DIFFERENT COVERS. This achieves such a mood with such economy. I cannot find it. Wowser great effect and design work for visual. Another instantly iconic cover, The retro type and the cheeky illustration make this a conversation starter for sure. Great text, colors really suit the title. Clearly more than just a scribblethe right amount of shape and color variation to make the art readable. Wole Soyinka, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth; cover design by Linda Huang (Pantheon, September) Not your typical placement of elements too. This feels big in such a fun, funky way. What a way to create mood!!! Gorgeous, evocative palette and the little slice of face feels intriguing and emotional. Im not totally sure but it looks fantastic in real life. Fantastic cover. It prompted me to see what it was about. A haunting cover, at once elegant and disturbing. This book stopped me in my tracks every time I passed it this year. Typography isnt original but works nonetheless. In a market that is saturated with illustrated covers, this illustrated cover feels totally fresh with its minimal color palette and fun interweaving of type and image. Such a beautiful example of less being more. The Past is Rising by Kathryn Bywaters. For the sixth year in a row, I asked a few of my favorite professional book cover designers (34 of my favorites, in fact) to choose their favorite covers of the last twelve months. The illustrations by Manshen Lo are beautiful, but the way Jon has integrated them into the cover is what makes it such a success. Its hard not to stare back at this cover, and its the subtle adjustment in the pupils that really drive this design home. Only a few elements needed to elevate this.
So fun and approachable even with a limited palette. Great manipulation of elements and pictures. Clever, oddball fun, with a biting edge (pun unavoidable). Do I ever get past one of these lists without including Rachel Willey? I love how the art and type were kept monochromatic which highlight the interplay of the gorgeous colors on this piece. Great Photoshop work and good typography. The design is so whimsical and graphically eye-catching I cant help but want to pick it up and give it a read. The design is mysterious and cerebralexactly what I imagine a field study of humanity would look like. It has a ton of elements which can cram up the design too much but even with lots of words on cover it still works. Its not an easy task to put copy over a painting that doesnt distract or disappoint. The image is a bit blurry here but thats because its a picture from online and not an original cover (so its not a blurry one originally). The pairing of the fonts and pacifier really make the cover pop. Everything about this cover is brilliant, the pink, the creepily cropped photograph and the slight overlap of the white dots and the type. 19 new books to find at your local bookstore. Your weekday morning guide to breaking news, cultural analysis, and everything in between, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Here Are 20 Photo Books That Brought Us Joy In The Very Exhausting Year Of 2020, The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. Dig it! This title has a lot of text and Linda Huang did such a great job with it! I love how this cover plays with Western tropesa cowboy hat, handkerchief, and slab serif typographybut then subverts them with a healthy dash of campiness and fun that you rarely see in the genre. Now Im looking for your next cover! What has this child seen?? Its our firm belief that the most critical part of any book is its cover, upon which the books merits should solely be judged. Every time I come across this cover, I have the urge to touch it, to see if the Cray-Pa art would smudge onto my fingertips . These already feel like a contemporary classic of series design. No problems! The curling of the O to reveal a colorful womansuch a simple and effective way of communicating that theres a story behind the story. Charlotte is a New England expat currently living in Los Angeles, CA with her cat, Joan Cusack. Yang Kim knocked this one out of the park. A cliche dark silhouette cover that is done well. Superb! It takes me back to being a child with my first carton of juice.
The delicate imagery and imperfect type work together beautifullyeach element is a clue left for the reader to explore and ponder why its there. Looks very realistic and cool. This design by Tristan has been an exception. But you have never seen a cover like this before. vintage yet modern. Funny, conveys the message and uses a minimal amount of stuff. 50 Beautiful Fiction Book Cover Designs | Rocking Book Covers Amazing Photoshop and the atmosphere it creates. 27. The deft touch in the dance between type and image on this jacket pulls you in and along for the ride. A perfect example of how an image can be paired with simple text. Talk about the viewer being put in the authors head! This is such an energetic and elegant solution for a jacket with a long title. My eyes jump around in the best way.
Loved the title font treatment, the soft colors, and particularly enjoy how the subtitle looks like a stampsuch a perfect detail. Here are 75 awesome covers selected from GoodReads.com, Pinterest, Behance or Jacket Museum, and other online sources. I also love how the choice of serif, with its bulbous terminals, complements the shape of the black blobs. Tamara Shopsin, LaserWriter II; cover design by Tamara Shopsin(MCD, October) I know you posted this a long time ago, but just saw that you included my design for Aghorst Aoman. Its fresh, but iconic with a classic feel. Third Place (5-way tie, with 5 mentions each): Jonas Eika, After the Sun; cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead, August) When she's not writing about ad campaigns and colorways you can find her scouring estate sales or attempting to teach herself calligraphy. . Its hard to believe a design could out-shock a title like Nightbitch, and Emily nailed it. I love the beautiful sky, elegant type and the little dots of sparkle on the print edition. Brilliant. Well manipulated pictures and Photoshop effects. Geometric shapes well done, even creates a 3D look. Great cover, great colors. The Thought Cathedral by Nathan Williams. Damn. One of the best covers of last year. I also love the retro feel with the colors/pattern/texture, and the immediately recognizable stereotypical flying saucer. Love the collagey mash of Western and Magritte. A previous version of this post credited a different designer. Cliches do become for a reason, they work. Well manipulated photos and fitting font choice. This cover just blows me away. I love it. A particularly pleasing composition of shapes, colors, texture, and typography. I have taken note of a few designs that I found might be useful for my manuscript.
One of my favorite covers of the year. If youd like me to add more covers and update this post in the future, let me know in the comments below! So funny and clever. Let us not forget about this early in the year cover with a brilliant, minimal, eye catching illustration that not only makes you want to read the book but also inspired you to frame it and place it up on your wall. Love the colors, love the illustration. Right-on cover imagery for this memoir. I am a sucker for all-type, cut paper, Jamie Keenan covers. Awesome example of how rightly picked fonts tell the genre and look cool. All of their picks, along with what they had to say about them, are below. The handwritten author name in purple seems like a small moment, until you realize the entire thing actually hinges on it. This pop art collage style is definitely having a moment of popularity, and theres no shortage of excellent designs to choose from. I am always drawn right to this cover whenever I see it in a bookstore. the school-art-class feel of scratching off words in thick pastel, working through an adolescent tragedy. It can be hard to pull off inverted colors on covers but this one is done well. I could spend forever looking at this cover. Honorable Mentions (3-way tie, with 4 mentions each): Melissa Broder, Milk Fed; cover design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner, February) Love the romantic colors, smart type treatment, and grainy texture. Awesome sky just grabbed me. Not liking the font choice as it is missing something, maybe the effect doesnt match it too but the stock photo of girl and effect with the book is awesome. Now, Im hunting you down for my next cover! The typography and colors are gorgeous. Evocative cover. You deserve it! Brilliant. Interesting. Logically so wrongtears are never this perfectbut aesthetically so right. The slipcase with the spines in formation is worth seeking out. A classical layout and type treatment juxtaposed with a surreal & haunting imageand that green! Fantastic Photoshop skills. Another example of how typography can be a focal point. The masterful layout and simple color palette combine to give this cover so much wonderful, crazy energy.
This cover evokes such strong feelings of creativity through its use of organic shapes, sense of space, and typography, that makes this cover feel all the more three-dimensional. Beautiful type, color palette, the whole package! Adds that commercialized feel that book is talking about. Definitely conveys the idea for the book the duplicity and prey/predator dynamic. 
Simplistic with few colors used, but it attracts attention with great illustrations and hand-made feel. A perfect combination of hand lettering and artabstract, but notfor this particular memoir. Im obsessed with this typeface as well as the heavenly gold rays that make the cover seem to glow. Made me smile. Love the contrast of it, great colors and font choices. I havent seen the book in person, but I sincerely hope some cash was spent to emboss and spot gloss those sweat drops. The colors are so vibrant. Great effect of movement and action here. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Copy this page's address to your clipboard. Fantastic work with 3D elements for the title and other parts of it.
Im a sucker for perspective type and dimensional design; this is probably my favorite. Love the minimalist approach and the tiny peaks through the curtains. The characters expressions are perfect, as is the stacked title. The colors! Wise cover design by Vince Haigh, Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So cover design by Elizabeth Yaffe, A Shock by Keith Ridgway cover design by Jamie Keenan, My Darling From the Lions by Rachel Long cover design by Jakob Vala, photograph by Louisa Wells, modeled by Janine Tondu, Three Rooms by Jo Hamya cover design by Kelly Winton, Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin cover design by Luke Bird, The Liars Dictionary by Eley Williams cover design by Emily Mahon, Are You Enjoying? Its not just red color overlayed over images combined so its more interesting and contrasting. Cant rave enough about this cover. . Hope you enjoyed this collection of book covers and short thoughts on why they work. 57. Never an easy job to package the follow-up to a huge international bestseller. Id rather not admit how many books I have purchased because of Laurens cover designs. Thriller | Crime | Mystery | Suspense Premade Book Covers, Horror | Dystopian | Paranormal Premade Book Covers, Young Adult| Fantasy | Sci-Fi Premade Book Covers, Whats Working Now in Book Cover Design: Thriller/Mystery/Suspense, 6 Things All Good Book Covers Have in Common. Love how the circle and those two characters are used to create skull effect when watching from further away or as a small thumbnail. That shovel adds something to it, some edge and danger,maybe to match the Death in the title? Concept wins over the readability, it just looks so weird that it can become its advantage. This cover has a great way of integrating multiple different visuals without cramming it. Its a book lovers playground! Awesome background and typography. Nice example of how un-standard text placing and perspective can work. The big type, the peachy color theme, and the floating suit and hat make this cover instantly iconic. I think it has so much power because its so succinct in its depiction of violence and trauma. Very simple, but very well done. Great stock photography use. Amazing colors (evocative), authors name is big so its easy to read in the small thumbnail (if the author sells books on the name alone that matters). Yang really designed this repeat pattern in a fun and fresh way with a truly vibrant color palette. Awesome Photoshop skills manipulated visuals together so well. Another simple font used.
Ive seen this I dont know how many times this year and each time I love it again. Stunning use of negative space and a trompe loeil effect. Just mystifying! Either way, I think youll enjoy: Anna North, Outlawed; cover design by Rachel Willey (Bloomsbury, January) I love how the letters in the title make up the teeth! . Fits the tone of the book perfectly. Such a fresh take on a very specific visual language from the past. Such simplicity, and yet so much emotion in the shape of that mouth full of type. Intriguing. And beautifully paired with hand lettering thats been delicately splattered with water. A wholly unique cover, this one really caught my eye in store. This cover is so clever. Red hair stands out too and attracts attention among other covers. The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen cover design by Na Kim, Dead Souls by Sam Riviere cover design by Jamie Keenan, paper engineering and photography by Gina Rudd, O Beautiful by Jung Yun cover design by Young Jin Lim, Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie- cover design by Jon Gray, Aquarium by Yaarza Shehori cover design by Thomas Colligan, How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue cover design by Jaya Miceli, Black Girl Call Home by Jasmine Mans cover design by Dominique Jones, photo by Micaiah Carter, White on White by Aysegl Savas cover art by Lauren Peters-Collaer, The Plague by Albert Camus cover design by Sunra Thompson, O by Steven Carroll cover design by Jon Gray, Id Like to Say Sorry, But Theres No One to Say Sorry to by Mikolaj Grynberg cover design by Arsh Raziuddin with Oliver Munday, A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris cover design by Gregg Kulick, Antonio by Beatriz Bracher cover design by Janet Hansen, Girlhood by Melissa Febos cover design by Katya Mezhibovskaya, Shutdown: How Covid Shook the Worlds Economy by Adam Tooze cover design by Jason Ramirez, Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad cover design by Peter Mendelsund, A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke cover design by John Gall, The End of Everything by Katie Mack cover design by Tom Etherington, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner cover design by Na Kim, Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro cover design by Gabriele Wilson, The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Great illustration, use of textures and nice text. Everything about this cover is so fun. Am I reading too much into it? I love Toms use of shapes and color blocking here. The black and gold are striking alone, but the use of negative space carries so much weight. That A Novel isnt printed but only embossed on the final jacket is a small but nice touch that complements the overall simplicity of the design.
Top job with Photoshop manipulation. Gray318 never ceases to amaze and delight! I love it. Reminds me of an old box of chocolates, both simple & delicious. Every element in the collage is lovely, and its intriguing for what it leaves out. This is just so good. She is a power-clashing maximalist with an inordinate disdain for the color navy. Great contrast, colors, and concept. One of the most playful covers Ive ever seen, so full of life and wit. I love Dave Drummonds concepts.
I love all that empty black space and how the rigid lines turn a bit fiddly when they get chopped. About as vertical as you can get and I love how the image sits somewhere between photographic and illustrative for that blockbuster movie poster feel. In an age when big type dominates, I love seeing a design that begs you to look closer and examine it. Are you looking for book cover design inspiration for your upcoming self-published book? Such a unique and sharp cover. The drippy lettering is full of character without compromising the art it sits on. Feels really fresh. Gorgeous illustration, cleverly hidden child gives it that childish feeling and colors are stunning. Really cool, original idea. Great picture too (thats where my love for skyscrapers show haha). Love the colors, simple image and how they used typography here. Hi! The horse trapped in that black pool is such a sublime and devastating image. Mesmerizing, with so many great little details. Each element is so carefully composed and clearly considered hereI can feel it! Its so fun to look at! Not sure if its a book cover, probably not, but I just had to include this brilliant use of Woodys face and skyline of Manhattan. The metallic effects and tactile finish are just brilliant. Every time I see this cover I want to pick it up. to make me feel like a hip, well-read lover of poetry. The fonts! I just keep trying to look over thisobstruction(is it in my eye? When a cover is so beautifully thought through it makes me very happy. Well, friends, its been another tough year. A good example of how design can drive the eye on a well-structured cover. Love the color scheme. Creative! This cover is so creepy yet beautiful! The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Simple, clean, classic . An absolute trend in 2017/2018 with person/silhouette and a visual blended into it. I love the illustration and the depth. The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami. The weathered golden rays and textured painting with more modern type really hits that right balance of evoking a story from the past with a contemporary feel.
Pola Oloixarac, tr. Thank you so much. Really good cover. From typography-centric to fluffy, 2021 was a banner year for book cover designs, with our list encompassing an eclectic mix of styles, aesthetics, and vibes. Great to hear! Very elegant, great colors (blue goes to white then red). so, yeah, maybe even without the title. I feel like this one is deceptively simple and the cut out section reveals an inner truth only found in the book itself. It has such a sweeping feel that matches the novels epic tale. Great manipulation. Beautiful cover. The combination of the lush green background and the surreal floating horse is incredible. Looks and feels like a classic. Great colors! Another Holmes cover and another beauty. Has a lovely depth and charm to it while also encompassing the subjects enigmatic life. A fitting book to start your freelance career with? Its wonderful when the art and title work together as perfectly as they do on this cover. There is a common misconception that books are all about the words printed on their interior pages. The collage and lettering are both so strong they could exist as separate entities. That horrible condensed Garamond, everything just a tiny bit lo-res and all the elements looking like theyre stuck on with no thought. The stunning illustration with the handwritten title and the understated author name makes this cover feel like a true work of art. The ultimate eye candy! Everything just works out very nicely here. Book has taken a while in the writing of, so will bookmark this page and check back again. The cool smoke effect adds nice differentiation and untraditional title adds a nice flavor too (the wave effect of it). They came back with a grand total of 101 glorious covers, representing work by 67 different designers for 54 different imprints. The design is doing so much, so well, using surrealism, collage and color to deconstruct genre and gender archetypes. Unwrap the jacket for a full shelf of spine design that delights in every genre! Who knew!? The text is really good too. Reptilian and human at the same time, a composition that controls your eye and an image that leaves you with so many questions. A really appealing, memorable color palette, and the long title is handled so well within the space. Instead of broadcasting to the reader, this design makes you do the work. I almost hold my breath when I look at this jacket. OMG this is the longest title ever and Im so inspired by how the type is really playful yet clearly legible among the spots of artwork. There is a fine line between simple/genius and simple/not-done-yet. Mona is the best cover of the year. Love the original and detailed illustrations. Adrijus, youve written an excellent article.
Great colors too. I spent a while staring at this cover and being impressed about the three eyes lining up perfectly. A perfect expression of an instagram post rendered as book cover, and I love the addition of the water droplets that give it that extra dimension. A timeless design. Theres a great tension here: flat vs. dimensional, muted vs. boldits all a touch awkward and, as a result, most intriguing. Great manipulation, great colors and bird. Totally captivating. Its quietly powerful. So original, love how they used the receipt here. The power of the figure looking out at the world through that O is memoir perfection. But as you may know if youre a frequent Literary Hub reader, I also like stats, and therefore I have tallied the best of the best for you here. The artwork looks like a ship or could also be rocks which is such a smart way to get ones attention. Again, quite minimalistic, not too much colors but it works really well. Vibrant colors and large type are every publishers favorite look but after a while it can be difficult to do it in a fresh and intriguing waythe beautiful rendering of the type on this cover combined with the intense contrasting colors makes this so effective. Love how the layers bring focus to Pessoa. Through the Eyes of Joanna by Edith Ivie. The people in the Z letter (and water) look so cool. This one looks great. Sands match it well, and it has the feel it needs to convey. Here is a collection of some of the best book covers I have seen online as Im always on a lookout for some gorgeous book covers that are very original, or well made, have an incredible concept or manage to get your attention while being surrounded by other covers. Awesome typography. Adam Morris,Mona; cover design by Thomas Colligan (FSG, March), Kristen Arnett, With Teeth; cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead, June). I love the handmade quality of the illustration and type, it makes the cover feel very intimate, which is perfect for the material. Great illustration and interesting use of sans serif font to go with it (adds modern feel to this). Keep up with all things PRINT by subscribing to our weekly email newsletter. Theres quite a lot going on but the balance is great. . Not sure about the font choice but effects and illustration are great. 49. Love the perspective of the text. Beautiful, beautiful type and I love how the letter forms mirror the organic shapes of the illustration. Great colors, great use of the lighthouse. Rachels stands out to me because of the playfulness and surreal quality. Love the movie poster feel. Feel free to skip that part if youd just like to look at some pretty book art. I think it can be hard for commercial thrillers to look new and different, and still invoke the category. A book with 32 DIFFERENT COVERS. This achieves such a mood with such economy. I cannot find it. Wowser great effect and design work for visual. Another instantly iconic cover, The retro type and the cheeky illustration make this a conversation starter for sure. Great text, colors really suit the title. Clearly more than just a scribblethe right amount of shape and color variation to make the art readable. Wole Soyinka, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth; cover design by Linda Huang (Pantheon, September) Not your typical placement of elements too. This feels big in such a fun, funky way. What a way to create mood!!! Gorgeous, evocative palette and the little slice of face feels intriguing and emotional. Im not totally sure but it looks fantastic in real life. Fantastic cover. It prompted me to see what it was about. A haunting cover, at once elegant and disturbing. This book stopped me in my tracks every time I passed it this year. Typography isnt original but works nonetheless. In a market that is saturated with illustrated covers, this illustrated cover feels totally fresh with its minimal color palette and fun interweaving of type and image. Such a beautiful example of less being more. The Past is Rising by Kathryn Bywaters. For the sixth year in a row, I asked a few of my favorite professional book cover designers (34 of my favorites, in fact) to choose their favorite covers of the last twelve months. The illustrations by Manshen Lo are beautiful, but the way Jon has integrated them into the cover is what makes it such a success. Its hard not to stare back at this cover, and its the subtle adjustment in the pupils that really drive this design home. Only a few elements needed to elevate this.
So fun and approachable even with a limited palette. Great manipulation of elements and pictures. Clever, oddball fun, with a biting edge (pun unavoidable). Do I ever get past one of these lists without including Rachel Willey? I love how the art and type were kept monochromatic which highlight the interplay of the gorgeous colors on this piece. Great Photoshop work and good typography. The design is so whimsical and graphically eye-catching I cant help but want to pick it up and give it a read. The design is mysterious and cerebralexactly what I imagine a field study of humanity would look like. It has a ton of elements which can cram up the design too much but even with lots of words on cover it still works. Its not an easy task to put copy over a painting that doesnt distract or disappoint. The image is a bit blurry here but thats because its a picture from online and not an original cover (so its not a blurry one originally). The pairing of the fonts and pacifier really make the cover pop. Everything about this cover is brilliant, the pink, the creepily cropped photograph and the slight overlap of the white dots and the type. 19 new books to find at your local bookstore. Your weekday morning guide to breaking news, cultural analysis, and everything in between, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, Here Are 20 Photo Books That Brought Us Joy In The Very Exhausting Year Of 2020, The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. Dig it! This title has a lot of text and Linda Huang did such a great job with it! I love how this cover plays with Western tropesa cowboy hat, handkerchief, and slab serif typographybut then subverts them with a healthy dash of campiness and fun that you rarely see in the genre. Now Im looking for your next cover! What has this child seen?? Its our firm belief that the most critical part of any book is its cover, upon which the books merits should solely be judged. Every time I come across this cover, I have the urge to touch it, to see if the Cray-Pa art would smudge onto my fingertips . These already feel like a contemporary classic of series design. No problems! The curling of the O to reveal a colorful womansuch a simple and effective way of communicating that theres a story behind the story. Charlotte is a New England expat currently living in Los Angeles, CA with her cat, Joan Cusack. Yang Kim knocked this one out of the park. A cliche dark silhouette cover that is done well. Superb! It takes me back to being a child with my first carton of juice.
The delicate imagery and imperfect type work together beautifullyeach element is a clue left for the reader to explore and ponder why its there. Looks very realistic and cool. This design by Tristan has been an exception. But you have never seen a cover like this before. vintage yet modern. Funny, conveys the message and uses a minimal amount of stuff. 50 Beautiful Fiction Book Cover Designs | Rocking Book Covers Amazing Photoshop and the atmosphere it creates. 27. The deft touch in the dance between type and image on this jacket pulls you in and along for the ride. A perfect example of how an image can be paired with simple text. Talk about the viewer being put in the authors head! This is such an energetic and elegant solution for a jacket with a long title. My eyes jump around in the best way.
Loved the title font treatment, the soft colors, and particularly enjoy how the subtitle looks like a stampsuch a perfect detail. Here are 75 awesome covers selected from GoodReads.com, Pinterest, Behance or Jacket Museum, and other online sources. I also love how the choice of serif, with its bulbous terminals, complements the shape of the black blobs. Tamara Shopsin, LaserWriter II; cover design by Tamara Shopsin(MCD, October) I know you posted this a long time ago, but just saw that you included my design for Aghorst Aoman. Its fresh, but iconic with a classic feel. Third Place (5-way tie, with 5 mentions each): Jonas Eika, After the Sun; cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead, August) When she's not writing about ad campaigns and colorways you can find her scouring estate sales or attempting to teach herself calligraphy. . Its hard to believe a design could out-shock a title like Nightbitch, and Emily nailed it. I love the beautiful sky, elegant type and the little dots of sparkle on the print edition. Brilliant. Well manipulated pictures and Photoshop effects. Geometric shapes well done, even creates a 3D look. Great cover, great colors. The Thought Cathedral by Nathan Williams. Damn. One of the best covers of last year. I also love the retro feel with the colors/pattern/texture, and the immediately recognizable stereotypical flying saucer. Love the collagey mash of Western and Magritte. A previous version of this post credited a different designer. Cliches do become for a reason, they work. Well manipulated photos and fitting font choice. This cover just blows me away. I love it. A particularly pleasing composition of shapes, colors, texture, and typography. I have taken note of a few designs that I found might be useful for my manuscript.
One of my favorite covers of the year. If youd like me to add more covers and update this post in the future, let me know in the comments below! So funny and clever. Let us not forget about this early in the year cover with a brilliant, minimal, eye catching illustration that not only makes you want to read the book but also inspired you to frame it and place it up on your wall. Love the colors, love the illustration. Right-on cover imagery for this memoir. I am a sucker for all-type, cut paper, Jamie Keenan covers. Awesome example of how rightly picked fonts tell the genre and look cool. All of their picks, along with what they had to say about them, are below. The handwritten author name in purple seems like a small moment, until you realize the entire thing actually hinges on it. This pop art collage style is definitely having a moment of popularity, and theres no shortage of excellent designs to choose from. I am always drawn right to this cover whenever I see it in a bookstore. the school-art-class feel of scratching off words in thick pastel, working through an adolescent tragedy. It can be hard to pull off inverted colors on covers but this one is done well. I could spend forever looking at this cover. Honorable Mentions (3-way tie, with 4 mentions each): Melissa Broder, Milk Fed; cover design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner, February) Love the romantic colors, smart type treatment, and grainy texture. Awesome sky just grabbed me. Not liking the font choice as it is missing something, maybe the effect doesnt match it too but the stock photo of girl and effect with the book is awesome. Now, Im hunting you down for my next cover! The typography and colors are gorgeous. Evocative cover. You deserve it! Brilliant. Interesting. Logically so wrongtears are never this perfectbut aesthetically so right. The slipcase with the spines in formation is worth seeking out. A classical layout and type treatment juxtaposed with a surreal & haunting imageand that green! Fantastic Photoshop skills. Another example of how typography can be a focal point. The masterful layout and simple color palette combine to give this cover so much wonderful, crazy energy.
This cover evokes such strong feelings of creativity through its use of organic shapes, sense of space, and typography, that makes this cover feel all the more three-dimensional. Beautiful type, color palette, the whole package! Adds that commercialized feel that book is talking about. Definitely conveys the idea for the book the duplicity and prey/predator dynamic. Simplistic with few colors used, but it attracts attention with great illustrations and hand-made feel. A perfect combination of hand lettering and artabstract, but notfor this particular memoir. Im obsessed with this typeface as well as the heavenly gold rays that make the cover seem to glow. Made me smile. Love the contrast of it, great colors and font choices. I havent seen the book in person, but I sincerely hope some cash was spent to emboss and spot gloss those sweat drops. The colors are so vibrant. Great effect of movement and action here. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Copy this page's address to your clipboard. Fantastic work with 3D elements for the title and other parts of it.
Im a sucker for perspective type and dimensional design; this is probably my favorite. Love the minimalist approach and the tiny peaks through the curtains. The characters expressions are perfect, as is the stacked title. The colors! Wise cover design by Vince Haigh, Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So cover design by Elizabeth Yaffe, A Shock by Keith Ridgway cover design by Jamie Keenan, My Darling From the Lions by Rachel Long cover design by Jakob Vala, photograph by Louisa Wells, modeled by Janine Tondu, Three Rooms by Jo Hamya cover design by Kelly Winton, Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin cover design by Luke Bird, The Liars Dictionary by Eley Williams cover design by Emily Mahon, Are You Enjoying? Its not just red color overlayed over images combined so its more interesting and contrasting. Cant rave enough about this cover. . Hope you enjoyed this collection of book covers and short thoughts on why they work. 57. Never an easy job to package the follow-up to a huge international bestseller. Id rather not admit how many books I have purchased because of Laurens cover designs. Thriller | Crime | Mystery | Suspense Premade Book Covers, Horror | Dystopian | Paranormal Premade Book Covers, Young Adult| Fantasy | Sci-Fi Premade Book Covers, Whats Working Now in Book Cover Design: Thriller/Mystery/Suspense, 6 Things All Good Book Covers Have in Common. Love how the circle and those two characters are used to create skull effect when watching from further away or as a small thumbnail. That shovel adds something to it, some edge and danger,maybe to match the Death in the title? Concept wins over the readability, it just looks so weird that it can become its advantage. This cover has a great way of integrating multiple different visuals without cramming it. Its a book lovers playground! Awesome background and typography. Nice example of how un-standard text placing and perspective can work. The big type, the peachy color theme, and the floating suit and hat make this cover instantly iconic. I think it has so much power because its so succinct in its depiction of violence and trauma. Very simple, but very well done. Great stock photography use. Amazing colors (evocative), authors name is big so its easy to read in the small thumbnail (if the author sells books on the name alone that matters). Yang really designed this repeat pattern in a fun and fresh way with a truly vibrant color palette. Awesome Photoshop skills manipulated visuals together so well. Another simple font used.
Ive seen this I dont know how many times this year and each time I love it again. Stunning use of negative space and a trompe loeil effect. Just mystifying! Either way, I think youll enjoy: Anna North, Outlawed; cover design by Rachel Willey (Bloomsbury, January) I love how the letters in the title make up the teeth! . Fits the tone of the book perfectly. Such a fresh take on a very specific visual language from the past. Such simplicity, and yet so much emotion in the shape of that mouth full of type. Intriguing. And beautifully paired with hand lettering thats been delicately splattered with water. A wholly unique cover, this one really caught my eye in store. This cover is so clever. Red hair stands out too and attracts attention among other covers. The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen cover design by Na Kim, Dead Souls by Sam Riviere cover design by Jamie Keenan, paper engineering and photography by Gina Rudd, O Beautiful by Jung Yun cover design by Young Jin Lim, Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie- cover design by Jon Gray, Aquarium by Yaarza Shehori cover design by Thomas Colligan, How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue cover design by Jaya Miceli, Black Girl Call Home by Jasmine Mans cover design by Dominique Jones, photo by Micaiah Carter, White on White by Aysegl Savas cover art by Lauren Peters-Collaer, The Plague by Albert Camus cover design by Sunra Thompson, O by Steven Carroll cover design by Jon Gray, Id Like to Say Sorry, But Theres No One to Say Sorry to by Mikolaj Grynberg cover design by Arsh Raziuddin with Oliver Munday, A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris cover design by Gregg Kulick, Antonio by Beatriz Bracher cover design by Janet Hansen, Girlhood by Melissa Febos cover design by Katya Mezhibovskaya, Shutdown: How Covid Shook the Worlds Economy by Adam Tooze cover design by Jason Ramirez, Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad cover design by Peter Mendelsund, A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke cover design by John Gall, The End of Everything by Katie Mack cover design by Tom Etherington, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner cover design by Na Kim, Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro cover design by Gabriele Wilson, The Ghost Sequences by A.C. Great illustration, use of textures and nice text. Everything about this cover is so fun. Am I reading too much into it? I love Toms use of shapes and color blocking here. The black and gold are striking alone, but the use of negative space carries so much weight. That A Novel isnt printed but only embossed on the final jacket is a small but nice touch that complements the overall simplicity of the design.