Nonfiction books depict factual events, historical and scientific facts, and real people’s stories in objective narrations. Therefore, their cover art designs must reflect their content perfectly without neglecting aesthetics. Modern fonts, clear information, and compelling visuals are just a few elements you need to create a great nonfiction book cover.
Nonfiction books have clear goals, such as solving problems, answering questions, and educating readers. The elements of the cover design must combine the objectivity and the visual appeal.
There are no limits about what kind of design style you should make, but some important elements must be there. They include:
Unless you write academic books, a formal-sounding title might keep the book from looking appealing on the shelves. A good nonfiction book cover should have a title with a “hook”, to attract readers. Meanwhile, the subtitle describes the content in a short way and what readers could get.
Nonfiction book covers must avoid mixed messages about the content. Your visual design should give a proper hint of what readers could expect inside. However, creativity is also important to make sure that the book grabs attention.
The safest fonts for nonfiction book covers are usually something clean and readable. Modern sans serif fonts, for example, offer numerous great options for nonfiction book covers. Many offer consistent flow, clean look, and good readability that best represent fact-based publications.
Designing a book cover is a specific art. You must balance the aesthetic and information, especially for nonfiction books. Even when creativity has no limit, there are modern design standards to follow if you want a balanced design visual.
Here is how to do it especially for nonfiction book covers:
You need clarity in a good cover design for nonfiction books. Therefore, you must implement the book’s main message in the visual. Will the book answer specific questions? Maybe solve a problem of a certain population or business? They must appear in the way you combine visual elements.
Ideally, a nonfiction book cover should emit professional air, which can be reflected by the font options. You can choose at least three fonts for the main title, subtitle, and author’s name. Depending on the theme, you could use a creative display font for the main title, and then stick to modern sans serif for the rest.
Nonfiction book covers should not be boring! You can play with visuals, especially for popular nonfiction books, but make sure they reflect the topic. For example, an educator’s biography can use classroom or book-related images. A money-related book could get a bit creative by using a whimsical image of a piggy bank, for example.
Take a look at several modern nonfiction book cover designs as examples! These following nonfiction books were in Benjamin Franklin Award 2024 nominations for their cover designs. Here are things you can learn from them.
This book records the adventure of the authors, a couple who toured the nation to visit various Costco store branches. As a lighthearted mix between road trip notes and biography, the cover is full of colors, complete with illustrations that depict various Costco items.
The fonts show a contrasting combo between sans serif and serif, creating a clear distinction between main title and subtitle.
This book presents a guide to build a successful apparel business from scratch. The cover cleverly uses an image of a hanger and yellow thread that forms a t-shirt shape. The title uses a more distinctive serif font, but the smaller texts use sans serif for readability.
This book features the long career of graphic designers Nancy Skolos and Thomas Weddell. The cover highlights it by combining elements of photography and graphic design. Modern sans serif fonts are used to create unique elements with initials.
Which fonts should you use for a compelling nonfiction book cover?
These modern fonts are great options for clean, readable design that will add weight to your nonfiction book cover.
Edges font is bold and confident; a perfect modern font to make your book cover stand out. You can use this all-caps font as the main title, pairing it with a subtler and more “delicate” font as the subtitle and other elements.
Edges have a slightly condensed space between characters, complete with symmetrical proportion and clean look. The result makes Edges perfect for books with urgent or important themes, like politics, social issues, and media study.
Work News is a modern sans serif font that takes its cue from newspaper articles, ads, and posters. It features a good proportion and balanced look, complete with clean and bold design. A perfect font for book covers with formal themes.
Use Work News to create cover designs for books about law, journalistic works, and social issues. You can also use the font as a compelling and bold biography cover design.
Almost Textual features a modern sans serif font with balanced proportion and medium-thick strikes. The font gives a balanced yet subtly dynamic look. You can use it for popular nonfiction titles and themes, such as lighthearted memoirs, trip journals, and any topics delivered with humorous or casual style.
Ground is both sleek and trendy, with a contemporary vibe emanating through its thin strokes. This is a perfect font to be featured on popular nonfiction books or themes. Use it to adorn books about personal development, unique or niche knowledge, and memoir.
For something quirkier and more distinctive, try Thrive for the book title. Its characters have narrow slits and spaces, complete with a subtly futuristic look. This modern font is ideal for designing book covers about modern technology in various aspects, such as gaming, robotic, or social impacts of certain technology.
Modern sans serif is an ideal font for nonfiction book covers. Use the perfect sans serif font to create visually compelling covers that readers will immediately notice.
