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Book Covers of Note, May 2022

I compile these posts over the month and then write this bit at the end if I have anything to say. I really don’t have the words at the moment. Posting about the most superficial of subjects feels faintly ridiculous at the end of yet another awful week. But here we are. I am just going to refer you to Wednesday’s Today in Tabs and say that there a lot of really nice covers this month if you are need of distraction…

Appliance by J. O. Morgan; design by the author (Jonathan Cape / May 2022)

City of Orange by David Yoon; design by Eric Fuentecilla (G. P. Putnam’s Sons / May 2022)

Elektra by Jennifer Saint; design by Joanne O’Neill (Flatiron Books / May 2022)

The cover of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, also designed by Joanne O’Neill, was on my Notable list last year.

The cover of the UK edition of Elektra, published by Headline imprint Wildfire last month, was designed by Micaela Alcaino who recently won Designer of the Year at the British Book Awards.

España by Giles Tremlett; design by Jessie Price; art by Oscar Dominguez (Head of Zeus / April 2022)

The type is apparently Ohno Blazeface if you are curious.

Finding Me by Viola Davis; design Stephen Brayda; photograph by AB+DM (HarperOne / April 2022)

The Illusion of Simple by Charles Forrest Jones; design by Derek Thornton / Notch Design (University of Iowa / May 2022)

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough; design by Juliana Lee (William Morrow & Company / April 2022)

I like the wobbly type.

The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards; design by Steve Leard (HarperCollins / May 2022)

I was reminded of Jon Gray‘s cover for Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco from what seems like ages ago (2010)… Of course they look nothing alike. I had completely forgotten the pen was at jaunty angle.

Linea Nigra by Jazmina Barrera; design by Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / May 2022)

Losing Face by George Haddad; design Josh Durham (University of Queensland Press / May 2022)

Mean Baby by Selma Blair; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Peggy Sirota (Knopf / May 2022)

I don’t post a lot of celebrity memoirs here, but I thought these were an interesting pair to compare and contrast. Similar but different…

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley; design by Jack Smyth (Granta / May 2022)

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas; design by Katie Tooke (Picador / May 2022)

This made me think of Rafqa Touma’s piece for The Guardian earlier this year, ‘Well-dressed and distressed: why sad young women are the latest book cover trend’.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie; design by Jack Smyth (Headline / April 2022)

The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight; design Jack Smyth (Faber & Faber / May 2022)

A very Saul Bass / Vertigo vibe to this.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel; design by Abby Weintraub (Knopf / April 2022)

I think this is possibly my favourite of the recent Emily St. John Mandel covers.

Sedating Elaine by Dawn Winter; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2022)

The endless possibilities of a banana and sharpie… (the cover of Come On Up was designed by the multi-talented Roman Muradov)

Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud; design by Jennifer Griffiths (McClelland & Stewart / May 2022)

The cover of the US edition was designed by Rachel Ake Kuech using a illustration by Grant Haffner. The difference between how Canada represents Canada and how the US represents Canada is…. interesting.

Big vertical light leaks might also be a thing… (Freedomland designed by Henry Sene Yee for Cornell University Press)

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / May 2022)

True Biz by Sara Novic; design by Jack Smyth (Little, Brown / April 2022)

Apparently this is Jack Smyth month on the blog…

You Have a Friend in 10A by Maggie Shipstead; design by Kelly Blair; illustration by Toby Leigh (Knopf / May 2022)

The cover of the UK edition, published by Doubleday, was designed by Irene Martinez:

I picked a lot of orange covers this month. I did say it was a thing.

The combination of pink and orange maybe a thing within the thing…?

A speaking of pink and orange…

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi; design by Anna Morrison (Faber and Faber / May 2022)

The cover of the US edition, published by Atria, was designed by Laywan Kwan.

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Book Covers of Note, February 2022

Here are your February book covers of note…

Anonymous Sex edited by Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan; design Holly MacDonald; illustration Malika Favre (The Borough Press / February 2022)

Malika Favre also designed and illustrated the cover of Playing with Matches by Michael Faudet, published by Andrews McMeel at the end of last year, and featured in this month’s ‘Book Covers We Love‘ post at Spine Magazine.

Catch the Sparrow by Rachel Rear; design by Mia Kwon (Bloomsbury / February 2022)

I like Mia Kwon’s cover for Breath Better Spent by Damaris B. Hill, published by Bloomsbury last month, too…

The Colony by Audrey Magee; design by Jack Smyth (Faber & Faber / February 2022)

The cover of the US edition, available from FSG in May, was design by Jaya Miceli:

The Delivery by Peter Mendelsund; design by Chloe Scheffe (Picador USA / February 2022)

Alex Merto‘s design for the hardcover was one of my notable book covers of the year in 2021:

The Go-Between by Osman Yousefzada; design by Gill Heeley (Canongate / January 2022)

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu; design by Jaya Miceli (Tin House / February 2022)

New Animal by Ella Baxter; design by Ami Smithson; photograph by Alfonso Vidal-Quadras (Picador / February 2022)

The fruity cover of the Australian edition published by Allen and Unwin last year was designed by Akiko Chan, while the hot pink US edition was designed in-house by Eric Obenauf at Two Dollar Radio I believe.

Path of Totality by Niina Pollari; design by Michael Salu (Soft Skull / February 2022)

The Perfect Sound by Garrett Hongo; design by John Gall (Pantheon / February 2022)

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2022)

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf / February 2022)

Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso; design by Leanne Shapton (Hogarth / February 2022)

Watergate by Garrett M. Graff; design by Alison Forner (Avid Reader Press / February 2022)

For obvious reasons, this brought to mind Paul Sahre‘s cover for the novel Watergate by Thomas Mallon from a few (10?? OMG) years back.

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Notable Book Covers of 2021

Earlier this year, a Canadian magazine asked me what the latest trends in book cover design were. I don’t think I had a very satisfactory answer. 2021 felt very much like a continuation of 2020, which itself felt like a year on hold.

The trends that came to mind were not exactly new. In no particular order: big faces (big sunglasses!); cropped faces; hands; mouths; postmodern typefaces;1 big skies; rainbows; gradients; the colour orange; psychedelia; collage; contemporary painting.

A lot was made of “blob” covers this year. I’m not sure that anything has really changed since Vulture published this article about “blocky” covers in 2019. They seemed like much the same thing.

Design is about the constraints and, as it turns out, the constraints around designing commercial literary fiction covers that have to work just as well online as in bookstores can lead to similar design solutions — large, legible type, and bright, abstract backgrounds. 2 The surprising thing is not that a few covers look the same when you squint; it’s that more of them don’t.  

There were a lot of good covers (that didn’t look alike) in 2021. LitHub posted 101 of them. Still, it didn’t exactly feel like a vintage year.

Do I say that every December? Possibly.

A few years ago I worried that covers were moving in a more conservative direction, particularly at the big publishers. I’m not sure this has come to pass, at least not in the US. There are plenty of covers from the big, prestigious American literary imprints in this year’s list, as there were last year, and every year before that. 

There are fewer covers from the UK in this year’s list than in previous years though, and I feel less confident about the situation there. From a distance, things seem a little sedate. I may be mistaken. It’s quite possible I haven’t see enough covers — or perhaps enough of the right ones — from British publishers to get a good sense of the overall picture.3

It would not be a surprise, however, if publishers were feeling a little risk-averse at the moment. We are two years into a global pandemic, experiencing a major supply chain issues, and living through a seemingly endless series of sociopolitical crises.

Nor would it be a surprise if designers were personally feeling the effects too — I’m not sure we are talking about this enough, and I’m not sure I know how to.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog in 2021. It means a lot. Here are this year’s book covers of note…

After the Sun by Jonas Eika; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer; art by Dorian Legret (Riverhead / August 2021)

Amoralman by Derek Delgaudio; design by John Gall (Knopf / March 2021)

Also designed by John Gall:

Animal by Lisa Taddeo; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / June 2021)

Greg Heinimann talked to Creative Review about his work in April.

Are You Enjoying? by Mira Sethi; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2021)

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint; design by Joanne O’Neill (Flatiron Books / May 2021)

Also designed by Joanne O’Neill:

he Art of Wearing a Trench Coat by Sergi Pàmies; design by Arsh Raziuddin and Oliver Munday (Other Press / March 2021)

The Atmospherians by Alex McElroy; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / May 2021)

Black Village by Lutz Bassmann; design by Anne Jordan (Open Letter / December 2021)

A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris; design by Gregg Kulick (Little Brown and Company / September 2021)

Come On Up by Jordi Nopca; design by Roman Muradov (Bellevue Literary Press / February 2021)

Consent by Vanessa Springora; design by Stephen Brayda; art by Rozenn Le Gall (Harpervia / February 2021)

Stephen Brayda talked about his design for Consent with Spine Magazine.

Also designed by Stephen Brayda:

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen; design by Na Kim (FSG / January 2021)

Na Kim talked to PRINT about her career and the designs for the Ditlevsen series in February. If, like me, you were wondering about typeface on the covers, it’s Prophet from Dinamo apparently.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner; design by Na Kim (Knopf / April 2021)

Also designed by Na Kim:

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Jeremy Miranda (Scribner / August 2021)

Dead Souls by Sam Riviere; design by Jamie Keenan; paper engineering and photography by Gina Rudd (Weidenfeld & Nicholson / May 2021)

Also designed by Mr. Keenan:

The Delivery by Peter Mendelsund; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / February 2021)

Also designed by Alex Merto:

Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters; design by Rachel Ake Keuch (One World / January 2021)

Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller; design by Anna Kochman; illustration by Mike McQuade (One World / January 2021)

Double Trio by Nathaniel Mackey; design by Rodrigo Corral and Boyang Xia (New Directions / April 2021)

Falling by T. J. Newman; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / July 2021)

Also designed by David Litman:

Fight Night by Mirian Toews; design by Patti Ratchford; illustration by Christina Zimpel (Bloomsbury / October 2021)

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor; design by Luke Bird (Daunt Books / June 2021)

Also designed by Luke Bird:

Foucault in Warsaw by; design Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Open Letter / June 2021)

God of Mercy by Okezie Nwọka; design Sara Wood (Astra House / November 2021)

Sara Wood talked about her design for God of Mercy with Spine Magazine.

I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / October 2021)

July by Kathleen Ossip; design by Alban Fischer (Sarabande Books / June 2021)

Like Me by Hayley Phelan; design Emma Dolan (Doubleday Canada / July 2021)

Living in Data by Jer Thorp; design by Rodrigo Corral; art by Andrew Kuo (MCD / May 2021)

The Making of Incarnation by Tom McCarthy; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / November 2021)

Matrix by Lauren Groff; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / September 2021)

Mona by Pola Oloixarac; design by Thomas Colligan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2021)

Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander; design by Jack Smyth (Picador / February 2021)

Jack Smyth talked to Totally Dublin about his work earlier this year.

Also designed by Jack Smyth:

Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden; design by Gill Heeley (Canongate / January 2021)

Nectarine by Chad Campbell; design by David Drummond (Signal Editions / May 2021)

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder; design by Emily Mahon (Doubleday / July 2021)

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood; design Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead Books / February 2021)

Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:

O by Steven Carroll; design by Gray318 (HarperCollins Australia / February 2021)

Also designed by Gray318:

If you’re wondering about the Super-Seventies Sally Rooney typeface, it is Ronda designed by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnese (I only know because I asked).

Once More With Feeling by Sophie McCreesh; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Anchor Canada / August 2021)

On Time and Water by Andri Snær Magnason; design Zoe Norvell (Open Letter / March 2021)

Outlawed by Anna North; design by Rachel Willey (Bloomsbury / January 2021)

Paradise by Lizzie Johnson; design by Elena Giavaldi (Crown / August 2021)

La Part des Chiens by Marcus Malte; design by David Pearson (Editions Zulma / April 2021)

Also designed by David Pearson:

The Plague by Albert Camus; design by Sunra Thompson (Knopf / November 2021)

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz; design by Anne Twomey (Celadon Books / May 2021)

Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro; design by Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / February 2021)

Gabriele Wilson talked about her cover design for Rabbit Island with Spine Magazine.

Gabriele Wilson is doing some lovely work for Two Lines Press:

Red Island House by Andrea Lee; design by Tristan Offit (Scribner / March 2021)

The Removed by Brandon Hobson; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Ecco / February 2021)

The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate; design Chelsea McGuckin (Atria / August 2021)

A Shock by Keith Ridgway; design by Nathan Burton (Picador / June 2021)

Summerwater by Sarah Moss; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2021)

Virtue by Hermione Hoby; design by Ben Denzer (Riverhead / July 2021)

This Weightless World by Adam Soto; design by Tyler Comrie (Astra House / November 2021)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog in 2021. It means a lot.

  1. I am not convinced that the term “postmodern” quite captures what I mean here (and/or worse, implies something different in the context of typography), but it’s the best I’ve got. I’m not talking about the kind of experimental typography you might associate with the likes of Wim Crouwel or Emigre, or the aesthetic of someone like David Carson. What I am trying to get at is idiosyncratic type that purposely exaggerates or plays with letterforms, and doesn’t conform to function-first modernism. To my mind, this would include some typefaces from the 1960s and 70s, as well as some more contemporary type. In a sense what I am describing is display faces — and I think the eclectic, innovative use of type in Victorian advertising might be an inspiration to designers here — but I don’t think it is just about size.
  2. an alternative solution is what Australian designer John Durham, AKA Design by Committee, memorably referred to as the “lost dog poster school of cover design”.
  3. I don’t want to jinx it, but are Canadian covers getting more adventurous?
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Book Covers of Note, October 2021

This will be the last of the monthly cover round-ups for 2021 because I have to turn my attention to the year as a whole, but there are some really top-notch covers in this month’s post so it feels like a good place leave off…

Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’Boa Ervin; design by David Pearson (Pluto Press / October 2021)

Bewilderment by Richard Powers; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Random House Canada / October 2021)

Burntcoat by Sarah Hall; design by Jo Walker (Faber & Faber / October 2021)

Concepcion by Albert Samaha; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / October 2021)

Cultish by Amanda Montell; design by Joanne O’Neill (Harper Wave / June 2021)

Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated by Margaret Jull Costa; design Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / October 2021)

God of Mercy by Okezie Nwọka; design Sara Wood (Astra House / November 2021)

I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / October 2021)

The cover of the UK edition, publishing next year I believe, was designed by Jack Smyth:

Jacket Weather by Mike DeCapite; design by Michael Salu (Soft Skull / October 2021)

I was reminded of the cover of The Empty Chair by Bruce Wagner designed by Gregg Kulick from what seems like an age ago (2013 I think?) . It’s very possible I have been doing this for too long…

Machete by Tomás Q. Morín; design by Braulio Amado (Knopf / October 2021)

The Making of Incarnation by Tom McCarthy; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / November 2021)

This seems like a reasonable excuse to post Peter Mendelsund’s cover designs for the two previous novels by Tom McCarthy…

The cover of the UK edition of The Making of Incarnation, published last month by Jonathan Cape, was designed by Mario de Meyer:

My Best Mistake by Terry O’Reilly; design by David Gee (HarperCollins Canada / October 2021)

North by Brad Kessler; design by David Drummond (Harry N. Abrams / October 2021)

Two Canadian designers doing the big magical sky thing to great effect!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino; design by Joanne O’Neill; art by Paul Mann (Harper / November 2021)

Joanne O’Neill also designed the cover of the mass market paperback edition released earlier this year.

Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit; design by Gray318 (Viking / October 2021)

The Third Unconsciousness by Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi; design by Erik Carter (Verso / October 2021)

I love that the cover had to include “Bifo” in inverted commas.

Virtue by Hermione Hoby; design by Ben Denzer (Riverhead / July 2021)

This Weightless World by Adam Soto; design by Tyler Comrie (Astra House / November 2021)

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Book Covers of Note, April 2021

A bit too much going on this month for my liking, but no shortage of great covers…

Car Crash by Lech Blaine; design by Design by Committee (Black Inc. / March 2021)

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner; design by Na Kim (Knopf / April 2021)

This reminded me of Lynn Buckley‘s cover from a while back for On the Noodle Road by Jen Lin-Liu.

Dirt by Bill Buford; design by Gabriele Wilson (Vintage / April 2021)

The Free World by Louis Menand; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2021)

From a Taller Tower by Seamus McGraw; design by Alex Camlin (University of Texas Press / April 2021)

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian; design by Stephanie Ross; illustration by Sky Goodies (Penguin Press / April 2021)

Namesake by Adrienne Young; design by Kerri Resnick; photograph by Sveltana Belyaeva (Wednesday Books / March 2021)

This is, of course, only half the picture… Fable was published in September and featured in my 2020 YA cover round-up posted in January.

Nancy by Bruno Lloret; design by Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / April 2021)

New York, New York, New York by Thomas Dyja; design by Rodrigo Corral (Simon & Schuster / March 2021)

Two New York covers for Mr. Corral this month.

The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing by Hannah Dawson; design by Olga Kominek (Penguin Classics / March 2021)

Oculta by Maya Motayne; design by Aurora Parlagreco and Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Mark Van Leeuwen (Balzer & Bray / April 2021)

The cover of Nocturna, the previous book in the series, was featured in my 2019 YA round-up.

Red Island House by Andrea Lee; design by Tristan Offit (Scribner / March 2021)

Refugee by Emmanuel Mbolela; design by Eva Gabrielsen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2021)

The Revelations by Erik Hoel; design by Alex Merto (Abrams / April 2021)

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock by Edward White; design by Jason Ramirez (W. W. Norton / April 2021)

2034 by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis; design by Christopher Brian King (Penguin Press / March 2021)

Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin; design Luke Bird (Open Letter / April 2021)

I believe this cover was originally used in the UK last year for the Daunt Books edition, but I missed it. Open Letter are publishing the book in the US and Canada this month, so that’s as good as an excuse as any to post the cover now.

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Book Covers of Note, February 2021

A bit of a bumper post this month with a ton great covers, lots of old friends, a couple of designers that are new to me, and maybe an early contender (or two) for the ‘best of the year’ list.

As You Were by David Tromblay; design by Matthew Revert (Akashic / February 2021)

Benjamin’s Crossing by Jay Parini; design by Perry De La Vega (Anchor / February 2021)

Britain Alone by Philip Stevens; design by Johnny Pelham (Faber & Faber / January 2021)

Cigarette Nation by Daniel J. Robinson; design by David Drummond (McGill Queens University Press / February 2021)

I haven’t posted enough of David’s covers lately. They are always fun. I was struggling to think what this one reminded me of. I’m wondering if it’s maybe Raymond Hawkey’s black and white cover designs for Len Deighton? Or something from Pelican / Penguin in the 1970s?

Come On Up by Jordi Nopca; design by Roman Muradov (Bellevue Literary Press / February 2021)

Comic Timing by Holly Pester; design by David Pearson (Granta / February 2021)

The Delivery by Peter Mendelsund; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / February 2021)

Gerta by Kateřina Tučková; design by Kimberly Glyder (Amazon Crossing / February 2021)

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel; design by Henry Sene Yee (Tordotcom / February 2021)

The cover of the UK edition publishing early next month was designed by Jess Hart.

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown and Co. / February 2021)

Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander; design by Jack Smyth (Picador / February 2021)

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood; design Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead Books / February 2021)

The cover of the UK edition, published this month by Bloomsbury, was designed by Greg Heinimann.

Rachel Willey’s design for Patricia Lockwood’s memoir Priestdaddy is still one of my favourite covers of recent years (hard to believe it is from 2017!).

O by Steven Carroll; design by Gray318 (HarperCollins Australia / February 2021)

100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell; design by Na Kim (MCD / February 2021)

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson; design by Gray318; photographs by Campbell Addy and Regan Cameron (Viking / February 2021)

Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro; design by Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / February 2021)

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott; design by Na Kim; art by Kate MccGwire (FSG Originals / February 2021)

The Removed by Brandon Hobson; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Ecco / February 2021)

The Slaughterman’s Daughter by Yaniz Iczkovits; design by Janet Hansen; illustration by The High Road (Schocken Books / February 2021)

What would you call this background colour? Light brown? Dark beige? Anyway, it seems to be a thing. We could probably include As You Were cover here too, although it doesn’t have the red-orange accent colour.

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec; design by Adam Auerbach (Ace Books / February 2021)

Your Story, My Story by Connie Palmen; design by Kimberly Glyder (Amazon Crossing / January 2021)

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Book Covers of Note March 2016

Much later than usual, here are this month’s book cover selections…

Cambodia Noir design Alex Merto
Cambodia Noir by Nick Seeley; design by Alex Merto (Simon & Schuster / March 2016)

Heads design by Alex Camlin
Heads by Jesse Jarnow; design by Alex Camlin (Da Capo / March 2016)

House Full of Daughters design Cressida Bell
A House Full of Daughters by Juliet Nicolson; design by Cressida Bell (Chatto & Windus / March 2016)

How To Slowly Kill Yourself design Greg Heinimann
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / March 2016)

Insignifica design Alban Fischer
Insignificana by Dolan Morgan; design by Alban Fischer (CCM / March 2016)

Knockout design by Matt Dorfman
Knockout by John Jodzio; design by Matt Dorfman (Soft Skull / March 2016)

Latecomer design Doublenaut
The Latecomer by Dimitri Verhulst; design Ross Proulx / Doublenaut (Portobello Books / March 2016)

Lonely City
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing; design Henry Sene Yee; photograph by Jerome Liebling (Picador USA / March 2016)

Love Like Salt design Nico Taylor image Sarah Gillespie
Love Like Salt by Helen Stevenson; design by Nico Talyor; image by Sarah Gillespie (Virago / March 2016)

lover design Neil Lang
Lover by Anna Raverat; design by Neil Lang (Picador / March 2016)

Lust and Wonder cover design Olga Grlic
Lust & Wonder by Augusten Burroughs; design by Olga Grlic (St. Martin’s Press / March 2016)

Paper Tigers design Alban Fischer
Paper Tigers by Damien Angelica Walters; design by Alban Fischer (Dark House Press / February 2016)

Mademoiselle S design Gabriele Wilson
The Passion of Mademoiselle S. edited by Jean-Yves Berthault; design Gabriele Wilson (Spiegel & Grau / February 2016)

Seeing Red design by Anna Zylicz
Seeing Red by Lina Meruane; design by Anna Zylicz (Deep Vellum / March 2016)

Socialist Optimism design Emma J Hardy
Socialist Optimism by Paul Auerbach; design by Emma J. Hardy (Palgrave / March 2016)

Sudden Death design Rachel Willey
Sudden Death by Álvaro Enrigue; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / March 2016)

Trees design David Mann
The Trees by Ali Shaw; design by David Mann (Bloomsbury / March 2016)

Two Family House design Sara Wood
The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman; design by Sara Wood (St. Martin’s Press / March 2016)

Weve Already Gone this Far design Lucy Kim
We’ve Already Gone This Far by Patrick Dacey; design by Lucy Kim (Henry Holt / March 2016)

What is Yours design Helen Yentus
What Is Not Your Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi; design by Helen Yentus (Riverhead / March 2016)

When Everything Feels Like the Movies design Ceara Elliot lettering Martina Flor
When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid; design Ceara Elliot; lettering and illustration Martina Flor (Atom / February 2016)

XX design Sara Wood
XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century by Campbell McGrath; design Sara Wood (Ecco / March 2016)

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52 Women Book Cover Designers

If you follow the Casual Optimist on Twitter, you will know that a couple of weeks ago design studio Aishima asked people to tweet about inspiring women graphic designers using the hashtag #celebratewomen. As today is International Women’s Day, I thought I would follow up my #celebratewomen tweets with a visual list of 52 inspiring women book cover designers (one for every week of the year!) — from influential veterans whose work I’ve admired for years to junior designers that have just appeared on my radar.

The names of all 52 designers can be found at the end of the post. With a few more hours in a day the list could easily have been many times longer, so apologies to anyone I have overlooked. Please let me know who you would’ve included in the comments or on Twitter.

Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller; design by Justine Anweiler (Picador / January 2015)

Justine Anweiler


Jane Eyre Clothbound design Coralie Bickford Smith

Coralie Bickford-Smith


Aftermath design Kelly Blair

Kelly Blair


The Wall design Gabrielle Bordwin photograph John Gay

Gabrielle Bordwin


forever design Lizzy Bromley

Lizzy Bromley


On-the-Noodle-Road

Lynn Buckley


Curious design Nicole Caputo

Nicole Caputo


friendship_gould

Jennifer Carrow


m train design carol devine carson

Carol Devine Carson


Girl-Who-Was-Saturday-Night

Catherine Casalino


Cat and Fiddle design Allison Colpoys

Allison Colpoys


Stoner (hardback)

Julia Connolly


Holloway

Eleanor Crow


100-sideways-miles-9781442444959_hr

Lucy Ruth Cummins


First Novel design Suzanne Dean photograph Stephen Banks

Suzanne Dean


Milk

Barbara deWilde


tender-is-the-night

Sinem Erkas


Madness So Discreet design Erin Fitzsimmons

Erin Fitzsimmons


Dust to Dust design Alison Forner

Alison Forner


Seating Arrangements design Elena Giavaldi

Elena Giavaldi


barefoot queen design Kimberly Glyder

Kimberly Glyder


Lopsided design by Carin Goldberg

Carin Goldberg


luminaries

Jenny Grigg


Voices in the Night by Steven Millhauser; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2015)

Janet Hansen


What the Family Needed

Jennifer Heuer


follow me design Karen Horton

Karen Horton


book-of-heaven

Linda Huang


specter-of-capital

Anne Jordan


This Will Be Difficult to Explain design Chin Yee Lai

Chin-Yee Lai


Silvered Heart TBK.indd

Yeti Lambregts


978-0-385-53807-7

Emily Mahon


first husband

Jaya Miceli


Sixty design by Terri Nimmo

Terri Nimmo


Unabrow by Una Lamarche; design by Zoe Norvell (Plume / March 2015)

Zoe Norvell


Welcome to the Circus design Natalie Olsen

Natalie Olsen


Untitled-1

Lauren Panepinto


A Good Book design Ingrid Paulson

Ingrid Paulson


all-our-names

Isabel Urbina Peña


Redeployment design Rafi Romaya

Rafi Romaya


Canada design by Allison Saltzman

Allison Saltzman


Year I Met You design Heike Schussler

Heike Schüssler


silence

Clare Skeats


A Year of Marvellous Ways design by Amy Smithson

Ami Smithson / Cabin


flamethrowers design Charlotte Strick

Charlotte Strick


Toronto Cooks design Jess Sullivan

Jess Sullivan


Longitude design Jo Walker

Jo Walker


Americanah

Abby Weintraub


Living on Paper design by Amanda Weiss

Amanda Weiss


Barbara the Slut by Lauren Holmes; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / August 2015)

Rachel Willey


middle-c_

Gabriele Wilson


Design Megan Wilson, photograph Saul Leiter

Megan Wilson


All the Birds design by Joan Wong

Joan Wong


Summerlong design Sara Wood

Sara Wood


MythOfSis

Helen Yentus


  1. Justine Anweiler
  2. Coralie Bickford-Smith
  3. Kelly Blair
  4. Gabrielle Bordwin
  5. Lizzy Bromley
  6. Lynn Buckley
  7. Nicole Caputo
  8. Jennifer Carrow
  9. Carol Devine Carson
  10. Catherine Casalino
  11. Allison Colpoys
  12. Eleanor Crow
  13. Lucy Ruth Cummins
  14. Suzanne Dean
  15. Barbara deWilde
  16. Sinem Erkas
  17. Erin Fitzsimmons
  18. Alison Forner
  19. Elena Giavaldi
  20. Kimberly Glyder
  21. Carin Goldberg
  22. Jenny Grigg
  23. Janet Hansen
  24. Jennifer Heuer
  25. Karen Horton
  26. Linda Huang
  27. Anne Jordan
  28. Chin-Yee Lai
  29. Yeti Lambregts
  30. Emily Mahon
  31. Jaya Miceli
  32. Terri Nimmo
  33. Zoe Norvell
  34. Natalie Olsen
  35. Lauren Panepinto
  36. Ingrid Paulson
  37. Isabel Urbina Peña
  38. Rafi Romaya
  39. Allison Saltzman
  40. Heike Schüssler
  41. Clare Skeats
  42. Ami Smithson
  43. Charlotte Strick
  44. Jess Sullivan
  45. Jo Walker
  46. Abby Weintraub
  47. Rachel Willey
  48. Gabriele Wilson
  49. Megan Wilson
  50. Joan Wong
  51. Sara Wood
  52. Helen Yentus
22 Comments

Book Covers of Note June 2015

I don’t know where last month went, but somehow it’s June already and it’s time for another selection of recent book covers:

General Theory of Oblivion design by Julia Connolly
A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa; design by Julia Connolly (Harvill Secker / June 2015)

the-hourglass-factory-design-melissa-four
The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester; design by Melissa Four (Simon & Schuster / January 2015)

how music got free design James Paul Jones
How Music Got Free by Stephen Witt; design by James Paul Jones (The Bodley Head / June 2015)

in the beginning illustration Robert Frank Hunter
In the Beginning was the Sea by Tomás González; cover illustration by Robert Frank Hunter (Pushkin / May 2015)

intimacy idiot design spencer kimble
Intimacy Idiot by Isaac Oliver; design by Spencer Kimble (Scribner / June 2015)

lesser beasts design by Nicole Caputo
Lesser Beasts by Mark Essig; design by Nicole Caputo (Basic Books / May 2015)

LivingInTheSound
Living in the Sound of the Wind by Jason Wilson; design by Leo Nickolls (Constable / June 2015)

London Overground design by Richard Bravery
London Overground by Iain Sinclair; design by Richard Bravery (Hamish Hamilton / June 2015)

lucky alan design ben wiseman
Lucky Alan and Other Stories by Jonathan Lethem; design by Ben Wiseman (Doubleday / February 2015)

manhattan mayhem design by Timothy ODonnell
Manhattan Mayhem edited by Mary Higgins Clark; design by Timothy O’Donnell (Quirk Books / June 2015)

motorcycles ive loved design by rachel willey
Motorcycles I’ve Loved by Lily Brooks-Dalton; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / April 2015)

muse design by gabriele wilson
Muse by Jonathan Galassi; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf / June 2015)

professor in the cage design by matt dorfman
The Professor in the Cage by Jonathan Gottschall; design by Matt Dorfman (Penguin / April 2015)

ResistanceIsFutile_R.indd
Resistance is Futile by Jenny Colgan; design by Hannah Wood; illustration by Pietari Posti (Orbit / May 2015)

rise design by greg heinimann
Rise by Karen Campbell; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / March 2015)

thank you goodnight design Kimberly Glyder
Thank You, Goodnight by Andy Abramowitz; design by Kimberly Glyder (Simon & Schuster / June 2015)

tongues of men or angels design by Jamie Keenan
The Tongues of Men or Angels by Jonathan Trigel; design by Jamie Keenan (Little Brown / May 2015)

9780385352871
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / May 2015)

9780385350174
When the Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / February 2015)

world does not exist design david gee
Why the World Does Not Exist by Markus Gabriel; design by David Gee (Polity / June 2015)

The White Company design James Paul Jones
The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / June 2015)

wonder garden art and design thomas doyle
The Wonder Garden by Lauren Acampora; art and design by Thomas Doyle (Grove Press /May 2015)

why-information-grows-design-richard-green
Why Information Grows by Cesar Hidalgo; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / June 2015)

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Books on Book Covers

9781594203367B (1)
It started, innocently enough, with a tweet from my friend Steven Beattie, book review editor of Canada’s Quill & Quire magazine, about the cover of The Most Dangerous Book, Kevin Birmingham’s new ‘biography’ of Ulysses by James Joyce, designed by Ben Wiseman (Penguin June 2014).

steven-tweet

That sparked a conversation with designer David Gee and Joseph Sullivan of The Book Design Review about books on book covers. Joe wrote a  a post on the subject in 2009 on the subject, and I rather naïvely thought it would be easy (EASY!) to post a few contemporary examples of the trend, completely underestimating what an undertaking such a project would become.

What follows is an attempt to showcase some of different ways designers incorporate books into their cover designs. Along side covers from the past five years, I’ve included some earlier examples from Joe’s post, and this post about ‘meta-covers’ from HTML Giant. Many of the images of the older titles are small (and some are just not very good), but where I have been able to source a larger image, I’ve included it at full (or close to full) size. I’m indebted to the Book Cover Archive, which is still an invaluable resources after all this time, Ferran Lopez‘s (also mothballed) Jacket Museum, and all the designers and book folk who sent me cover images, and helped me in numerous other ways. Thank you. This isn’t comprehensive survey but, to be honest, I had to stop somewhere…

Front and Center

seven-hundred-penguins-full
Seven Hundred Penguins; design David Pearson / illustration Clare Skeats (Penguin Sept 2007)

cover
Cover by Peter Mendelsund; design by Peter Mendelsund (powerHouse Books August 2014)


Kapitalismus und Hautkrankheiten by Jasmin Ramadan; design by Books We Made (Klett-Cotta Verlag April 2014)

The Knowledge
The Knowledge by Lewis Dartnell; design by Kris Potter (Penguin April 2014)
priceless
Priceless by William Poundstone; design by Jennifer Carrow (Hill & Wang January 2010)

publish-your-photography-book
Publish Your Photography Book by Darius D. Himes & Mary Virginia Swanson; design by David Chickey & Masumi Shibata (Princeton Architectural Press March 2011)

yarn-whisperer
The Yarn Whisperer by Clara Parkes; design by John Gall (Abrams September 2013)

Cut, Torn, Ripped or Otherwise Defaced or Damaged


The Arsonist by Sue Miller; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury June 2014)

BNP-Cover-Hi-Res-770x1024
Best New Poets 2013, guest editor Brenda Shaughnessy; design by Atomicdust (Meridian January 2014)

9780312426323
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black; series design by Keith Hayes (Picador January 2008)


Half World by Scott O’Connor; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster February 2014)

9780887849565_HR
Heaven is Small by Emily Schultz; design by Ingrid Paulson (House of Anansi )

(And if your not Canadian, you may not know that this is a riff on Ingrid’s design for the hardcover of Heaven is Small, featured in this list.)

keep-egan
The Keep by Jennifer Egan; design by John Gall (Knopf August 2006)

Last-Winter-of-Dani-Lancing-US-front-cover
The Last Winter of Dani Lancing by P. D. Viner; design by Oliver Munday (Crown October 2013)

9781846144479
Mess; series art and design by Keri Smith (Penguin September 2010)



The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson; design by Matt Dorfman (Riverhead December 2011)

deBotton-RFA-JACKET
Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton; design by Matt Dorfman (Pantheon June 2012)

(This is what the cover looks like under the jacket if you’re curious)

9781476744834
Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster September 2013)

9780765331939
What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton; design by Jamie Stafford-Hill (Tor January 2014)

Three-Quarters, or a Bit on the Side

81PiOD3q5aL
 The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; cover art by Thomas Allen, series design by Jaya Miceli (Penguin 2011)

And those of you with a good memory will remember Chip Kidd used also art by Thomas Allen for a series of James Ellroy titles publisher by Vintage in the US:

fahrenheit-451
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury; design by Matt Owen (Simon & Schuster January 2012)

9781594486173
Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst; design by Alex Merto (Riverhead September 2011)

most-dangerous-book-UK
The Most Dangerous Book by Kevin Birmingham; adapted from the US cover with additional design by Jessie Price (Head of Zeus June 2014)

proust
Marcel Proust’s Search for Lost Time by Patrick Alexander; design by Jamie Keenan (Vintage March 2010)

ECW-Real Made Up 2007
The Real Made Up by Stephen Brockwell; design by David A. Gee (ECW October 2007)

Stoner (paperback) Stoner by John Williams; design by Julia Connolly (Vintage July 2012)

9780802122148 An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Grove April 2014)

And while it’s not an actual book, let’s give Tom Davie of studiotwentysix2 a round of applause for his famous novel redesign print (which you can buy here).

Open Books and Page Turners

book-was-there
Book Was There by Andrew Piper; design by Andrea Guinn (University of Chicago Press November 2012)

4271789674_c18e499686_o
Erotic Poems by E. E. Cummings; design by Gabriele Wilson (Liveright February 2010)

9781770892484
How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti; design by Rebecca Seltzer (Henry Holt & Co. June 2012)

journey-with-two-maps
A Journey with Two Maps by Eavan Boland; design by Chin-Yee Lai (W. W. Norton October 2011)

john-dies-at-the-end
John Dies at the End by David Wong; design by Rob Grom (Thomas Dunne October 2009)

A-Life-In-Books
A Life in Books by Warren Lehrer; cover art by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Jonathan Rosen (Goff Books October 2013)

medium-is-the-massage
The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore; design by Yes Studio (Penguin September 2008)

dangerous-book
A Most Dangerous Book by Christopher B. Krebs; design by Mark Melnick (W. W. Norton June 2011)

the-novel
The Novel: A Biography by Michael Schmidt; design by Graciela Galup (Belknap Press April 2014)

9780691145648
Philology by James Turner; design by Kara Davison / Faceout Studio (Princeton University Press, May 2014)

pox-and-the-covenant
The Pox and the Covenant by Tony Wilson; design by Jason Gabbert (Sourcebooks April 2010)

what-to-look-for

What to Look For in Winter 
by Candia McWilliam; design by Richard Ljoenes (Harper March 2012)

Where I'm Reading From (1)
Where I’m Reading From by Tim Parks; design by James Paul Jones (Harvill Secker November 2014)

The_World
The World by Bill Gaston; design by Kathleen Lynch / Black Kat Design (Penguin August 2013)

9780452298460
Writers Between the Covers by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon; design by Lucy Kim (Plume October 2013)

Shelves, Sides, Spines, and Stacks

penguin-by-design
Penguin by Design by Phil Baines; design by David Pearson (Penguin May 2005)

worm-holes
Wormholes by John Fowles; design by Carin Goldberg (Little, Brown & Co. 1997)

bad-teeth
Bad Teeth by Dustin Long; design by Rex Bonomelli (New Harvest May 2014)

BIL-Full
The Broadview Introduction to Literature; series design by Michel Vrana (Broadview August 2013)

BIL-Split

First Novel - Nicholas Royle
First Novel by Nicholas Royle; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape February 2014)

how-to-be-a-heroine
How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis; designed by James Paul Jones (Chatto & Windus January 2014)

how-to-read-literature
How to Read Literature by Terry Eagleton; design uncredited1 (Yale University Press Jun 2013)

junior-officers-club
The Junior Officers’ Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey; design by David Wardle (Penguin June 2009)

ajax-penumbra-1969
Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan; design by Irene Pineda (Atlantic Books June 2014)

rise-and-fall
The Rise & Fall of the Great Powers by Tom Rachman; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Dial June 2014)

Stoner (hardback)
Stoner by John Williams; design by Julia Connolly (Vintage November 2013)

9781623568719
Vagina by Emma L. E. Rees; design by Alice Marwick (Bloomsbury August 2013)

why-i-read
Why I Read by Wendy Lesser; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux (January 2014)

year-of-henry-james
The Year of Henry James by David Lodge; design by Nathan Burton (Vintage May 2014)

year-of-reading-dangerously
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate May 2014)

And then there’s this…

The FUTURE

you-are-not-a-gadget
You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier; design by Olly Moss (Penguin January 2010)

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Recent Covers of Note March 2014

9781408857229
The Arsonist by Sue Miller; design by Greg Heinimann

barcelona-shadows
Barcelona Shadows by Marc Pastor; design by Clare Skeats

beauty
Beauty by Frederick Dillen; design by Christopher Lin

Mabey Dreams
Dreams of the Good Life by Richard Mabey; illustration by Millie Marotta; design Samantha Johnson / Coralie Bickford-Smith

fantomes_fument_c1
Les fantômes fument en cachette by Miléna Babin; design by David Drummond

frog music
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue; design by Katie Tooke; illustration Emma Farrarons

give-me-everything-you-have
Give Me Everything You Have by James Lasdun; design by Julia Connolly

9780374175344
The Improbability Principle by David J. Hand; design by Oliver Munday

metamorphosis
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; design by Jamie Keenan

13068415704_287b75914a_b
The New New Thing by Michael Lewis; design by Darren Haggar

on-the-reproduction-of-capitalism
On the Reproduction of Capitalism by Louis Althusser; design by Neil Donnelly

9780374209148-gabriele-wilson
The Orchard of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed; design by Gabriele Wilson

swan-gondola-9781780744902
The Swan Gondola by Timothy Schaffert; design by Alex Merto

9781250039569
The Trip to Echo Spring by Oliva Laing; design by Henry Sene Yee

why-we-took-the-car-design-allison-colpoys
Why We Took the Car by Wolfgang Herrndorf; design by Allison Colpoys

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50 Covers for 2013

I decided to go in a slightly different direction with my covers list this year (see my lists for 2012, 2011, and 2010). It’s just a straight up list of the fifty covers designs with a few annotations and links a long the way. I’m sorry for woeful under-representation of Australian and NZ designers, and for completely ignoring the entire non-English-speaking world. I will try and do better in 2014. But until then, here, in alphabetical order, are my fifty covers of 2013:

33 Comments