Sunday, April 14, 2013

Less is more

It's no secret that I love books with beautiful covers. Beautiful is subjective, yes? But, most of the time, I find that I'm particularly attracted to covers with a rather minimalistic aesthetic. I prefer non-busy covers, those covers that let my imagination work.


Take for example the 2 books above: David Levithan's debut novel Boy Meets Boy and R. J. Palacio's Wonder. Isn't your curiosity piqued just by looking at their elegantly sparse elements? Up front, we know that Levithan's work is LGBT themed, but that's about it. You're actually eager to know the story.

The cover of Wonder is another design that works for me. I love the simple line drawing. And that lone eye rendered in light blue, albeit done very subtly, speaks volumes. We imagine the novel to tackle a theme on the significance of one's physical appearance.

I have lots of respect for cover designers, nay, graphic designers in general. They're a talented bunch. I guess that respect comes from my being non-gifted in that artistic field. Non-gifted is an understatement though, as I can hardly draw stick figures.

How about you, dear reader? What kind of cover designs do you like?

2 comments:

Kaz said...

I also like minimalist covers. Although, a well executed and designed cover that is indicative of the story can work for me as well. I particularly like some of the simple block printed covers you find on some vintage fiction - English fiction published in the 20s and 30s is what's prompting this thought...

Peter S. said...

Hi, Kaz! Oh, I love vintage covers as well! Especially the ones that have painted designs.