Thread: Book Cover feedback

A need some professional (and non-professional) feedback on this layout, that will eventually be printed as a glossy paperback. Are the colours a problem when it comes to printing?

My main concern is the cover, and more specifically the type. What are people's initial opinions? I'm not a fan of the author's name overlapping the illustration and I think there's too much emphasis on 'IN'

Book Cover PDF (332kb)

I might be doing something silly but the PDF is grey to me. Also if you’re worried about the emphasis on ‘in’ then why not break the lines:

THE FLY
in
THE JAR

Make the ‘in’ smaller/different type and avoid it all overlapping the illustration.

I also think your accreditation is a little on the large side!

It is grey ("to reflect the sad nature of the main character") but I was concerned about how the colours will look when printed.

I've adjusted the type which I'm happier with now. Does the width of the word 'JAR' annoy you like it annoys me?

Also I dropped the size of the accredititation down as you mentioned, and will probably reduce it a bit more, depending on how it looks when I do anothe rtest print. Since this is pro bono work I figured I may as well try and get some credentials on there :)

http://www.paulmurraydesign.com/wp-c...he-Jar-New.pdf

Ah righto, grey it is. Well in that case I usually just use a mix of black and cyan, say 60k 5c although that will give you a slightly silvery looking grey. Probably best to wait for one of the more print-orientated designers to turn up for comments on the colour!

JAR doesn’t annoy me although the left and right orientation does a little bit, why not range it all right and try and make it a little curved looking to complemement the jar image. Or make it all a little smaller, and range it all left and move it away from the image a little bit. It looks a bit cramped at the moment.

I’m sure you’ve done this but if you haven’t print it out and wrap it round a book and see what it looks like. Stick it on a shelf and see what it looks like next to other books.

Are there cost limitations on the cover? Have you thought about using a spot colour for the grey?

In terms of accreditation - I would go for a web address. Reader would be more likely to visit a website vs Google a name (which gets to Paul Murray in the Guardian - is that you?).

Best wishes

Peter

I don't like the line created by the vertical stroke of the initial caps and generally don't really go for the way the text is stacked (if anything it looked slightly better ranged right but I'd play around with the front page a bit more as I think it has the potential to look really good).

Probably nothing to do with you (and not your main concern, obviously) but the second para of the blurb is a bit of a clumsy read.

(Incidentally: pro bono is generally understood to mean 'working for the public good' - is that really the case here...?

Thanks for all the replies and feedback.

djb - I have printed out the cover and tried it on a book. It looks quite good if I say so myself. I was initially concerned that the elements didn't fit together but when you view the covers and spine separately it's not an issue.

Minuteman - I take it you're referring to the author Paul Murray? That's not me unfortunately, and I see that a search for 'Paul Murray Book Cover' shows quite a few results for him.

Dave - I see what you mean about the type. I spent a while trying out layouts in my sketchbook last night and nothings feels right at the minute. Typography is hard, especially since we haven't touched on the subject at Uni yet! And I'm hoping to get a slightly more inticing blurb from the author (as you've probably guessed it wasn't me who wrote it). Personally it seems too short for a description of a 50,000 word novel.

Also, thanks for pointing out about pro bono work. I guess this isn't actually pro bono work then, though the author is a journalist for The Big Issue :P

Hi Paul,

I think your efforts are a good starting point but I'm not sure about the typography. I'd prefer to see a few more layout options (especially trying the title left-aligned and not all caps).

As the cover is quite stark and cold, is there anything you can do to the typography on the front cover that makes it a bit more interesting? I feel you need to add an element that makes me want to read the book (at present, it looks very matter of fact...an image of a fly in a jar with a title that says the same thing).

Are there any feelings or themes within the book that you might be able to convey in the typography? What does the image of the jar look like if it spans the front and back cover? Have you tried using a different typeface (maybe a very fine sans-serif to see how that changes things?)

At the moment, I don't think the back cover looks very 'real-world' The text blurb here looks like an after-though and is far too short. You might also need to add things such as a bar-code, price, ISBN, etc.

Apologies if my feedback seems a bit negative but I think you have the basis of a strong piece of work but you just need to keep pushing things.

Cheers

Scott

Not at all Scott, I'm not here for people to blow smoke up my arse and tell me things are great when they're crap :)

You're raised a good point about the type and the image. The fly in the jar is a metaphor for the main character in the story who lives in a shelterd community in Ireland where the inhabitants rarely venture outside of their environment (places like this apparently still exist).The author described a fly that can be conditioned to never leave a jar, even when the lid is removed, whihc is where the illiustration came in.

I'd originally wanted to create a small cottage in the Irish countryside inside a jar but this proved to be a little out of my skill level :)

The cover originally had a serif font, which looked good, but didn't seem to feel right. None the less I'll try your suggestion and create a few more sketches and layouts.

With regards to the back cover, as mentioned, the blurb will hopefully change. At the minute it seems more like a tagline used to summarise, rather than a full on blurb.

The ISBN/barcode etc are being created and added by the publisher when the files are submitted. Ideally I'd like to have them to add but I don't, so I've just had to leave space on the lower left where they will be added.

Cheers for the background info to the project Paul.

Good luck with the rest of the project. Definitely keep updating your post with new versions of the cover as I'd be interested in seeing how it develops.

Thanks

Scott