Book Covers - Full of Bull

I’m a sucker for this dark aesthetic and the force-broken rag.

It’s funny to note this cover in comparison to our previous post, Undertaking and the similarities in their image technique.

Also note that the firm responsible for this, Ingredient, does a lot of good work, primarily in branding and web development. So it’s cool to see them branching out so successfully.

— , 2008-05-23 02:13:00 -0400

I would say in this case the ‘pressed forward’ object, emerging from darkness, is well done. The only complaint I have is that the subtitle has a weird comma placement which is obviously not the fault of the designer.

Also similar is this cover for ‘American Supernatural Tales’ edited by S.T. Joshi:

unlike the last one, this one doesn’t do it for me. i’d rather the ‘scanner’ look. or maybe it’s the type. maybe it’s too literal. maybe it’s that the bull has more whiskers than any cat i’ve ever seen.

I think this is an excellent cover concept. Knowing a lot about Wall Street and investments in general and the shinanigins that go on therein, this is a powerful and secretive graphic idea. Excellent. Well done. One of the best I have seen in a long time. JS

It’s strong, but dated in it’s appeal. I am sure there were more dynamic versions of this cover. Great title. Subtitles a bit hard to read.

The last bother is the authors name being dainty and all tracked out. It has all this solid credibility—and then you see the authors name…

i think there’s too much competition between the copy and imagery… the hierarchy of text and image seems a bit off to me. the “american supernatural tales” cover that alan linked is a great example of something similar, but aesthetically better. i know it’s a standard penguin cover where imagery takes center stage, but it works so much more successfully.

with that said, the concept and idea are very nice. i would just prefer to see a reduction in type and let the image breathe a bit on its own.

Not a fan of the type formatting in the author’s name. Looks super strange compared to the rest – considering the author’s name (a lot of capitals with the middle initial and “McC..” in the last name, I find it strange to break the all caps.

Nothing here to really tickle my fance… kind of like this a cruise ship performance whereas lots of the covers posted here are full-blown Radiohead concerts.

P.S. The snout of a bull is kind of gross… I’d opt for a one-color simple silhouette of a bull. And yeah, fix that author name text.

honestly, i think a turd would make an amazing cover, and get the point across much clearer. in this case, the designer ignored the idea and just went with what he though would look cool.

I don’t like that the lines extend so far beyond the copy on the right. And the nose ring looks ‘shopped.

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