why why why do we need ‘a novel’? i swear it ruins half the covers on this site… can’t someone just put it on the shelf in the shop instead of squeezing it on to the cover?
that said – this is a beautiful photograph and i like the light type treatment and positioning
Here’s my take on the photo: I get the sex vibe, and the city background suggesting that the storys’ characters are tourists who meet while traveling, but that seems kinda obscure to the casual passer-by in a bookstore.
Having said that, I’m all for suggestive “hard” art that requires a bit of thought. That can also be the hook that draws the viewer in, the double-take they might do trying to figure the photo out.
—
, 2007-07-11 05:12:00 -0400
The “a novel” thing seems to be an Americanism… Maybe they like everything spelt out for them over there?
—
, 2007-07-11 05:31:00 -0400
I feel like this is a rip-off of the John Gall cover. When a good conceptual depiction like that comes along I guess there are always rip-offs…. So my problem is that this is so OBVIOUS. The smoking cigarette in the ashtray is unnecessary. We already get that the chairs are an anthropomorphic reference.
It’s unfortunate, DLF. It appears the American public is believed to need everything spelled out for them. Whatever happened to living up to expectations?
—
, 2007-07-11 05:47:00 -0400
Would anyone mind posting a link to this John Gall cover?
its not a rip-off of the Gall cover…the Gall cover has two chairs next to each other and the concept was completely differnt. Most likely the designer did stock search and found this and thought it worked, im sure the Gall cover wasnt in the subconscious
Oh yeah, nice touch with the rub marks indeed. But I do think that the image has too much of a stock photo feel to it. And I don’t get any sense of a “tourist” in the cover.
With the chair design, the carpet, the big windows and the cityscape background, I am seeing a big corporate office, and it’s after hours (“bow-chica-bow-wow!”). Based on the image alone, I would guess the story is about the sexualized work place. Sex has such a presence in the office, even the chairs do it at night.
But paired with the word “tourist,” I am thrown off. Doesn’t sit right.
mattshu may be right about the rub marks actually being reflections from the metal chair legs. But, if that’s the case, the shadows from the chair legs are completely off, making it a poor photoShop effect. I guess this is why my first reaction was that they were rub marks too.
—
, 2007-07-11 10:44:00 -0400
re: I don’t get how the title relates to the photo though. Tourists – chairs doing it?
The photo relates to the subject matter of the book. The real question is what the title relates to… beats me, but the book sounds like fun.
—
, 2007-07-11 11:25:00 -0400
I disagree that the smoking cigarette is unnecessary. It may not be needed to make it clear what’s going on, true, but how boring and off balance would this cover look without it? It anchors that corner and gives the whole thing an ambiance that would definitely be lacking otherwise.
I agree with Dylan about the after-hours-in-an-office vibe, though. They were probably going for “hotel”, but those chairs are found nowhere on earth outside a conference room.
I think it’s an eye-catching cover, though, and in a bookstore I’d probably pick the thing up and read the jacket copy.
—
, 2007-07-11 12:46:00 -0400
lets get it on…oh…..
looks like office chairs.. in a hotel room. having cigarette would mean to look bossy… or a boss.. and the other chair looks like her secretary…lol
well, a definite eye catcher.. installation art works on a lot of people. looks safe for children but erotic in style. if i havent seen JG’s “a general theory of love” then i would dig this cover. but too late..
i just hope that the contents are original and not part of the cliché...
Total rip of the John Gall cover, and it’s forced with the ashtray. P.S. Ben thanks for the STEP tip I went to B&N tonight and read the article, really enjoyed it.
As my father used to say this is a case of “gilding the lily”. The Gall cover is striped down do its essentials whereas this designer didn’t know when to stop. I hate to tell you guys but those do look like rub burns to me. The whole aesthetic of the cover seems off to me as well. I keep seeing the Bob Newhart set in background.
It’s fine, I suppose. I’m not terribly nutz about it, but it has charm. Not the kind of charm that would induce me to pick it up, I’m afraid.
“A Novel” is important for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the gratification of writing a novel and having it published. I know when/if I finish a novel I’m going to have “A Novel” plastered everywhere.
I agree. There is some sort of stamp of authenticity to the phrase “a novel”. It seems to carry a weight that binds this new title to a tradition of published narratives. It’s something that tells the reader, “Yo, this is the real deal. Straight up!” and yes, something that I imagine gives the author a great deal of satisfaction because it marks his membership in an “elite” club of published authors.
Perhaps the real problem is designers’ refusal to meet the challenge of incorporating it succesfully into their designs.
Having spent much of my career working on nonfiction books, I still remember the thrill the first time I received cover copy with those two little words “a novel” included. Its kind of a cool element to play with and for the most part designers seem to give it the requisite consideration in terms of its placement and design.
about the rub/reflection issue:
those are clearly reflections for two reasons.
1) the shadows indicate the direction of the light source which would produce that angle of reflection. also look at the leg closest to the wall and see how the shape of the reflection flares out as it falls away from the leg, as a reflection would.
2) the marks are at the wrong angle to be rubs. think about it: if you were tearing it up from behind on, say, a bed, with your partner’s face close to the headboard, as you built up momentum the top of your partner’s head would soon be in danger of being pounded into the headboard, not an area off to the side down closer to the ear. or think of it this way: let’s say you were really tearing it up and the bed actually started sliding back and forth rhythmically against a hardwood floor—the direction of the scratch marks would be parallel to your back and forth motions; they would not be at an angle as the picture depicts.
speaking of p-shop, and on a serious note, i think the rub/reflections were added later and are in fact supposed to be rubs, but the “designer” didn’t have enough sense to—op! i mean the designer obviously didn’t have enough time to think it through completely…
Would you all be very surprised if the whole thing was actually a set up photo shoot with little to no Photoshop other than for color?
Yeah…
Who cares. The fact is simple: This is a knock off—knowingly or unknowingly this idea (image/concept) has seeped into the popular mind of book designers the world over and viola! A different take on the same solution. Ladies and gents—Lets take this time to reflect on our own transgressions of this kind and repent. Not for the fact that we have ripped off—but for the fact that covers.fwis patrons are tearing it up!
This is just a genuinely ugly, unoriginal and over done cover. And the “a novel” might as well have been a roach crawling away. Ashamed to have made it onto this dreadful cover…
I’m being harsh mainly for my self amusement, but seriously folks… ugh
This is a good cover, its close but not too close for comfort to the Gall cover. I find it compelling and kind of sterile and I have no intense aversion to the word a novel tucked in there.
I love the concept; I think I could have done without the ashtray and cigarette. The chairs exude the “sex” aspect without needing another stereotypical sex icon.
Love the type. I don’t care one way or the other about the “A Novel” part. It’s awfully small and doesn’t ruin anything for me.
m welch
—
, 2007-07-15 09:50:00 -0400
i agree about the cigarette + ashtray —overly cliché and kinda passé. Also, someone forgot the plastic covers. Doesn’t safe sex apply to furniture as well?
—
, 2007-07-19 09:04:00 -0400
haw… subject matter aside, that Pes video was straight outta Sesame Street
—
, 2007-07-20 16:04:00 -0400
Publishers tell me people want to know right away that the book is fiction or not. Hence “the novel”.
—
, 2007-09-06 06:55:00 -0400
1. The photo is really great, minus the sex innuendo.
2. This seems way to overt and tacky for me, especially with the cigarettes. But then I’m a college student, and sick of all this trendy/elementary “furniture porn” humor at my school…
Totally wrong (sterile) chairs; obviously P-Shopped ashtray & skidmarks; still a concept some of us wished we’d thought of, without the outdated & overstated addition of the ashtray. “A Novel” reminds me of restaurants whose signs follow their names with “A Restaurant,” or worse, “A Restaurant & Gathering Place.”
The Tourists
What happens when you take this to its logical conclusion…
(tip o’ the hat to Core 77)
— , 2007-07-11 02:51:00 -0400
why why why do we need ‘a novel’? i swear it ruins half the covers on this site… can’t someone just put it on the shelf in the shop instead of squeezing it on to the cover?
that said – this is a beautiful photograph and i like the light type treatment and positioning
— Luke Tonge , 2007-07-11 03:19:00 -0400
I was going to say – reminds me of the John Gall cover.
I don’t get how the title relates to the photo though. Tourists – chairs doing it?
— GH , 2007-07-11 04:16:00 -0400
Here’s my take on the photo: I get the sex vibe, and the city background suggesting that the storys’ characters are tourists who meet while traveling, but that seems kinda obscure to the casual passer-by in a bookstore.
Having said that, I’m all for suggestive “hard” art that requires a bit of thought. That can also be the hook that draws the viewer in, the double-take they might do trying to figure the photo out.
— , 2007-07-11 05:12:00 -0400
The “a novel” thing seems to be an Americanism… Maybe they like everything spelt out for them over there?
— , 2007-07-11 05:31:00 -0400
I feel like this is a rip-off of the John Gall cover. When a good conceptual depiction like that comes along I guess there are always rip-offs…. So my problem is that this is so OBVIOUS. The smoking cigarette in the ashtray is unnecessary. We already get that the chairs are an anthropomorphic reference.
It’s unfortunate, DLF. It appears the American public is believed to need everything spelled out for them. Whatever happened to living up to expectations?
— , 2007-07-11 05:47:00 -0400
Would anyone mind posting a link to this John Gall cover?
— , 2007-07-11 05:53:00 -0400
See a similar discussion of this cover at http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/2007/05/tourists.html with the Gall design image.
— , 2007-07-11 06:47:00 -0400
its not a rip-off of the Gall cover…the Gall cover has two chairs next to each other and the concept was completely differnt. Most likely the designer did stock search and found this and thought it worked, im sure the Gall cover wasnt in the subconscious
— g , 2007-07-11 06:48:00 -0400
Nice detail with the rub marks on the carpet. But-
the genius in Gall’s cover is its genuine simplicity; this is a cartoon version of John Gall.
Von K-the link is in the original post.
— eric , 2007-07-11 06:50:00 -0400
furniture romance,
http://www.furnitureporn.com/furnporn1.html
yeah, a copy of Gall. But who cares it still works and has it’s own flair and edginess…
— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2007-07-11 07:10:00 -0400
Oh yeah, nice touch with the rub marks indeed. But I do think that the image has too much of a stock photo feel to it. And I don’t get any sense of a “tourist” in the cover.
With the chair design, the carpet, the big windows and the cityscape background, I am seeing a big corporate office, and it’s after hours (“bow-chica-bow-wow!”). Based on the image alone, I would guess the story is about the sexualized work place. Sex has such a presence in the office, even the chairs do it at night.
But paired with the word “tourist,” I am thrown off. Doesn’t sit right.
— Dylan , 2007-07-11 07:16:00 -0400
I don’t think those are rub marks. I’d be willing to bet someone’s new iPhone that they’re reflections from the metal chair legs.
Which instead of adding a cool and interesting layer of meaning, comes off as amateurish.
— , 2007-07-11 07:56:00 -0400
“Doesn’t sit right.”
I would hate to hear what metal chair sex sounds like.
— Peacetothemiddleeast , 2007-07-11 09:33:00 -0400
mattshu may be right about the rub marks actually being reflections from the metal chair legs. But, if that’s the case, the shadows from the chair legs are completely off, making it a poor photoShop effect. I guess this is why my first reaction was that they were rub marks too.
— , 2007-07-11 10:44:00 -0400
re: I don’t get how the title relates to the photo though. Tourists – chairs doing it?
The photo relates to the subject matter of the book. The real question is what the title relates to… beats me, but the book sounds like fun.
— , 2007-07-11 11:25:00 -0400
I disagree that the smoking cigarette is unnecessary. It may not be needed to make it clear what’s going on, true, but how boring and off balance would this cover look without it? It anchors that corner and gives the whole thing an ambiance that would definitely be lacking otherwise.
I agree with Dylan about the after-hours-in-an-office vibe, though. They were probably going for “hotel”, but those chairs are found nowhere on earth outside a conference room.
I think it’s an eye-catching cover, though, and in a bookstore I’d probably pick the thing up and read the jacket copy.
— , 2007-07-11 12:46:00 -0400
lets get it on…oh…..
looks like office chairs.. in a hotel room. having cigarette would mean to look bossy… or a boss.. and the other chair looks like her secretary…lol
well, a definite eye catcher.. installation art works on a lot of people. looks safe for children but erotic in style. if i havent seen JG’s “a general theory of love” then i would dig this cover. but too late..
i just hope that the contents are original and not part of the cliché...
— supercow , 2007-07-11 18:14:00 -0400
Total rip of the John Gall cover, and it’s forced with the ashtray. P.S. Ben thanks for the STEP tip I went to B&N tonight and read the article, really enjoyed it.
— Auguste , 2007-07-11 18:52:00 -0400
As my father used to say this is a case of “gilding the lily”. The Gall cover is striped down do its essentials whereas this designer didn’t know when to stop. I hate to tell you guys but those do look like rub burns to me. The whole aesthetic of the cover seems off to me as well. I keep seeing the Bob Newhart set in background.
— beauGeste , 2007-07-12 00:18:00 -0400
It’s fine, I suppose. I’m not terribly nutz about it, but it has charm. Not the kind of charm that would induce me to pick it up, I’m afraid.
“A Novel” is important for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the gratification of writing a novel and having it published. I know when/if I finish a novel I’m going to have “A Novel” plastered everywhere.
— C-Dog , 2007-07-12 03:22:00 -0400
Can’t wait till you do C-Dog. Will you be designing it too? Might as well….
— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2007-07-12 04:19:00 -0400
I agree. There is some sort of stamp of authenticity to the phrase “a novel”. It seems to carry a weight that binds this new title to a tradition of published narratives. It’s something that tells the reader, “Yo, this is the real deal. Straight up!” and yes, something that I imagine gives the author a great deal of satisfaction because it marks his membership in an “elite” club of published authors.
Perhaps the real problem is designers’ refusal to meet the challenge of incorporating it succesfully into their designs.
— dylan , 2007-07-12 06:16:00 -0400
Having spent much of my career working on nonfiction books, I still remember the thrill the first time I received cover copy with those two little words “a novel” included. Its kind of a cool element to play with and for the most part designers seem to give it the requisite consideration in terms of its placement and design.
— David Drummond , 2007-07-12 08:24:00 -0400
about the rub/reflection issue:
those are clearly reflections for two reasons.
1) the shadows indicate the direction of the light source which would produce that angle of reflection. also look at the leg closest to the wall and see how the shape of the reflection flares out as it falls away from the leg, as a reflection would.
2) the marks are at the wrong angle to be rubs. think about it: if you were tearing it up from behind on, say, a bed, with your partner’s face close to the headboard, as you built up momentum the top of your partner’s head would soon be in danger of being pounded into the headboard, not an area off to the side down closer to the ear. or think of it this way: let’s say you were really tearing it up and the bed actually started sliding back and forth rhythmically against a hardwood floor—the direction of the scratch marks would be parallel to your back and forth motions; they would not be at an angle as the picture depicts.
— phil hellmule , 2007-07-12 09:06:00 -0400
After all this dissection, what about the p-shopped ashtray?
— Ian , 2007-07-12 10:00:00 -0400
depends on who you’re asking Ian…
average consumer: “what ashtray? oh, that one. yeah, neat!”
design geek: “unconscionable!” “reprehensible!” “aak!”
— phil hellmule , 2007-07-12 11:05:00 -0400
speaking of p-shop, and on a serious note, i think the rub/reflections were added later and are in fact supposed to be rubs, but the “designer” didn’t have enough sense to—op! i mean the designer obviously didn’t have enough time to think it through completely…
— phil hellmule , 2007-07-12 11:11:00 -0400
Would you all be very surprised if the whole thing was actually a set up photo shoot with little to no Photoshop other than for color?
Yeah…
Who cares. The fact is simple: This is a knock off—knowingly or unknowingly this idea (image/concept) has seeped into the popular mind of book designers the world over and viola! A different take on the same solution. Ladies and gents—Lets take this time to reflect on our own transgressions of this kind and repent. Not for the fact that we have ripped off—but for the fact that covers.fwis patrons are tearing it up!
This is just a genuinely ugly, unoriginal and over done cover. And the “a novel” might as well have been a roach crawling away. Ashamed to have made it onto this dreadful cover…
I’m being harsh mainly for my self amusement, but seriously folks… ugh
— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2007-07-12 12:17:00 -0400
This is a good cover, its close but not too close for comfort to the Gall cover. I find it compelling and kind of sterile and I have no intense aversion to the word a novel tucked in there.
— Travis , 2007-07-13 02:34:00 -0400
If this cover takes it to 3, PES took it to 11.
(This movie is work safe, but the audio isn’t)
http://www.eatpes.com/roofsex.html
Check out the rest of his work, really amazing stop motion!
— , 2007-07-13 15:55:00 -0400
hehe, good shot, was about to post the same movie!
— tomson , 2007-07-13 19:55:00 -0400
Hmmm….
I love the concept; I think I could have done without the ashtray and cigarette. The chairs exude the “sex” aspect without needing another stereotypical sex icon.
Love the type. I don’t care one way or the other about the “A Novel” part. It’s awfully small and doesn’t ruin anything for me.
m welch
— , 2007-07-15 09:50:00 -0400
i agree about the cigarette + ashtray —overly cliché and kinda passé. Also, someone forgot the plastic covers. Doesn’t safe sex apply to furniture as well?
— , 2007-07-19 09:04:00 -0400
haw… subject matter aside, that Pes video was straight outta Sesame Street
— , 2007-07-20 16:04:00 -0400
Publishers tell me people want to know right away that the book is fiction or not. Hence “the novel”.
— , 2007-09-06 06:55:00 -0400
1. The photo is really great, minus the sex innuendo.
2. This seems way to overt and tacky for me, especially with the cigarettes. But then I’m a college student, and sick of all this trendy/elementary “furniture porn” humor at my school…
— Andrea Guinn , 2007-10-09 21:37:00 -0400
Yes, John Gall’s is better…
— Andrea Guinn , 2007-10-09 21:37:00 -0400
Totally wrong (sterile) chairs; obviously P-Shopped ashtray & skidmarks; still a concept some of us wished we’d thought of, without the outdated & overstated addition of the ashtray. “A Novel” reminds me of restaurants whose signs follow their names with “A Restaurant,” or worse, “A Restaurant & Gathering Place.”
— , 2007-10-17 14:05:00 -0400
This would be so much better without the ashtray.
— Neil M. , 2008-02-19 05:20:00 -0500
cheap, very cheap, excellent choice of type though!
— , 2008-10-29 09:45:00 -0400
“A Novel” would be as opposed to “A Memoir” or “A True Story”
— , 2008-11-23 06:27:00 -0500
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