Skip to content

Tag: book covers

Published January 12, 2015

Books Covers of Note January 2015

January’s selections include some of this month’s new releases plus a few stragglers from 2014 that were undeservedly overlooked last year:

against-the-country
Against the Country by Ben Metcalf; design and illustration by Leanne Shapton (Random House / January 2015)

bad-character-novel
A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / January 2015)

Brave New World
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; design by Scot Bendall & Richard Carey / La Boca (Vintage / November 2014)

fifty-mice
Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne; design by Alex Merto (Blue Rider Press / December 2014)

first-bad-man
The First Bad Man by Miranda July; design by Mike Mills (Scribner / January 2015)

91bGUNqrbPL._SL1500_
GB84 by David Peace; design by Christopher King (Melville House / November 2014)

hall-of-small-mammals
Hall of Small Mammals by Thomas Pierce; design by Grace Han; cover art by Kate Bergin (Riverhead / January 2015)

9781250052216
The Heart Does Not Grow Back by Fred Venturini; design by Henry Sene Yee (Picador / November 2014)

I-THINK-YOURE-TOTALLY-WRONG
I Think You’re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel by David Shields and Caleb Powell; design by Chip Kidd (Knopf / January 2015)

mermaids-in-paradise

Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet; design by Chris Welch Design (W. W. Norton / November 2014)

9780241004968
Trouble in Paradise By Slavoj Žižek; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / November 2014)

unbecoming
Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm; design by Paul Buckley (Viking / January 2015)

schafferzf
The Veiled Sun by Paul Schaffer; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / January 2015)

weathering
Weathering by Lucy Wood; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / January 2015)

X
X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick Press / January 2015)

Comments closed
Published January 8, 2015

Front Row: The Art of Book Cover Design

UK Edition

BBC Radio 4’s Front Row talks to Suzanne Dean, creative director at Random House UK, about the art of book cover design. Dean, who was very publicly thanked by Julian Barnes for her work on his book The Sense of an Ending, has been responsible for more Booker-winning covers than any other designer apparently.

Host John Wilson also chats with designer Matthew Young about the relaunched Pelican Books, while authors Ian McEwan, Tom McCarthy and Audrey Niffenegger, and Telegraph books editor Gaby Wood, share their thoughts on what makes a good book cover.

BBC Radio 4 Front Row: The Art of Book Cover Design mp3

Comments closed
Published December 11, 2014

50 YA Covers for 2014

Like all the best things on The Casual Optimist, this post started life as a conversation on Twitter. The topic this time was the under-representation of YA book designers in all these end of the year cover lists. YA covers are becoming more and more sophisticated, yet my posts this year have rarely featured them, so feel that I am unquestionably at fault here. To make some kind of amends, I thought I would post a selection of 50 YA covers from 2014. Many, many thanks to all the book designers and publishing folk (including my colleagues Alisha, Brooke, and Megan at Raincoast) for their suggestions and assistance. And special thanks to Serah-Marie and Derek at Type Books for letting me browse their shelves with my notebook in hand…

belzhar
Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer; design by Kristin Smith (Dutton / September 2014)

beauty-of-the-broken-9781481407090_hr
Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / October 2014)

DorothyMustDie
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige; design by Ray Shapell (HarperCollins / April 2014)

EggandSpoon
Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / September 2014)

everything-leads-to-you
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour; design by Theresa Evangelista (Dutton / May 2014)

falling-into-place
Falling into Place by Amy Zhang; design by Paul Zakris (Greenwillow Books / September 2014)

far-from-you
Far From You by Tess Sharpe; design by Whitney Manger; cover photograph by Yojik (Disney-Hyperion / April 2014)

firecracker
Firecracker by David Iserson; design by Emily Osborne (Razorbill / October 2014)

forever
Forever by Judy Blune (Reissue Edition); design by Lizzy Bromley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / April 29, 2014)

girl-defective
Girl Defective by Simmone Howell; design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover; illustration Jeffrey Everett (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / September 2014)

girl-on-a-wire
Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond; design and illustration by Neil Swaab ( Skyscape / October 2014)

9780670016785B
Half Bad by Sally Green; design by Tim Green / Faceout Studio (Viking Juvenile / March 2014)

The Here And Now
The Here and Now by Ann Brashares; design by Natalie Sousa (Delacorte Press, April 2014)

high-and-dry
High and Dry by Sarah Skilton; design by The Heads of State (Amulet Books / April 2014)

House of Ivy and Sorrow
House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Turtleback Books / April 2014)

if-you-find-me
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch; design by Sinem Erkas (Indigo / January 2014)

ill-give-you-the-sun
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson; design by Theresa Evangelista  ( Dial / 2014)

into-the-grey
Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / August 2014)

Jackaby
Jackaby by William Ritter; design by Joel Tippie / Jdrift (Algonquin Young Readers / September 2014)

lets-get-lost
Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid; design by Natalie Sousa (Harlequin Teen / July 2014)

like no other
Like No Other by Una LaMarche; design by Emily Osborne; cover illustration by Michael Kirkham (Razorbill / September 2014)

9780374346676
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira; design by Andrew Arnold (FSG Books for Young Readers / March 2014)

9781452110219
The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern; design by Amelia May Mack (Chronicle Books / June 2014)

My-True-Love-Gave-to-Me
My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins; design & illustration by Jim Tierney (St. Martin’s Griffin / October 2014)

no-one-else-can-have-you
No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale; design by ​​Michelle Taormina (HarperTeen / January 2014)

100-sideways-miles-9781442444959_hr
100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Simon & Schuster for Young Readers / September 2014)

paper-airplanes
Paper Airplanes by Dawn O’Porter; design by Maria T. Middleton (Amulet / September 2014)

PlayForTheCommandant
Playing for the Commandant by Suzy Zail; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / October 2014)

promise-of-shadows
Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; cover art by Luke Lucas (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / March 2014)

ring-and-the-crown
The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz; design by Tanya Ross-Hughes; model photo by Ali Smith; title type by Mario Hugo (Hyperion / April 2014)

ruin-and-rising
Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo; design by Jen Wang (Henry Holt & Co. / June 2014)

The previous two books in the series, also designed by Jen Wang:

Salvage
Salvage by Keren David; design by Sophie Burdess (Atom / July 2014)

say-what-you-will
Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern; cover art by Ann Shen; design by Alison Klapthor (HarperTeen / June 2014)

schizo
Schizo by Nic Sheff; design by Kristin Smith (Philomel /September 30, 2014)

since-youve-been-gone
Since You’ve Been Gone by Megan Matson; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; photography by Meredith Jenks (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / July 2014)

Smart
Smart by Kim Slater; cover illustration by Helen Crawford-White / Studio Helen (Macmillan Children’s Books / June 2014)

AvaLavender
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick Press / March 2014 )

side-effects-may-vary
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy; design and illustration by Annemieke Beemster Leverenz (Balzer + Bray / 2014)

this-side-of-salvation
This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready; design by Karina Granda (Simon Pulse / April 2014)

Tape
Tape by Steven Camden; cover art by Keri Smith (HarperCollins Children’s Books / January 2014)

tease
Tease by Amanda Maciel; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Balzer + Bray / April 2014)

9781596437746
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki; design by Jillian Tamaki & Colleen AF Venable; cover art Jillian Tamaki (First Second / May 2014)

To_all_the_boys
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; photographer Anna Wolf (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / April 2014)

trouble-9781442497726_hr
Trouble by Non Pratt; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; illustration by Dermot Flynn (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / June 2014)

truth-about-alice
The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu; design by Elizabeth H Clark (Roaring Brook Press / June 2014)

two-girls-staring
Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling by Lucy Frank; design by Rachael Cole; cover art Elinor Hills (Schwartz & Wade / August 2014)

we-were-liars
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart; design by Angela Carlino (Delacorte Press / May 2014)

9780374384678
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski; design by Elizabeth H Clark; photography by Ali Smith (FSG Books for Young Readers / March 2014)

9781419712357
Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman; design by Maria T. Middleton; illustration by Shane Rebebschied (Harry N. Abrams / September 2014)

year-of-the-rat
The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss; design by Matt Johnson (Simon & Schuster Childrens Books / April 2014)

Thanks all

 

3 Comments
Published December 8, 2014

Series Book Covers 2014

In the past, I’ve often included a few series designs in with my favourite covers of the year. This year, I saw so many great covers that were part of a series, I thought a they deserved a post of their own…

9781847493774
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

The Gambler by Fydor Dostoevsky; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)
Notes from the Underground by Fydor Dostoevsky; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

Alma Classics; design by Nathan Burton (Alma / 2014)

A Winter's Tale
A Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

As You Like It by William Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)
Henry V by William Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

Broadview Shakespeare; design by Michel Vrana (Broadview / 2014)

9780141396064
Nova Express by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

The Son Machine by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)
The Ticket That Exploded by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

The Cut-Up Trilogy by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

LaSolutionEsquimauAW
Snapshots–Nouvelles voix du Caine Prize; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

Le Complex d’Eden Bellweather by Benjamin Wood; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)
L’Exception by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir ; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

Éditions Zulma; design by David Pearson (Éditions Zulma / 2014)

Come, Sweet Death by Wolf Haas; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / 2014)
Resurrection by Wolf Haas; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / 2014)

Wolf Haas; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / 2014)

My Fellow Skin
My Fellow Skin by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)
Shutterspeed by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)
Marcel by Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

Erwin Mortier; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / 2014)

9780241970317
After You with the Pistol by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Green; illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

The Great Mordecai Moustache Mystery by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Green; illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)
Something Nasty in the Woodshed by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Green; illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

Charlie Mortdecai by Kyril Bonfiglioli; design by Richard Bravery illustration by Luke Pearson (Penguin / 2014)

If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)
Tomcat in Love by Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)
Northern Lights by Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)

Tim O’Brien; design by Cardon Webb (Broadway / 2014)

9780143569725
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

A Fortunate Life by A. B. Facey; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

Penguin Australian Classics; design by Adam Laszczuk; illustration by Josh Durham (Penguin Australia / 2014)

9780141976150
Greek and Roman Political Ideas by Melissa Lane; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Economics: The User’s Guide by Ha-Joon Chang; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)
Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 by Orlando Figes; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Pelican relaunch; cover design by Matthew Young; logo design by Richard Green (Pelican 2014)

Regeneration by Pat Barker; design by Mr Foxx
Regeneration by Pat Barker; design by Mr Foxx (Penguin / 2014)
An Ice Cream War by William Boyd; design by Joe Cruz (Penguin / 2014)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; design by JP King (Penguin / 2014)

Penguin Essentials; design various (Penguin / 2014)

9780141395852
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)
The Art of War by Sun-Tzu; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

Penguin Pocket Hardbacks; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

Les fantômes fument en cachette by Miléna Babin; design by David Drummond
Les fantômes fument en cachette by Miléna Babin; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Notre Duplex by Éléonore Létourneau; design by David Drummond (Éditions XYZ / 2014)
Quand j’étais l’Amérique by Elsa Pépin; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Quai No. 5; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / 2014)

Sicilian Uncles
Sicilian Uncles by Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)

The Moro Affair by Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)
The Wine-Dark Sea by Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)

Leonardo Sciascia; design by Dan Mogford (Granta / 2014)1

9780374534691
August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

November 1916 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; design by Oliver Munday (FSG / 2014)

authority
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG /  2014)

Annihilation
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

Authority by by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (UK); design by Jo Walker; illustration by Kai and Sunny (Fourth Estate / 2014)

ukojenie_RBG2
Ukojenie by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)
Unicestwienie by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)
Ujarzmienie by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)

The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer (Poland); cover art by Patryk Mogilnicki (Otwarte / 2014)

city-of-saints
City of Saints & Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)
Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)
Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)

Jeff VanderMeer backlist; design by Crush Creative (Tor / 2014)

The Ego and His Own by Max Stirner; design by Rumors (Verso / 2014)
Freud and the Non-European by Edward Said; design by Rumors (Verso / 2014)

Verso Radical Thinkers; design by Rumors (Verso / 2014)

battle-of-ap-bac
The Battle of AP Bac by Neil Sheehan; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

How War Begins by John Keegan; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)
Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

Vintage Shorts; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / 2014)

9782896494927
Fleur de Cerisier by Aline Apostolska; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Elle Etait si Jolie by Pierre Szalowski; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)
Les Iles Canaries by Claudia Larochelle; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Vol 459; design by David Drummond (VLB éditeur / 2014)

Archetype by M. D. Waters; design by Jaya Miceli (Plume / 2014)
Prototype by M. D. Waters; design by Jaya Miceli (Plume / 2014)

M. D. Waters; design by Jaya Miceli (Plume / 2014)

9780099598282
Art and Lies by Jeanette Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)
Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

Vintage Winterson; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage / 2014)

3 Comments
Published December 8, 2014

50 Covers for 2014

Book designers, you do amazing work. Thank you. I am especially grateful to all the designers and art directors (not to mention publicists and other publishing folk) who have shared their wisdom, provided me with images, and helped me with design credits this year — these posts would not be possible without you. I also want thank my fellow book design bloggers, notably Book Covrs, Booketing, and Caustic Cover Critic, for their sterling work, and my local bookstores, Type, Book City on the Danforth, Ben McNally Books, and Indigo Bay & Bloor, for letting me browse their shelves.

Here are my covers of 2014:

all-my-puny-sorrows
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews; design by Sunra Thompson (McSweeney’s / November 2014)


All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu; design by Isabel Urbina Peña (Knopf / March 2014)

bark
Bark by Lorrie Moore; design by Carol Devine Carson; photography by Josef Sudek (Knopf / February 2014)


The Book of Heaven by Patricia Storace; design by Linda Huang (Pantheon / February 2014)

book-of-strange-new-things

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber; art direction and design Rafi Romaya;  illustration Yehrin Tong (Canongate / October 2014)

9781476747231
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt; design by Christopher Lin (Simon & Schuster / March 2014)


Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall by Will Chancellor; design by Richard Ljoenes (HarperCollins / July 2014)


Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes; design by Keith Hayes (Mulholland Books / September 2014)

california
California by Edan Lepucki; design Julianna Lee (Little Brown & Co. / July 2014)

chop-chop
Chop Chop by Simon Wroe; design by Ben Wiseman (Penguin / April 2014)

clothes-music-boys
Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys by Viv Albertine; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / May 2014)


The Corpse Exhibition by Hassan Blasim; design by Jason Ramirez (Penguin / February 2014)

dept-of-speculation-gray-318
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill; design by Gray318 (Granta / March 2014)

Dog-Ear
Dog Ear by Jim Johnstone; design by David Drummond (Signal Editions / May 2014)


The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison; design by Tom Darracott (Granta / June 2014)

enlightenment
Enlightenment 2.0 by Joseph Heath; design by David A. Gee (HarperCollins / April  2014)


Forensic Songs by Mike McCormack; design by Jason Booher (SOHO / July 2014)

fourth-july-creek
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson; design by Allison Saltzman; illustration by Bryan Nash Gill (Ecco / June 2014)


Friendship by Emily Gould; design by Jennifer Carrow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / July 2014)

fullblood-arabian
Fullblood Arabian by Osama Alomar; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / March 2014)

A-Girl-is-a-Half-formed-Thing
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride; design by Donna Payne (Faber & Faber / April 2014)


Happy are the Happy by Yesmina Reza; design by Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / July 2014)
herodotus
The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Tom Holland; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics / September 2014)

intervals-in-cinema
The Intervals of Cinema by Jacques Rancière; design by Jessica Svendsen (Verso / October 2014)


Karate Chop by Dorthe Nors; design by Carol Hayes (Graywolf February 2014)

leaving-the-sea
Leaving the Sea by Ben Marcus; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / January 2014)

And here it is side by side with 2012’s The Flame Alphabet:


The Liar’s Wife by Mary Gordon; design by Linda Huang (Pantheon / August 2014)

978-0-385-53807-7
Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce; design by Emily Mahon; illustration by Rizon Parein (Doubleday / September 2014)

9781447259374
The Man Who Couldn’t Stop; design by Katie Tooke (Picador / April 2014)


Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; design by Jamie Keenan (W. W. Norton / February 2014)


My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead; design by Elena Giavaldi (Crown / January 2014)

napoleon

Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts; design by Isabelle De Cat (Penguin / October 2014)

on-such-a-full-sea
On Such a Full Sea by Chang-Rae Lee; design by Helen Yentus; lettering Jason Booher (Riverhead / January 2014)

our-poison-horse
Our Poison Horse by Derrick Brown; design by Jennifer Heuer (Write Bloody / October 2014)


Radio Benjamin edited by Lecia Rosenthal; design by Isaac Tobin (Verso / October 2014)

russians
Russians by Gregory Feifer; design by Catherine Casalino (Twelve Books / February 2014)

scarborough
The Scarborough by Michael Lista; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / September 2014)


The Secret World of Oil by Ken Silverstein; design by Matt Dorfman (Verso / May 2014)

9780307908483
Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / January 2014)

silent-history
The Silent History by Eli Horowitz, Kevin Moffett, Matthew Derby; design by Oliver Munday (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2014)

song-for-approaching
Song for an Approaching Storm by Peter Fröberg Idling; design by David Pearson (Pushkin Press / March 2014)


Specter of Capital by Joseph Vogl; design by Anne Jordan (Stamford University Press / October 2014)

9780374270650
Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux; design by Nayon Cho; illustration by Mark Stutzman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2014)


Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter; design by Charlotte Strick; photograph by Natalie Dirks (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / November 2014)

9781447229759
Vanishing by Gerard Woodward; design by Jamie Keenan (Picador UK / March 2014)


Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyers; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / September 2014)


Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle; design by Timothy Goodman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / September 2014)

Area-X
9780374261177
Area X by Jeff VanderMeer; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / November 2014)

young-skins
young-skins-full
Young Skins: Stories by Colin Barrett; design by James Paul Jones (Jonathan Cape / March 2014)


Your Face in Mine by Jess Row; design by Oliver Munday (Riverhead / August 2014)

Thanks all.

20 Comments
Published December 1, 2014

ABCD 2015

abcd-logo
As I am still working on my 2014 cover posts, it seems like a good time to let you know that the Academy of British Cover Design (ABCD) has announced its second annual cover design competition.

The competition is open to any designer based in the UK for covers published in 2014. There are ten categories:

Children’s
Young Adult
SciFi/Fantasy
Mass Market
Literary Fiction
Crime/Thriller
Non-fiction
Series Design
Classic/Reissue
Women’s Fiction

You can see the previous winners here.

Comments closed
Published November 20, 2014

Hazlitt Interview with Peter Mendelsund

Peter_Mendelsund

Book designer and author Peter Mendelsund discusses his books Cover and What We See When We Read with Christopher Frey for the Hazlitt podcast:

Comments closed
Published November 19, 2014

The Great Discontent: John Gall

john-gall-ryan-essmaker-lg

Just fantastic interview with book designer and art director John Gall at The Great Discontent:

I find it hard to think about design in terms of changing the world, but it’s important to think about design in terms of the decisions you make about what you make. Ask yourself: “What am I putting out into the world? Am I helping sell Big Macs or deodorant or iPhones or whatever?” I have nothing against any of those, but at some point in my life, I decided to focus on books. Books are intrinsically good: even the worst book—with some notable exceptions—isn’t truly bad. If people are reading, it is good. As designers, we’re attached to the selling of something; no matter what we’re making there is a selling component. In that sense, the decision to work with books was very much about the larger picture of what I was helping to usher into the world.

I talked to John about his collages waaaaaay back in 2011.

Comments closed
Published November 12, 2014

Describing the Indescribable: Jeff VanderMeer and Peter Mendelsund in Conversation

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

If you only bookmark one long(ish) thing to read today, make sure it’s the slightly bonkers conversation between Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach Trilogy, and book designer Peter Mendelsund at Boing Boing:

JV: I very much like how you draw out in ‘What We See When We Read’ this idea of creation of character by the constraints around them. Which helps to create an outline of the character. It’s more or less how I thought of Control in ‘Authority’. Taking this even farther, I think that writers like Karen Joy Fowler do something even weirder where sometimes the absence of text or the cutting of text creates a ghost or resonance that allows the reader to fill in the space. Is there an equivalent effect in art/design? Perhaps it’s something you’ve played around with in your own work. An absence that denotes presence.

PM: “An absence that denotes presence” could be the definition of a good book cover. Good book covers are hard to make, I think, specifically because a designer is asked to deploy the facts of a narrative without showing anything explicit about the setting or characters. It’s a tricky balancing act. Everything is done by implication, proxy, metaphor or analogy.

So what is left off of a jacket is crucial. (I’ve often said that most of my day in the office is spent either suggesting things or hiding things.) I’m not an anti-intentionalist or anything, but I do believe that the reader deserves, to some extent, the right to co-create a fictional world alongside the author. So when you make the author’s world explicit on a cover, you’ve taken something from the reader.

The Southern Reach Trilogy — Annihilation, Acceptance and Authority — have now been collected into a single volume called Area X. While the original (American) covers were designed by Charlotte Strick with illustrations by Eric Nyquist, the new cover is by Rodrigo Corral:

9780374261177

VanderMeer also talks to his editor Sean MacDonald about the process of writing the books at the FSG Work in Progress blog. The post includes an amazing cover for the Polish edition of Acceptance. If anyone can tell me who the designer/illustrator is, I would be much obliged…

ukojenie_RBG2

Comments closed
Published October 24, 2014

Penguin Modern Classics The Cut-Up Trilogy by William Burroughs

The Son Machine by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)
The Ticket That Exploded by William Burroughs; cover art by Julian House (Penguin Classics 2014)

Following on from yesterday’s post on Penguin’s pocket hardback classics, Penguin Modern Classics are also reissuing William Burroughs’ cut-up trilogy with menacingly dark collage cover art by Julian House:

9780141396064

9780141189789

9780141189772

Comments closed
Published October 23, 2014

Penguin Pocket Hardbacks Designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith

The Art of War by Sun-Tzu; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)
Essays and Aphorisms by Arthur Schopenhauer; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics 2014)

A beautiful set of ‘Pocket Hardbacks’ designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith will be available from Penguin Classics next month. The trim size is 104mm x 168mm (or about 4″ x 6½”):

9780141395845

9780141395838

9780141395890

9780141395906

9780141395913

9780141395883

9780141395852

9780141395869

9780141395876

9780141395920

2 Comments
Published October 17, 2014

Bugs

 

bugs2

This, the latest post in my Beasts! series, was unexpectedly difficult to compile. While it seems there isn’t a book cover in existence that couldn’t be improved by putting on a bird on it, bugs are, at least by comparison, somewhat rare. While I assumed that bees, beetles, butterflies, centipedes, flies, spiders, termites et al would naturally lend themselves to evocative book designs, we are apparently still quite squeamish about creatures with six legs or more. That said, today’s post includes far more rejected (and short-lived covers) than previous instalments in the series, which that it isn’t necessarily the designers who are afraid of creepy crawlies, but rather other decision-makers in the process are worried about their negative influence on sales. Hopefully some of these covers will change their minds about that…

The Beetle by Richard Marsh; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / October 2008)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / May 2010 )
The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal by Sean Dixon; art by Emily Mahon; butterfly image by Hannelore Muller; hand-lettering by Chris Sergio (Other Press / April 2009 )
Ten Plagues by Mary Nealy; design by David Carlson

acid-house
The Acid House by Irvine Welsh; design by Matt Broughton (Vintage Books)

9780374104092
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer; design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / February 2014)

Arcadia RD 1 cleanb
Arcadia by Lauren Groff; design by Will Staehle (Voice / March 2012)

babayaga
Babayaga by Toby Barlow; design by Gray318 (Corvus / February 2014)


The Bees by Laline Paull; design by Steve Attardo (Ecco / May 2014)

bees
The Bees by Laline Paull; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / May 2014)

beautiful-you
Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk; design by Rodrigo Corral Design (Doubleday / October 2014)

BoneGap_Jkt_des4
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby; design by Michelle Taormina (Balzer + Bray / March 2015)

Lorenzo_Petrantoni
Boxer Beetle by Ned Beauman; illustration by Lorenzo Petrantoni (Sceptre / August 2010)

Brodeck-s_Report_Anna-Heath
Brodeck’s Report by Phillipe Claudel; design by Anna Heath (Quercus)

9781250045058
Bug Music by David Rothenberg; design by Ervin Serrano (St. Martin’s Press / May 2013)

Carnival-brian-morgan
Carnival by Rawi Hage; design by Brian Morgan, illustration by Lorenzo Petrantoni (House of Anansi Press / August 2012)


Chop Chop by Simon Wroe; design by Ben Wiseman (Penguin / April 2014)

cockroach-albert-tang
Cockroach by Rawi Hage; design by Albert Tang (W. W. Norton / October 2009)

cockroach-bill-douglas-unused
Cockroach by Rawi Hage; design by Bill Douglas (House of Anansi / unused)

constant-gardener
Constant Gardener by John Le Carre; design by Stuart Bache (Sceptre)

crowd c
Crowd of Sounds by Adam Sol; design by Bill Douglas (House of Anansi / April 2003)

electricity
Electricity by Victoria Glendinning; design by David Mann (Pocket Books / April 2006)

escaping-into-the-open-bookdesigners
Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg; design by The Book Designers (Harper / August 2012)

Fever
Fever by Sonia Shah; design by LeeAnn Falciani (Picador / June 2011)

The First Principles of Dreaming
The First Principles of Dreaming by Beth Goobie; design by Natalie Olsen / Kisscut Design (Second Story Press / September 2014)


Generation A by Douglas Coupland; design by Jennifer Heuer (Simon & Schuster / June 2010)

9783608501100
Generation A by Douglas Coupland; design by Books We Made (Tropen / August 2010)

DR_GHost_Moth_Hand
Ghost Moth by Michèle Forbes; design by Kathleen Lynch / Black Kat Design (Penguin Canada / October 2013)

A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson; design by James Paul Jones; illustration Louise Bird (Jonathan Cape / June 2013)
A Buzz In The Meadow by Dave Goulson; James Paul Jones; illustration Louise Bird (Jonathan Cape / September 2014 )

Sting
A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson; design by LeeAnn Falciani (Picador / April 2014)

Hurt_Healer_CG3
Hurt Healer by Tony Nolan; design by Connie Gabbert (Baker / unused?)

simon4
In Translation edited by Sherry Simon; design by David Drummond (McGill-Queen’s University Press / unused?)

marriage-game-bookdesigners-unused
The Marriage Game by Alison Weir; design by The Book Designers (Ballantine / unused)

Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; design by Jamie Keenan (W. W. Norton / February 2014)

missing-link
Missing Link by Jeffrey Donaldson; design by David Drummond (forthcoming)

9781846689895
The Moth introduced by Neil Gaiman; design by Dan Stiles (Serpent’s Tail / August 2014)

my-first-kafka
My First Kafka by Matthue Roth & Rohan Daniel Eason; design by Richard Rodriguez; cover illustration Rohan Daniel Eason (One Peace Books / June 2013)

never-mind
Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn; design by Stuart Wilson (Picador / April 2012)

original-sins
Original Sins by Peg Kingman; design by Darren Haggar (W. W. Norton / September 2010)

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / December 2012)
Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle; illustration by Despotica; series design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / December 2012)
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin / December 2012)

perdido-crush-creative
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville; design by Crush Creative (Pan Books / May 2011)

possession
Possession by A. S. Byatt; design Vintage Design (Vintage / December 2009)

isbn9781444776751
The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida; design by Kai & Sunny (Sceptre / July 2013)


Royauté by Alexie Morin design by Catherine D’Amours / Pointbarre (Le Quartanier / October 2013)

shining-girls-keith-hayes
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes; design by Keith Hayes (Mulholland Books / June 2013)

Swallow
Swallow by Theanna Bischoff; design by Natalie Olsen / Kisscut Design (NeWest Press / February 2013)

Poe GOTHIC SERIES Holly MacDonald
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe; Holly MacDonald (Bloomsbury / October 2009)

9781429988834
Why You Should Read Kafka Before You Waste Your Life by James Hawes; Design and lettering by Steve Snider; Illustration by Douglas Smith (St. Martin’s Press / July 2008)

5 Comments