Interested in writing and publishing your own book? Don’t forget to consider your book covers: from the layout and design to what modern font to put on it. A book cover gives future readers hint about what they could expect, and it draws attention among other books at the shelves. Therefore, you should not underestimate the power of a book cover design.
What makes a modern book cover work?
According to David Taylor, the creative director of Forbes Books, there are several key elements that determine the quality of a book cover design.
With the tight competition in the book marker, a cover should have some kind of standout element. This means something that would immediately mark it as unique, different, or distinctive among other rows of books. It can be something like a strong color contrast, unusual artwork, or bold color scheme.
Distinctive form of creativity will add a great value on your book cover. Things like original idea, stylish typography, and creative layout will better deliver the book’s message to the audience.
When arranging design elements of the book cover, make sure they follow the common “visual pathway”. Consider the most natural directions your readers’ eyes will take as they see the cover. Make sure the title, author’s name, artwork, and other elements get proper proportions based on their hierarchy of importance.
If you want to avoid the trap of “common” book covers as a modern author, learn from some of the most popular book covers of all time. Here are some design inspirations you can learn from the best book covers.
The first cover of The Great Gatsby is memorable for the dark blue sky, contrasted with the brilliant lights of New York. The floating face with a single green tear represents the main character’s misplaced idealism and how it destroyed everything. The use of yellow modern serif font for the title showcases the contrast even better against the blue background.
The original Jaws cover is as chilling as the movie poster. The cover creates lurking underwater horror in a simple way: combining black background with the head of a shark swimming toward an oblivious swimmer. The cover uses a speck of red in the “a novel” text, which brings mind to the image of blood.
The 1962 version of A Clockwork Orange novel contrasted itself with the movie poster by taking the minimalism approach. It uses the silhouette of Alex, which is recognizable from his bowler hat. He is faceless except for a single cog as his eye, which perfectly represents his lost sense of identity and the clockwork theme in the story. However, despite the simplicity, the artwork still uses contrasting bold colors, making it distinctive.
The Catcher in the Rye uses a contrasting color scheme of red and white, with yellow for the font. However, they are not the only things that make the book distinctive. Its unique horse illustration showcases the animal as the major animal motif in the book. The style of the horse also shows the chaos and conflicts inside the main character’s head.
Choosing the right font for your book cover is important. Many modern serif fonts evoke the look of timeless classic books, inviting future readers with their elegance and charm. Here are several fonts that you can use for your book cover designs.
Masky is a modern serif font with a little quirk on its characters’ pointed edges, tapered serifs, and slightly distended top curves. This font adds a unique charm to your book cover; a perfect choice for various unusual genres. Use this font to create covers for genres such as adult comedy, family drama, and even mystery thriller.
Bring is a thick serif font with a slightly condensed design, giving it a classic touch. This font is great for evoking a sense of vintage book covers. Its short serifs, curls, and unique ligature variations create this stylish, fun, charming look. You can use Bring to create a book cover for young adult, romance, or coming-of-age novels.
Hubein Kamaru is a modern serif font with a classic element, inspired by elegant handwriting. Even without ligature variations and ribbon-like swashes, this font still evokes a timeless charm and sophistication. You can use this to promote a genre such as epic fantasy, adult romance, and historical fiction.
Hongki is a slab-type serif font, which gives it a strong impression and perfect to make a statement. It has short serifs and narrow ligatures that create a bold, loud visual. Hongki has a great visual to create a standout element of your book cover, giving it an edge among other books on the shelf. You can use it for wide range of genres, from crime thriller and horror to nonfiction and urban fiction.
The Macker Gallery Font provides a set of modern serif fonts in different styles. You can use it to create a unique book title style. Each character has a small, pointed serif that makes your texts easier to read. With both standard and italic versions, you can create a distinctive set of texts for your book cover art.
Qusty has a mix of contemporary design and vintage charm, a perfect font for covering wide range of book genres. Some characters have rounded ends that give your texts a more dynamic visual. You can use this font for covers of romantic comedy, urban fantasy, biography, and humor books.
Magistic modern serif is both classic and youthful, with character variations that make it look a little quirky. It has little serifs and a combination of sharp and rounded edges. The result is a dynamic text that will draw the interest of future readers. Another great font that covers various genres of fictions and nonfictions.
Modern serif fonts provide great options for creating the most memorable book covers. Make sure you combine the ideal design principles, balance, creativity, and the right artistic elements to make a great book cover art.
