Book Covers - Memorial

The gold areas are a nice foil stamp.

The book itself is fairly large, which works nicely with the wave.

I was struck by the cover in the bookstore. It's got a lot of presence. But having looked into it a little more closely, I'm a little more ho-hum about it. The imagery only loosely comes from the content of the book, and I'm not sure the style of the illustration ties in at all. The rectangles tie-in with the architectural profession of the protagonist, but even that's pretty loose.

For what it's worth, Jennifer Lew, the designer, does some really really great work. I think her book covers come up a bit short, though.

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Also, apparently Chris was asked to critique some covers over on Publisher’s Weekly along with Joe from the Book Design Review. Article here.

— , 2007-05-14 11:07:00 -0400

Nice. I’d have removed the Chinese (pardon me if it’s Japanese) text in the upper right corner. God forbid it says “Kill the enemy like a Tsunami”. Or maybe it was intentional…

The whole text scrunched in corners of boxes is fun and creates a visual tension. The whole cover, from the tones and contrasts to this particular type treatment is dynamic and creates an organic turmoil.

But, on another note, it lacks shelf presence and is not interesting enough or unique enough (mainly the image) to stand alone and work as a powerful cover. Things just get too lost. The cover does not communicate anything in particular and since a wave can be used as metaphor for just about a thousand things—it stands amongst a thousand book covers, as just another book.

i think the whole japanese wave thing is overused. it becomes less powerful to me everytime i see it.

I dig the illustration. I’m not feeling the way the type is set. The gold boxes just aren’t doing it for me.

The illustration is nice but I agree with m welch: the text boxes could have been handled with more elegance.

i think this is a woodcut art. i’ve seen a lot like these in the house of musashi. and it looks great!

but the placement and the color of the boxes. oh im not a big fan of it. its a total opposite of the background image, its flat and immobile/steady, doesnt come along. its like having the impression of looking at this great piece of art and ignoring what is written in there. the type is drowned by the cover art! and for me the kenji is more appealing than that the boxed text. hopeful to hear jenn lew’s words about this book.

view “the keep” published by knopf. its kinda semilar but how he boxed the text is just perfect.lol

i’d scan the book cover from top to buttom, clockwise and vice versa and all sides etc. and wherever i turn my eyes i see types. she did placed it perfectly though. try it!

the boxed type. although i like the placements but the color and all of it.. i’ll prefer maybe an alternative..

The cover art’s obviously patterned after Hokusai’s masterwork “The Great Wave”. So I’m guessing the story takes place in Japan or some other Asian country?

I would make the same comment for this as the cover for “The Odyssey”. It is a hackneyed image that no longer packs a visual punch.

I agree that if you described the ingredients in this cover (Hokusai wave, gold foil embossing, clipped all-cap type,) to another designer they’d almost HAVE TO cringe.

But when held in hand, the final product becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and is really quite beautiful. I’m curious, out of the naysayers for this one, how many actually made up their minds based on experiencing this book in person vs. just looking at a layout on screen?

Without having done the research Ben has, I can only say that formally this jacket is a real success. It has a sense of improvisation and rythym that feels more like music than design.

Yeah, I have to admit I’ve never met this book in person, but my judgment of it was not that harsh. The cover definitely has energy and “rhythm”. I think most are reacting to the cliché wave. I think the fact that this book is larger than normal helps it a lot. If it was standard sized novel it would have less impact. The foil etc helps too. I think sometimes where something lacks in design ingenuity, print techniques and formats really weigh in nicely to complete the piece.

Je ne suis pas d’accord, pas en tout! Great covers have to stand up to being reproduced in CMYK. The foil and format might add to the appeal but if it doesn’t pass this test it fails for me. Show me a Paul Rand design in the flesh and I guarantee it will look great reproduced – check out Stephen Heller’s book on Rand. Page after page of real genius. Why is that? THE CONCEPT IS PARAMOUNT!

The old print in the background is great, but what was J-Lew thinking about the hard right align? It’s so elemental… so Microsoft Word text box-ish.

Oh, and Jennifer needs to work on her site. Graphic designers with crappy websites is like a porn star with acne.

beaugeste, are you talking about Phaidon’s Paul Rand by Stephen Heller? If so, there is no comparison to what this book is and feels like. I don’t agree at all that a great cover has to stand up to the test of process reproduction. The fact is that good use of print techniques and paper/binding styles can become the design in and of itself. And since when is Paul Rand the be all and end all example of good 4 color reproduction. I can guarantee you that Phaidon spent hours upon hours color correcting his work for good reproduction. The tools change, the technologies change and the styles and approaches and applications change. The biggest job we as designers have is to make things work, to push the limits of both that 2d, 3d and 4d qualities of our work. To limit ourselves to a silly rule of something reproducing well in 4c is like saying we should limit ourselves to Merlot.

Fact is that Rands work was largely composite and collage oriented. Perhaps if it was not so expensive and limited by the technologies of the time he would have taken more advantage of various print techniques etc. No doubt it would have taken the tactile quality of his work to another level…

oh my god you totally missed my point Ian. I was simply saying that great concepts will almost always translate into 4 color reproduction or even onto the web for that matter. The biggest challenge facing designers is not “making things work” ITS ABOUT EXPRESSING AN IDEA IN AN ORIGINAL AND PROVOCATIVE WAY. That is why I referenced Paul Rand.
Point sur la ligne.

I dunno, beau. It seems like you’re defining “concept” a bit narrowly. Concept is king. But sometimes concept is more than just pictoral space/layout.

To cite Paul Rand (or any designer) as proof one way or another of where concept “lives” is a red herring. Rand’s work stands up so well in CMYK reproduction because it’s the same space he originally created for and excelled in, (not just print, but 2-d abstraction… without a physical component.)

There are tons of examples of designer’s (or projects) whose concepts don’t translate into monographs or blog posts well. Even when the original piece was printed matter.

Yeah, I disagree—a good designer makes things work within the scope of the given projects limitations. This does not always mean to be original or provocative. It means finding inspiration with what you have and finding original way to use and present that content. Anything can translate into 4 color process. Great or mediocre. I think being creative within the scope of making good use of print techniques and varied formats is taking that one dimensional, traditional approach to design, to another level.

Sorry if I misunderstood your comment—sounded like you were discounting the ability of good design transcending the flat, 4c space we are all more or less confined to. And I do agree it is a challenge to make something truly striking and revolutionary within the scope of 4c reproduction. So on that note—yes, to make a splash in that pond is remarkable—and surely, Rand has done that time and again. Picasso of the Graphic world indeed!

The procedure for artwork-based design is (seemingly) simple:
1. Take an artwork
2. Crop
3. Insert text.
4. Arrange everything to produce a new unity, a new meaning.

Jennifer Lew is a talented, versatile designer, as her website attests. Maybe one of her strengths is just in making covers that have life of their own?

Does one need a real book (text) to exist – to design a cover? Isn’t it time for the book cover art to become of its own?

I will take one more shot at what I am on about. 99% of book cover designers follow the same procedure Priit outlined above. Take an image, insert a cool font and if you are really lucky they’ll spring for foil stamping. The other 1%, which includes many of the cover designers whose covers grace this site, strive for something more. I beg to differ Sergio, but most great design will translate when reproduced with some exeptions. Why else do we wet our pants over CA Design Annual or 50 Books/50 Covers. Citing Paul Rand is no red herring Sergio. He was and is a great graphic designer whose work stands the test of time with or without foil stamping.

I do find so many of the comments these covers garner are too caught up in the minutiae and window dressing and sorry to say this Ian you take the cake in this regard. On that Gall Vermeer cover WHO CARES ABOUT A TINY HAIRLINE OF COMOUFLAGE in the bottom right hand corner! There I said it.

‘’Graphic designers with crappy websites is like a porn star with acne.’’
– this is possibly the most shortsighted and plain STUPID comment ive ever heard a designer make, not just on here but ever.

The illustration is from Great Wave painted by Katsushika Hokusai, or atleast it is made to look like it.

Our company specializes in book cover designing and book composing since last 3 decades. Our samples and profile are available at http://www.linksngrafix.com

“– this is possibly the most shortsighted and plain STUPID comment ive ever heard a designer make, not just on here but ever.”

Naw it wasn’t. Actually pretty clever. You better not put it on a senior project TEAiM!

Having read and loved the book, I find the cover quite a bit misleading. It is beautiful, which is fine. . . I mean, if I wanted an expensive art-book, I’d go to a museum bookstore and blow some dough. But this cover doesn’t really give a real sense of the story. And it’s far quieter than Wagner’s often manic voice. Maybe it’s an aesthetic triumph—and I’m not entirely sold on that, either—but it fails the substance test for me. It’s not a historical novel set in feudal Japan, and the “tsunami” aspect, while a part of it, is tangential. They could have done better, concept-wise.

Designers with crappy websites are like designers with crappy resumes, crappy portfolios, crappy taste in music, crappy clothes. . . it says something about them. What it is says is up for interpretation. To me, it says, “I don’t care if I look crappy.”

Incidentally, Christian in NYC, u have a FREAKING AMAZING website. And you are a brilliant designer too. :0

As for the rest of y’all. . . I am here to represent for the YA novel, bitches.

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