Saturday, June 11, 2011

Kelly Gets Creative With Book Covers

Have you even worked on a school project that just didn't seem like schoolwork at all because it was so much fun? This was me last November. In my Visual Communications class, we were assigned an opened ended project which only specified that we mesh our interests with our strengths. So what's a book lovin' graphic design nerd to do? Why not design some book covers? I set off to do this over a three month span thinking it'd be easy fun. WRONG. I spent hours slaving over this project, yet somehow still enjoyed it immensely. I created 20 book covers in all and have decided to share some of them with you all. Here are my 12 favorites:

[Note: I do realize that this post is very similar to a past Top Ten Tuesday, this was not intended!]














Okay, I did cheat a bit since I haven't actually read some of these. I still think I managed to capture the book's spirit in the covers anyways. Now, I'm not just here to show off, my question to you guys is this: are there any covers that you wish you could redesign? What are some of the worst covers you've come across? The best? Do covers influence your reading choices? I am very heavily swayed by covers. Ugly covers give me the impression of a dull book. Of course, I've been tricked many times by this...I guess there's truth in that old cliché saying "Never judge a book by it's cover" after all.

Again, if you missed our cover-related Top Ten Tuesday head over there if you want to share some more cover love and/or hate!

By the way, I got a 98 on the project. :)

23 comments:

  1. I love the cover to Alice in Wonderland.

    There are a lot of choices that puzzle me, in terms of how the cover was chosen.

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  2. I graduated in art and visual communications, with an emphasis in graphic design, and I had the opportunity to design book covers for a project as well! I had so much fun with it! We were not allowed to use any imagery that we did not own the rights to, so I had to do a photoshoot and then edit and crop photos of myself to go on the cover of "The Scarlet Letter." It's tricky, but fun! Glad you enjoyed the project. :)

    Also... I did a TTT on this blog regarding book covers as well! It's right here:
    http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/2010/07/top-ten-tuesday-regarding-jana-and-her.html

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  3. These are beautiful and I agree you did really capture the spirit of the books in the cover which many books don't often do!

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  4. Lovely covers! They looked absolutely real!

    Ummm, I would redo Jennifer Weiner's 'Good In Bed' cover. I just don't like it.

    My favorite cover so far would be 'Mischief of the Mistletoe' by Lauren Willig. That cover is GORGEOUS!

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  5. I love the Dracula and Alice in Wonderland covers! Awesome!

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  6. Wow, that's some fantastic work! I especially love the covers for In Her Shoes and HHGTTG. Well done :)

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  7. Wow, great covers! I especially love the Dracula one and Alice in Wonderland.

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  8. Wonderful work, Kelly. I can see why this would be a fun project to work on. There are tons of covers I've wished I could re-design over the years. I won't let a bad cover prevent me from reading a good book, but I've always felt that if a publisher can't spend the few dollars more to get a great cover then maybe there's no confidence in the book itself. I also dislike derivative covers - covers that are hard to distinguish one from the other. Blech!

    I like your DRACULA. Also THE WOMAN IN WHITE (clever to use a negative) I'm reading the book now and the idea of your cover has resonance, for sure. Love also the ALICE IN WONDERLAND cover - so different from what you normally see. Clever.

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  9. You're so talented!! I especially love your Alice in Wonderland cover! I also love your Water for Elephants and The Woman in White, but I haven't read them so I'm not sure how well they actually fit to the story :)

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  10. The Alice in Wonderland cover is amazing, but it's the Dracula cover that gets my vote for the best. Perfect.

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  11. That cover for Water for Elephants is excellent.

    Covers are tricky. We went through MANY rounds of potentials for my book Max and Menna, but what we finally decided on, I am in LOVE with.

    I can't stand covers that give away too much... if the ultimate battle scene of your book is depicted on the cover, that is problematic! A lot of science fiction is that way.

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  12. WOW! These are so cool! Maybe when I get my book published, you can make the cover for me!

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  13. I love the simplicity of your covers, because I don't like when there's too much going on or when colors are burning my eyes. I think the one for Sloppy Firsts is so cute, but Alice and Dracula are close seconds when it comes to favorites! Great job!

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  14. Alice in Wonderland!

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  15. Beautiful work! I love your image of the Alice cover; that is better than the original! Rae, Best O' books

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  16. I love the Alice In Wonderland one best, but they're all amazing! I'm jealous of you for being able to create something like this, I have zero creative skills.
    A very well deserved 98 in my opinion :)

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  17. Okay, I love the fact that you included a Wilkie Collins story.

    Also, the Alice cover is LOVELY. I just put together the cover for our upcoming Alice-based anthology, and I've gotta say, your cover has mine beat and then some.

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  18. Your Falling Angels and House of Leaves covers are spot on. You totally make me wish I knew anything about graphic design!

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  19. You are talented! Did you use photoshop or...
    I'm especially drawn to the central image and design structure of your Alice in Wonderland cover: I'd buy that book!

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  20. This is very cool! I really like your Dracula cover, the blood splatter is great! My only thought would be that more color would be awesome. I tend to gravitate towards books with bright colors or photos of actual people, but your covers are still really cool. I might have to do some of my own now...

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  21. Wow. These covers are amazing. Covers are so much better when they actually depict the storyline. I am totally a coverwhore and hate it when the cover and story don't match. It's like WHY????

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  22. Thanks so much for your kind words guys! Funnily enough, the Alice in Wonderland cover is not one of my favorites, haha but I'm glad you guys like it. I think my favorite is Dracula.

    Jana: I definitely thought of you when I typed this up! I will add a link to your TTT as well.

    Laurie: I used Photoshop Elements 8.0. Not the best version, but it sufficed!

    Amanda: I totally realized that most of my covers were dark, but I think that's just my style! They also fit the majority of the books.

    Bree: Coverwhore! That's an awesome term.

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