Judging a Book by its Cover: Book Design & the art of reading & bookselling

Hinweis der Redaktion

1. Thank you Leila for that great introduction, and thank you audience for making time to come and learn a bit more about book design. This talk is titled predictably “Judging a book by its cover” but the subtitle, “Book Design and the Art of Reading and Book Selling” I hope get to the meat of this talk. Because book design exists to address those two very different needs: reading and selling. I hope to explore that idea during our time together. This is a photo of the battlefield as it were. Where the game is played out, all those books vying for your attention as a consumer.
2. But first a bit about me, Leila has already given you my bio so I won’t go into detail. Other than to say that I am the Principal of a small design studio in New York city, called Studiolo Secondari. This isn’t a photo of my studio per se, but it is a meditation about the craftsmanship which is an important element of design. I also just love this image of the 17th century print maker Abraham Bosse by Rembrandt.
3. Before we begin I’d like to learn a bit more about all of you. I’ll ask you for a show of hands to answer the following questions. Feel free to raise your hand more than once if you think that is accurate response.
4. Where do you procure your books, and by books in this context I mean paper books—not ebooks. Do you borrow them from a library? (and hopefully return them…)
5. Do you buy them from a store?
6. Do you order them online?
7. Another question: what format do you read?
8. Do you read paper books most of the time?
9. Do you prefer ebooks?
10. Or are you split between both? Well it is obvious that you are all book people! I guess that isn’t surprising if you are spending your Friday night listening to me talk about book design. Ok, no more beating around the bush. I know what you are here for.
11. Book porn! (proceed to next slide)
12. Flicker, flicker, flicker
13. Before that though, let’s go back to the subtitle of this talk, “The art of reading and of book selling” As a book designer I’ve had the privilege of designing both book covers and book interiors. In university press publishing that is the norm. Designers design both. In trade publishing there are often two different departments and the book as a whole is rarely designed by the same person. The examples from the AAUP Book Show that are on display at this venue tend to be designed by the same designer which allows for a very cohesive package.
14. But at the end of the day the cover and the interior serve two very different purposes. The cover exists to sell the book. It belongs to marketing in many ways. It needs to encapsulate the authors premise and to invite the reader to engage more deeply with the book. The cover is composed of a number of elements. The title is one. In most non fiction publishing there is nearly always a subtitle, to ensure that the purpose of the book is clear. The author’s name is also an element, and depending on the renown of the author, it can be the most important element of a cover. There is generally some sort of visual—a graphic or a photo, in some cases an type treatment. These elements together are meant to signal to the reader what the book is about, who the audience is.
15. Currently we live in a bifurcated world where books exist as physical objects and as these small thumbnails that appear in purchase environments and on ebooks. Lively discussions are had in cover approval meetings about which version takes precedence. Should the type be bigger so that it will be legible on the thumbnail? But doesn’t that detract from the physical object? Fun times!
16. I’d like to show you a fun video, it is less than 2 minutes long but it does a nice job of showing the many steps involved in designing a cover.
17. That’s a very interesting and accurate depiction of the technical aspects of books design execution, it doesn’t even begin to address the creative effort that is required to develop a concept.
18. Because the cover is a marketing element it is more impacted by publishing trends and stylistic changes over time as well as innovations in technology such as printing and paper manufacturing, ink development. I would like to walk you all down a timeline of book cover design as illustrated by various covers for one book, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”
19. This is the first British edition of “Animal Farm” published in 1945. This cover was produced during WWII and is austere by necessity. This all type execution is straight forward and is very “name, rank and serial number” approach to cover design. It tells the reader very little about the theme of the book. This is in keeping with the Prewar book design approach.
20. One year later in the US, Harcourt Brace published “Animal Farm”. Although somewhat more visually complex, this cover is still very removed from the elements of the story line. Like the UK cover it is 2 color, with white of the paper providing the third color for the composition.
21. In 1955 Penguin UK came out with this edition. Penguin is a heavily branded publisher and this cover is in keeping with their strong visual identity that continues to this day for certain aspects of their list. Again the publisher is avoiding representing the content of the book on the cover. The cover design signals to the Penguin reader that this is a literature title. The educated reader is meant to know what the book is about. This is a very different approach from what you will see going forward.
22. Signet in 1986 published this paperback edition including visuals of the key players in the story. The typography is playful using only lower case letters set in pink, a reference to the pigs. Although the illustration is cartoony and the over all feel of the cover is childish, the sinister looks on the faces of the animals gives the reader a hint of what is to come in the tale.
23. In the mid 1990’s this cover appears. The type is simple. The color scheme is monotone. The image of the pig which is made up of silhouettes of all the barnyard animals in the story is the point of focus. The austerity of the color scheme and typography allow the complex illustration to be the focus of the design.
24. Penguin published this cover in 2004. Very different from the earlier edition. The feeling is sinister. Rather than being an aperitif, to stimulate the interest of the reader, this cover is a forgone conclusion, revealing the writers hand at the very onset. Obviously “Animal Farm” is a well known fable by 2004, the publisher appears to feel that selling it with the conclusion on the cover is a viable strategy.
25. Penguin again in 2008 with a cover by shepard fairey the man who designed the emblematic “Obama HOPE” poster. Here Mr. Fairey creates a complex image that evokes soviet era heroic propaganda posters. This cover doesn’t exactly show the author’s hand but it does influence the way the reader interprets the book.
26. Penguin again in 2014, I guess if you have a valuable copyright you keep repackaging it and putting it out there! The pig is covered in seminal text from the story. This cover is more subtle that what we have seen previously. The typography and layout are evocative of older designs while still looking contemporary.
27. This is just a small example of the many Animal Farm covers that are out there. you should check it out yourself, just google “Animal Farm book cover” in an image search. Looking at them like this you can see many of them rely strongly on color, the use of strong black, red, and pink. Pig images and animal images are also everywhere. Many of these covers look sinister to me. This is a great way to see how different designers have interpreted the same content to very different effects in collaboration with publishers and marketing departments.
28. With that as context, let’s now look at a sampling of the AAUP cover design selections. I would highly recommend that all of you take a look at the books that we have here because these books were all designed to be held and read.
29. There is a lot going on with this cover. The title of the main text by Isaac Newton, given prominence by the designer in a big circle in the center of the cover. The translators, three in all are listed within the same circle beneath title to ensure that their effort is given proper prominence. The scholarly apparatus—the guide to the work, is given a lesser position but it has its own circle which is respectful. These many elements are elegantly composed in a visual that is evocative of Newton’s concepts. In the hands of a less gifted designer this could have been a very busy or tedious cover.
30. This designer had the opposite challenge. This is an austere cover. It is rare for an academic title not to have a clarifying subtitle. It is even more rare to have a one word title. David Drummond, plays up the singular opportunity he has been given. The brain and the title appearing in the same color, underscore the relationship and the visual metaphor. Very brave cover. Very brave publisher.
31. This is a quirky cover. The color is strong. The iconographic visual of Alice’s feet disappearing at the frame edge, is at once evocative of the well know Lewis Carrol book and illustrations, as well as disorienting. The title is playful interrupted by the subtitle, another slightly disorienting element that supports the over all effect of this design.
32. Here again we have a designer flipping the frame on the viewer. Much like the astronaut at the center of the cover, the viewer doesn’t know what is up or what is down. The title along with the author name is an actual lifeline for us and the hapless astronaut, guiding us to the safety of the bottom of the cover and some sense of stability.
33. This is a very strong cover. Strong use of red, black, and white. Effective yet reductive imagery, and clean type make this an aesthetically consistent and purposeful design. This kind of simple execution requires an unwavering eye and steady hand.
34. This cover from a book published by our very own University Press of Kentucky, “Conversations with Classic Film Stars” is an homage to the vernacular of classic movie design. It is spot on in the usage of drop shadow, black and white imagery, and cursive display type. The design defines the time period and the ethos of the era perfectly. Well done.
35. This cover just makes me smile every time I look at it. It is playful, slightly chaotic or nervous. President Obama’s face smiling out of that awkwardly shaped heart is the crowning element. Again there is no subtitle so we need to let the title speak for itself.
36. This is a great opportunity to discuss the elements of the book jacket. The spine, is often the unsung hero of book design. If you think about it most books are shown spine out. It is the battlefield where we book designers fight for the hearts and minds of our readers. The back ad is often a tedious piece of Realestate given over to sales copy, bar codes, and publisher information. Here the designer kept the playfulness that is seen on the cover, with sufficient restraint to allow for legibility. I love the way the “O” in “OBAMA” interrupts the spine. And the type is positioned on the spine in a somewhat haphazard way. With the “I” setting vertically while “Obama” sets horizontally.
37. There’s a lot of use of strong red in this show. Much like on the Animal Farm covers we looked at earlier. This is a very clean and essentially simple design. The visual metaphor of the light and the graphic way it is interpreted makes the design. The yellow shards of light, if you will, lead the eye of the reader to the title. Perfect placement of all the elements.
38. This is an irreverent cover perfectly depicting the content. The type and illustration are period perfect. The seeming simplicity of this design is only achieved by the sure hand and eye of a very talented designer, Chris Ferrante. The challenge in designing academic covers is that often the content is rather opaque. As designers we are called upon to distill scholarly concepts in a way that speaks to a variety of audiences. You get a wonderful education when you are a designer at at University press, although I only have a BFA from parson’s school of design, I feel that I probably have a masters in esoteric information.
39. This cover is just so unexpected. The title obviously impacted the design direction. But again, this clever visual is so simple that it feels like it just exists. This belies the effort on the part of the designer who imagined this concept, worked hard to design it effectively (the bloody handprints are really well done) and had the guts to present the design for approval. Well done Regina Starace.
40. This is the full paperback cover. The bloody handprints continue onto the back without diminishing the space needed for the abundant back ad copy.
41. And now we are going to move onto the interior of the book. The following are selections from the awarded titles, again I urge you to take a look at the books after the talk.
42. If the cover of the book is a marketing piece, the text design of a book belongs to the content and the reader. The best interior designs are effortless to navigate and are pleasurable to read. In scholarly publishing many of our books have abundant apparatus or pedagogy—elements that are meant to help the reader understand the importance of various types of information. In the hands of a talented text designer it all works.
43. This books reminds me a bit of those “Animal Farm” covers. Here the designer has taken elements of the cover design . This is the cover design here. and introduced them into the text design to ensure a cohesive package. It is tactfully done and does not intrude on the reader’s ability to read.
44. This is a fun example of one of those cover elements being included in the chapter open. This is a good example of what I describing earlier where in University Press publishing the same designer is often responsible for both cover and text and it allows for a great package.
45. This book is part history and part cocktail book. Again the designer has introduced not just the aesthetic of the cover into the interior but also elements of the cover. The design feels evocative of the place and the period.
46. This chapter number is a beautiful detail that supports the overall design feel of the book and remains informative and useful to the reader.
47. “A History of Boston in 50 Objects” as the name suggests is an illustrated history of Boston. I appreciate the dynamic way that the illustrations are presented in the text. The use of color for section openers is a successful “way-finding” technique to help the reader navigate the content.
48. I really appreciate the attention to details. The way this image of a coin is allowed to invade the text area and the elegant placement of the figure caption
49. “Scarecrow” is a book of poetry. The cover has a spooky austerity to it. And that is carried through in the text design. But it doesn’t detract from the verse. The poems are presented in a very clear and almost innocent manner, when compared to the full bleed dark colored title page and part openers.
50. This is a detail of the verse setting. Very simple and clean. This sort of invisible elegance doesn’t just happen, it is created by a well trained hand and eye.
51. “adjusted Margin” Again there is a strong and distinct relationship between the cover and the text design but the interior design isn’t a slavish adaptation of the cover. Whereas the title on the cover is running vertically the title page shows the title in a more regular orientation. The chapter opens relate deftly to the cover typography but are useful and appropriate on the page nonetheless.
52. Here is a detail of the beautiful chapter number.
53. And finally, “Village Atheists” you can see how the cover image was used as the title page. The elegance of the display typography used in the chapter open and title page spot on.
54. Here is a detail of the typography is really feels like it was pulled from a broadside of that era.
55. And that’s it. I hope you’ve enjoyed our time together. It has been a pleasure to share with you my thoughts about book design and book selling, and the wonderful AAUP Book Show. Thank you to Leila Salisbury and the University Press of Kentucky for inviting me to speak with you. Please follow Studiolo Secondari on twitter, well you see it all here. Thanks again. Any questions?