Michael Olivo. He had to design a book cover, endpapers, titlepage, and bookplate for The Wizard of Oz for a course in college.
These are incredibly well-designed book covers by Jim Tierney.
(Pretty sure Robert shared this with me months ago.)
GOOD’s neighborhoods issue includes flags created by designers, artists, and illustrators celebrating their ‘hoods.
via Unequal-Design.
These covers were designed by Mikey Burton to be “an integrated branding campaign based around the illustrative reinterpretation of classic book covers directed toward junior-high-school students.” Check out Burton’s flickr page for even more great looking concepts.
[via flickr]
[via booklover: awritersruminations: acoolerversionofyourself]
Joy Ang shows off the process behind The Anthology Project’s cover. You can (and should) view every step here.
The 20 Irrefutable Theories Of Book Cover Design, Part II
Irrefutable Theories 1-10, My Linktastic Notes from AIGA Small Talk with Jamie Keenan and Jon Gray, May 5, 2010. Above: Unheimlich Theory
i. Face Theory
The face is the first and direct form of communication. People have a natural tendency or preference to recognize faces in images
Otherwise Pandemonium, Nick Hornby; Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
ii. Association Theory
Stimulus and desired response, like Pavlov’s dog
iii. Type As Image Theory
Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer; Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer; Emergence, Steven Berlin Johnson
The original design for Eating Animals had all the text illustrated as white gristle on a steak chop! Funny, clever but rejected. Oh well
iv. Overdetermination Theory
The image signals an inevitable outcome
v. Ringfence Theory
Gestalt, positive negative spaces, the vase-versus-faces image
Girls of Riyadh, Rajaa Alsanea; The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem
Jon Gray noted that the creative brief for Jonathan Lethem’s title gave unusually backward instruction: that the cover should use a die cut. See also: Men and Cartoons
vi. Zoom Theory
Solving two predicaments: e.g. how does one design Ben Hur on a budget and without revealing the principal actors?
Then We Came to the End, Josh Ferris; A Short History of the World, H.G. Wells
vii. Encapsulation Theory
Recognizing one clear signal instead of decoding mutliple signs
The Lazarus Project, Aleksandar Hemon; Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
Jon Gray also showed a Korean adaptation of the hand design in which the embedded words were replaced by Korean characters
viii. Utilitarian Theory (Sorry I wrote nothing!)
ix. Molecular Theory
Additional layer, dimension
Company of Liars, Karen Maitland; The Owl Killers, Karen Maitland
x. Unheimlich Theory
(After ‘Heimlich’, as in the Maneuver) Both comfortable and unsettling
The Murder, John Steinbeck; Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown, Edmund L. Andrews
The 20 Irrefutable Theories Of Book Cover Design, Part I
(Above - something I arranged super-quick at my desk. The lettering could be better but hey, this was a super-quick-fast!)
May 5, 2010, AIGA’s Small Talk No. 7: Jon Gray (gray318) & Jamie Keenan: XX: The Twenty Irrefutable Theories of Book Cover Design (Or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Kill Fee). The tag team presentation rolled out cover design slides and theories at a fast and furious pace. The ‘20 Irrefutable Theories’ may sound absolute and definitive but much of it was knowing/tongue-in-cheek; there was frequent overlap amongst the theories and examples; and really, it was just a fun framework for talking about their work and showing a lot of slides.
I’m a bad note-taker to begin with (working on it), but here’s the 20 Irrefutable Theories according to Gray and Keenan. After the initial listing I’ll break them down with brief descriptions and examples (the ones I managed to jot down, anyway).
THE 20 IRREFUTABLE THEORIES OF BOOK COVER DESIGN
i. Face Theory
ii. Association Theory
iii. Type As Image Theory
iv. Overdetermination Theory
v. Ringfence Theory
vi. Zoom Theory
vii. Encapsulation Theory
viii. Utilitarian Theory
ix. Molecular Theory
x. Unheimlich Theory
xi. Absent Presence Theory
xii. Toy Theory
xiii. Method Theory
xiv. Jiu Jitsu Theory
xv. Combination Theory
xvi. Navigation Theory
xvii. Turd Theory
xviii. Iceberg Theroy
xviv. Maximalism Theory
xx. And Finally … Theory
The 20 Irrefutable Theories Of Book Cover Design, Part III
Irrefutable Theories 11-20, My Linktastic Notes from AIGA Small Talk with Jamie Keenan and Jon Gray, May 5, 2010. Above: Method Theory
xi. Absent Presence Theory
Unseen, the imagined. Something hidden or out of the frame
Marcel Proust’s Search for Lost Time: A Reader’s Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past, Patrick Alexander; This Book Will Save Your Life, A.M. Homes
I think the missing donut is key to illustrating Absent Presence Theory; other variations of this design (on amazon and elsewhere) show six donuts and giant, oafishly rendered type
xii. Toy Theory
Fixed vs. fluid design: making the viewer an active participant
Dear Mr. President, Gabe Hudson; The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins
xiii. Method Theory
Like method acting! Designing from within/by method, instead of designing from outside
Faster, James Gleick
xiv. Jiu Jitsu Theory
Viewers’ negative preconceptions can be reversed and subverted
The Man In The High Castle, Philip K. Dick
xv. Combination Theory
There is usually only one opportunity to punch the viewer in the face. Combination Theory enables two punches at once
Abyssinian Chronicles, Moses Isegawa
xvi. Navigation Theory
The learned coded visual sequence of left to right, top to bottom: follow the yellow brick road
The Mayor’s Tongue, Nathaniel Rich; 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense, Michael Brooks
xvii. Turd Theory
Repulsion can be transformed into attraction: whereas one turd is repulsive, 16 is attractive (this theory is demonstrated through series design)
Maigret series, Georges Simenon
There is also an amazing Ian Fleming/James Bond series but I couldn’t find a link to it
xviii. Iceberg Theory
Subliminals, under the radar (sorry! failed to make notes on this one)
xviv. Maximalism Theory
Or: Kitchen Sink, Up to 11, More is More. The ‘visual casserole’
The Great Perhaps, Joe Meno; Viral Loop, Adam Penenberg
xx. And Finally … Theory
‘Everyone loves a fluffy kitten’: Here they showed a design of last resort, in which they featured a fluffy kitten. I didn’t right down the title (probably too busy laughing)
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And there you have it! 20 Irrefutable Theories of Book Cover Design, according to Jamie Keenan and Jon Gray. After the formal presentation Jamie Keenan revealed in question and answer that his work was often rejected for appearing ‘too American’ (!) and between the two of them Jon Gray did more work with British publishers.
Be sure to check out Jamie Keenan’s site for more (the gray318 site is a bit scant at the time of this writing) as well as The Book Cover Archive, which has lots more examples of Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan’s work as well as others. And of course, your friendly neighborhood amazon
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P.S. Tired of screwing around trying to make these posts appear in the correct order - part 3 seems to appear before part 2 in the tumblr feed. Any ideas why?? Maybe I will just avoid multi-part posts from now on
Passion Pictures presents Giants. David Kamp was behind the sound design, for this and also this.
David Pearson had so many penguins before leaving them for his own studio.
He is still designing Great Ideas.
Rick Jacques is making beautiful book covers.
Finally finished book cover for twenty-thousand leagues under the sea. All handmade Copper spine was etched with acid to reveal the letters, lettering on front was wood burned, inside is a stripped paper back version of the book wrapped in leather paper then glued on to the spine, and the back has a heat transfer of the summary of the book.
via Incandenza.
If you need an analogy, use an animal. If you see a ladder in a piece of design or illustration, it means the deadline was short. Red, white, black, and gray always go together. Negative space. Size contrast. Directional contrast. Compositional foundations.
Frank Chimero, in response to Anonymous asking for us all: What advice would you give to a graphic design student?
If you can’t read it there, read it here.
Under • love • words • advice • Frank Chimero • design • graphic design • I need to return to this again and again 
