title: Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All

Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All

Granted this isn’t the most creative cover we’ve seen, and it’s probably the title that is really put this over the edge of awesome. But still, a nice feel to this one. Really like the way the “AND”s were handled, and the texture in the type does a lot to age it appropriately. Click here for a hi-res version.

Also note that we janked this from a great new (?) book cover blog that we recently stumbled across: Book Covers Anonymous.

— , 2008-08-22 05:51:00 -0400

love this cover, but I can’t stand those “ANDS”.

— Ian Shimkoviak , 2008-08-22 08:49:00 -0400

me neither. i try that from time to time thinking i can make it work and it always looks this bad.

this is like a glorious montage of everything that is easy to do and shows a lot of non-thinking: color stripe, subtitle italic, small cap author name, 1 image that fades into background + 1 image placed w edge, old-looking type, tacked-on semi-victorian ornamental type, random rectangular border that tries to bring all these elements together… yet, nice to look at. this is the exact same treatment i feel myself rebelling against everyday designing history books, yet i still use many of these conventions.

— , 2008-08-22 19:54:00 -0400

the Economist review of this is pretty glowing.

— , 2008-08-23 06:36:00 -0400

The story sounds facinating, and I will probably read it.
There are all sorts of things about the cover I do not like, but on top of that list is the placement of the upper image. The red frame tries to pull it all together again, but it is not really happening. The font in the red band gives it a sort of “this is a girlie book, folks” – which (intentionally?!) clashes with the title.

— boblet , 2008-08-23 12:11:00 -0400

Thanks for mentioning our blog, Ben. Covers.Fwis rox!

— Tal , 2008-08-24 07:42:00 -0400

just kinda wonder. it says on the subtitle “a new zealand story” that painting looks they’re from new guinea or africa..i mean the people are not in resemblance to the maori.

— monkey , 2008-08-24 13:22:00 -0400

Another cover for the same book.

http://www.akademika.no/bookcovers/978/0/7/4/7/5/8/9780747582526.jpg

— , 2008-08-25 02:57:00 -0400

Ha. I like how it went from “An Unlikely Love Story” to “A New Zealand Story.”

— , 2008-08-25 10:42:00 -0400

Greatest title evarrr.

Not a bad cover at all.

— C-Dog , 2008-08-26 15:50:00 -0400

check out http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3563/features/11736/printable/lost_in_translation.html for a NZ review of the book. not entirely pretty stuff. (the Listener is one of NZ’s bigger “culture” mags)

— , 2008-08-26 17:37:00 -0400

I’m torn between the two images on this cover. The great illustration on the top with the figures that would normally visually weigh down the bottom of a composition (now they’re in the middle) and the beautiful photograph on the bottom. I think the type could work with either, I feel like they couldn’t decide. Maybe my not having read the book guides my misunderstanding, but to me the composition is a little (read: lot) conflicting and broken-up-in-blocks. Love the title.

— , 2008-08-27 07:23:00 -0400

This cover is definitely better than the other version (from Omar). I agree the “ands” look a little out of place, but I think if they were bigger it might look better. I’m not against the color bar. I think the cover would look unbalanced without it.

— , 2008-08-29 03:12:00 -0400

Used the same treatment (the way the “ands” were handled) on a true crime cover & they loved the similarity with Devil in the White City.
So nice to be in touch with the trends…
I have a problem connecting the illustration & the photo — like why are they disproportionate; why is it so top-heavy?
Why is one an illustration & the other a photo?
Can we commit to a treatment?

— , 2008-09-19 15:36:00 -0400

I have designed two book covers and have found on both occasions that the writer dictates their vision to the artist and publisher, and we just try to capture a verbal description of their vision. It’s not easy work. The actual layout should be devised by someone who understands balance and color theories. I teach commercial art courses, and it takes a lot of training to achieve unity. The goal is to transition the colors and balance as one. I agree, this cover should have been one or the other. The result is TMI (too much information). I wish you luck on this book and many more!

— , 2008-09-27 08:30:00 -0400