From our newsletter you will learn about competitions that the Semitsvet printing house regularly holds on best design book cover. For beginning designers, this is not only an opportunity to express themselves, but also to receive a fee. As a souvenir of your victory in the competition, you will be reminded of the book cover created according to your layout, and the book itself will also note that it was you who developed the design!

Creating a book cover design

Today you will learn how to make a book cover using Adobe Photoshop, according to the requirements of our promotions.

Let’s take as a basis the terms of reference for the cover and the last competition for S. Kotelnikov’s book “Tell me, tell me, mom...”.

Example of terms of reference for developing a book cover

Terms of reference for the competition:

• Overall layout size 303 x 210 mm² sides, each measuring 148 x 210 mm
• spine 7 mm
• Fields:
  – the distance from the pre-cut edges of the side to significant elements is at least 19 mm².
  – the distance from the border of the side (fold) to the significant elements of the side is at least 15 cm.
• File requirements:
  – Layout color model – CMYK2.
  – Document color 4+03. resolution of raster elements of the layout – 300 – 400 dpi.

An example of creating a book cover design in Adobe Photoshop

In accordance with these requirements, we create new document in Adobe Photoshop:

Turn on the rulers using the hotkeys Ctrl + R. Select the units of measurement for the rulers – mm (right-click on the rulers -> select mm)

Move the guides (it’s convenient to do this using the Move Tool).

We stretch the guides from the edge of the document - the left side to the right and from top to bottom. This is how we create vertical and horizontal guides, respectively. Using the guides, we mark the sides and spine of the book cover like this:

Using guides, we mark the distance from the trimmed edges of the side and fold to the significant elements of the cover. Yellow in the screenshot indicates areas where there may be important elements covers. If elements extend beyond these areas, they may be cut off.

So, we have marked up the document, let's move on to the next stage. To do this, let’s take a look at the continuation of the technical specification Cover image: on the first page there is an image of a woman reading a book to a child, on the 4th page there is a grove with mushrooms and flowers. On the first page there should be: the name of the author - arbitrary case, but if lower case, then both words with a capital letter, the title of the book is “Tell me, Mom, tell me...” - the case is arbitrary, but if lowercase, then the first word is capitalized. explanatory inscription - stories, reflections on the 4th page - provide a quadrangle for the barcode 30x25 mm and a round area for the logo - 25 - 30 mm in diameter Spine - no color highlighting, no inscription.

So, let’s move on to further creation of the cover according to the technical specifications. We find a suitable background, do not forget that its resolution must be at least 300dpi. We transfer it to our document. CTRL + T – resize the background to fit our document with the future cover:

I note that this background does not somewhat correspond to the technical specifications, since according to the instructions the background should be with mushrooms and flowers, but my goal is more to learn how to create a book cover. Your task will be to follow the technical specifications + your creative imagination. We design the first page of the book. On the Internet I found an image of a mother reading a book to her child. CTRL + C and CTRL + V – transfer the image to a new layer of the document with a cover, change the size, place it on the first page, make sure that significant parts of the image are located in the area limited by the guides.

I isolated the mother with the child and the book from the surrounding background. To do this, I used the Pen and Arrow tools. Then I turned the outline into a selection. Commands Selection -> Invert Selection. Delete button – gets rid of the background. I softened the edges with a soft eraser.

We design page 4 of the book cover. Here, according to the task, we only need to add a rectangular area for the barcode and a round one for the logo.

Creating an area for a barcode: Select the “Rectangular Area” tool, white, fill layer. We specify the size 30 x 25 mm in the settings and create a rectangle shape.

Similarly, we create an area for the round logo of the printing house. Just for this purpose, select the “Oval Area” tool.

And here is the finished book cover

I'm sure you can do much better!

Common Book Cover Design Mistakes

1. Overemphasis on the secondary heading.
   The most important information about a book is the author and title of the book. All other information should not be the first to catch your eye. Otherwise it may confuse the reader.
2. The choice of font size is too small when indicating the author of the book.
3. Typical clichés in book cover design. Same graphic elements such as clouds, rainbows, etc. no longer evoke emotions and do not allow the book to stand out from hundreds of others. Don't use cliches, look for new images.
4. Too complex, incomprehensible images. Genius is the ability to convey your thoughts as simply as possible so that they are understandable at first glance.
5. Avoid hackneyed fonts such as Comic Sans, Times Ne Roman. It is not advisable to use fancy fonts. Carefully selected font in cover design is the key to success.
6. Your cover should not be a copy of the cover of another book. Individuality is important.
7. Even a small size of your cover (for example, for sale in online stores) should look decent.
8. Make sure that the font color does not blend into the background and fits harmoniously into the overall design.
9. The text on the cover should be easy to read. To do this, it should not be superimposed on a motley background.
10. Use Photoshop layer styles to a minimum or do it carefully. An overabundance of styles makes the design pretentious.

Magazine covers are pretty difficult task. This article will give you some general tips. We would like to note right away that these tips are for mass-market magazines, which are intended for sale at newsstands, etc.

You can tell a good magazine by its cover. A cover without attention is a magazine without attention. Bad covers belong to bad magazines. They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but if you apply this phrase to magazines, it's quite the opposite. You judge a magazine by its cover.

A good cover should make a potential buyer decide to buy the magazine. A good cover is your sales engine.

• The model's gaze on the cover should be directed strictly at the camera. Eye contact is extremely important.
• When creating a cover, you can experiment, you can exaggerate, but you need to stay within the chosen concept and style, know which elements can be exaggerated.
• Each cover should have a headline that will catch your eye: its size, color, meaning.
• There should be some kind of compositional center on the cover. It could be a model, a headline, a number - something that will attract attention.
• The cover should be roughly divided into three parts. The big one has the main heading, the small one has several headings, and the smallest one has a few more headings.
• If you are going to use orange for your headings, you should use spot colors. When printing in CMYK mode, it is almost impossible to get a beautiful orange color - it will resemble brown.
• The least common color on covers is green, most often red. Whatever colors you use, make sure there is contrast between them.
• The main color on the cover of the new issue should not match the color of the cover of the previous one. Buyers may not notice the difference: they will think that it is an old number and will pass by.
• It is believed that magazines with black covers do not sell well. This is a misconception.
• For small headings, it is best to use black font on a light background or white font on a dark background. For large headings, use colors.
• There are no strict rules about where the header of a magazine should be. If you think that a deviation from generally accepted canons will be useful (for example, placing a headline above the “header” and this will increase sales), then act boldly. This is a great solution for magazines hidden on a shelf behind other publications. This is where extra cover space can be helpful.
• In the United States, it is customary to arrange magazines vertically, so that the top third of the cover is visible - this is where the largest headlines are placed. In Europe they do things differently. Here, magazines are arranged horizontally, and as a result, the most visible part of the cover is the left third. That's why many European magazines have their header in the upper left corner.
• Photos on the cover look better than drawings, and magazines with such covers sell better.
• It doesn’t matter how you get the photo of the model for the cover: you organize a photo shoot yourself or buy a ready-made photo from a photo bank - the main thing is that the background is a solid fill. A cover with a background of patterns or combined colors is a designer's nightmare.

• Use puns, but only when you are sure readers will understand them immediately. The potential buyer doesn't have time to think about what you meant by that play on words. Everything should be clear instantly.
• If you plan to use a question on the cover, provide an answer to it.
• The main headline on the cover should be addressed to the magazine's target audience. For example, in a women's magazine it could be diets, beauty, fashion; for men's magazines it could be sex, cars, fitness...
• Yes, sex sells, but its direct use can be a barrier to buying a magazine, especially for women. So use it implicitly.
• Repeat your best sales headlines from time to time. There's no shame in that, especially if the headline was truly great.
• You can replace one heading with a list. Readers love lists.
• Use descriptive words to spark the reader's curiosity.
• Use numbers, they show how much there is in the magazine. Numbers often drive sales. For example, “22 best beauty salons in Paris.” By using a number, tell your reader that you have made a selection from a range that is much larger than the one in the title.
• As you can see, there are no 55 tips here, this trick is used daily in magazines around the world to attract readers. But does anyone count them?

Here are some of the tips, implement them in your projects.
If you have a few more ideas, please share with us.

Real stories of freelance designers about collaboration with the publishing house MYTH.

My story began back in 2005, when MIF collaborated with Artemy Lebedev Studio. I had never done covers before - this was my first experience.

A few years later, when I was no longer working in the studio, Yana Frank wrote to me with an offer to illustrate covers for MYTH.

I've always liked to come up with clever ideas that get to the point. This is exactly the kind of work here. My favorite projects are those that are easy to come up with and easy to implement. There are books to which you can come up with a lot interesting ideas, but there are those where the content is blurry and it’s difficult to catch on to something.

One of my favorite covers is from The Brain in Sleep. And she has a little secret that is not visually obvious. You need to look closely to see that the sleep mask, together with the ropes, forms the outline of a brain. This is a bonus for those who are attentive.

There are no difficult projects, only painful ones. When simple idea you can’t portray it beautifully, or it doesn’t meet expectations, or there’s a cool idea that doesn’t fit book series. For example, the cover of the book “Now,” when it took a long time to look for a more traditional idea with complex technical implementation.

Since we have a limited number of directions, it is almost impossible to endlessly come up with ideas on one topic. After five or six books about the brain, the designer’s brain begins to shut down. At the same time, there is an opportunity to come up with ideas that would never be accepted by other publishing houses. I like that we are progressive and sometimes even the boldest idea can end up in print. I like that you can work in different techniques - photorealism, graphics, vector, retouching, typography, lettering. I look forward most to books with new themes. It's always interesting to work with something new.

Overall I like the friendly atmosphere and positive creative climate. I work with an excellent art director who resolves any difficult situations. A friend and designer with whom you can discuss everything. Of course, we argue often. A designer thinks within the framework of his individual task, and an art director thinks within the framework of the strategy of the entire publishing house. As a result, with the help of dialogue we always find the right solutions.

In September 2017, I saw an advertisement that MIF was looking for a cover designer for its books. Then I started my second year of design school High school economy, and I didn’t so much want to earn money as to gain experience and do a lot interesting works. I wrote a letter, received an answer, and started working.

Making covers is difficult, but interesting. They can be compared to a poster, but with caveats. You must take into account many different contexts: the target audience, the content and positioning of the book, the covers of other publishers next to which yours will be on the shelf. Each time it’s a small challenge: on a sheet the size of half an A4, tell a story simultaneously in several “languages.”

At MIF I work with an art director. We have similar principles both in design and in business etiquette, so it’s comfortable to work with. The art director will always help with advice and make sure that I don’t waste extra time on work, and I try to offer interesting options and not miss deadlines (the work is still creative, and sometimes the idea does not come immediately, and nothing can be done about it) .

When I sketch the cover, sometimes I add one more unusual, interesting and “wild” option. I think sometimes you have to go beyond the boundaries and break the rules - it gives you individuality.

I never expected that a publishing house would be ready to bring my crazy ideas to life. So we made the cover of “Habits for Life” - bright, beautiful and at that time not quite MYTH. The book turned out to be completely experimental: soft binding with embossing, slightly rough paper, large yellow accents. This is my favorite cover. I hope we don’t stop there and do something else in the same spirit.

I work remotely, this allows me to combine work with study and freely adjust the volume depending on how busy I am. Usually the art director sends several cases, and I choose those that I am interested in working on. We divide each project into iterations, at which we approve what has been done - thanks to this, I do not waste time on unnecessary work, and the art director understands that I am doing exactly what is needed. I can’t say that any cover was particularly difficult to work with: the further we go, the better we understand each other and the faster we get the result.

Two years ago I would hardly have believed that my covers would be in every bookstore in the city. Now I like collaborating with MIF, MIF with me, and people like what we do. Therefore, we continue to work.

In the summer of 2017, MIF wrote to me with an invitation to collaborate.

At that time, I was already familiar with the directions of publishing, and I didn’t have to think long: I was attracted both by the field of literature itself and by the opportunity to practice creating something elegant within the mass market.

I consider cooperation with MIF one of the most successful. On each cover we work together with the art director of the publishing house and, it seems to me, we generally understand each other. Trust in the designer and the ability of both parties to engage in constructive dialogue are very important for such interactions. In this regard, we are doing well, so I always look forward to new projects.

My favorite cover is for the book Shift. For such a short and specific name, I immediately wanted to find an equally concise and comprehensive visual solution. Therefore, the work process went on until I saw that all the unnecessary details were cut off, and the meaning was still easy to read.

The difficulty lies precisely in converting the abstract meaning into a clear visual symbol, so working with a good book title is always more pleasant and interesting.

It was very interesting, if a little painful, to work on Taming Infinity, a book about mathematics. I was inspired by the beautiful and loud name, but I had absolutely no idea where to start. Since the topic of the book itself is complex, and the title is quite abstract, at first there was a back and forth between associations that seemed extremely banal and those that made the brain break. Sometimes, when ideas are tight, you just need to take a break and let your brain digest the information. And indeed, a short pause helped to find a solution: infinity, driven into a coordinate system. Because we use the language of mathematics, infinity takes on location, volume, shape, color and texture.

Expectations from cooperation with MIF are more than justified. At first I didn’t really consider our working together in the long term. Now, having some experience behind me, I hope that everything will continue in the same spirit and I will help MYTH with good covers for good books.

I have been working with MYTH since the end of 2015. It all started when Lesha (art director of the publishing house) wrote to me when he saw my cover for the Eksmo publishing house on Facebook and offered to collaborate.

I really wanted to try to draw a cover for such a large and famous publishing house. In addition, I was starting to work as a freelancer at that time, and I was wondering if I could work remotely.

The work is not always easy. For me, every task from Lesha is a challenge. Every time I am not sure that I can handle it. Sometimes it can be difficult to guess what an idea or execution should look like. But since we have been working for a long time, each time it becomes easier and easier. The result of my work always pleasantly surprises me. Sometimes you draw a sketch and think that this bold idea will definitely not be accepted. And then - once! - and they accept it. And it’s wildly pleasant.

My favorite project is the cover of the book Why Didn't Nobody Tell Me About This at 20? The sketch was accepted the first time, and drawing the plot gave me great pleasure.

The most difficult was the first project - the cover of the book “On the Same Wavelength.” I drew about 13 sketches, and only the 14th was accepted. And when I was already drawing the final version, I tried a lot of color schemes until I found the only suitable one. I was really exhausted by this project, but I'm still glad that it was finally done and saw the light of day.

The undoubted advantage of working with MYTH and, in particular, with the art director is always working on good result. There is one drawback in the payment terms - it is postpaid and there is no advance payment.

I really like that the publishing house is ready to make very bold decisions when working on projects. I also like that the art director always trusts me as a designer, it’s nice to have a dialogue with him about work, and just communicate.

Olya:
We began collaborating with MIF in the summer of 2017, when Alina and I had a desire to give our design work a more applied nature, so that the result could not only be seen on the monitor, but also held in our hands and given to friends. We decided to try our hand at book design, and we liked the design process itself, because for each new project you need to immerse yourself in the book and try to understand it, expressing the main idea visually. There is some element of play and romance in this.

Alina:
We were interested in trying ourselves in a new area - cover design. Each new book is a challenge of sorts: will it be possible to come up with an interesting, memorable cover with a unique image and idea. This work helps you stay on your toes and develops the skill of quickly generating ideas.

Olya:
In my opinion, our work with MIF is going very well; I like the clarity and smoothness of the process on MIF’s part and the work with the art director, in particular. If any difficult situations arise, we quickly resolve them.

Alina:
The art director always gives us helpful feedback and clearly describes why a particular design is less successful or not quite suitable. We try to take this information into account when working on current and future projects, but we have not yet always been able to avoid, for example, childishness in covers on business or self-development, although this comment is quite common among us.

Alina:
Often, Olya and I first discuss cover ideas together, and then each one makes her own version. Sometimes it turns out that we refine each other’s versions; our favorite covers developed according to this scheme.

Olya:
I like it when we get to do one project together, and not conduct it independently, for example, for the book “Suggestible Brains” Alina drew an illustration, and I finalized it. The most difficult projects for us are those whose names include the word “brain,” which in itself is quite funny.

Alina:
Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t get into the desired style or find a unique idea, although you try a lot of options. I think this is due to the specific direction for which we make covers. It's hard to find an unbroken image. Sometimes the name does not make it possible to find suitable associations.

Olya:
The advantages of the work are the clarity and efficiency of the design process and the work of the accounting department, broadening one’s horizons as a bonus. But there is a small chance that our vision of the cover may not coincide with the publisher’s vision and it will not be accepted.

Alina:
The work fully meets our expectations; it’s very cool to work with such a large publishing house, especially when the communication process is so well established. All comments, documents, approvals always occur without delay and very quickly.

Another plus is that the publisher gives away a printed version of the book for which the cover design was developed. It's always a pleasure to read in paper form, especially a book that you worked on yourself.

Olya:
We love working with books and publishing in general, so we're excited to keep introducing cool new books. Also, in the future, we would like to try to create stylistically diverse covers for books of other genres, and we are interested in children's books (since very often our covers turn out to be frivolous).

Alina:
The books for which we design covers are often very interesting; I want to be able to read them all. I would also really like to work with new book topics.

Today, when publishers (or independent authors) publish hundreds and even thousands of books every year, standing out in this flood is not such an easy task; a great cover can make the difference between a book selling and ending up in the discount aisle. Book cover designers work in a variety of techniques - illustrations, collages, typography, photographs - trying to find a way to attract the reader's attention.

Gregg Kulick, David Pearson and John Gall are experts on this subject. They are considered among the most sought-after cover designers, with books published by Penguin and Vintage, and they have designed works by such authors as Cormac McCarthy, John Le Carré, Jennifer Egan and Haruki Murakami. We discussed the art of creating book covers and how to use photography, typography and collage to achieve outstanding results. Here are ten great tips for your consideration.

“From a graphic design perspective, a truly successful book must be both commercially successful and beautifully designed,” says Gregg Kulick, art director at Quirk Books. He and David Pearson, an award-winning designer and art director at White's Books, both emphasize the following: in addition to being attractive, the cover must serve a purpose. important tasks. Kulik says design “shouldn’t just be a nice design that doesn’t help sell the book.”

Kulik admits that early stages Throughout his career, he often made the mistake of putting his design interests ahead of the needs of the book. Now he insists that the book itself should always come first. According to Kulik, designers should “let the book guide the design.” Pearson shares this view, saying that if the cover "supports and conveys the essence of the book in some way graphic image, then nothing more is required from her.”

John Gall, a professional with more than twenty years of experience and art director of the Anchor and Vintage series at the Knopf publishing group, shares his thoughts on the challenges of a great cover. He admits that his idea of ​​a great cover often differs from that of editors and publishers. Gall is wary of the concept of “selling design” because its frequent use can lead to constant variations on the same theme. (Example: cover design classical works, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice, in the style of the book cover ""). According to Gall, a truly great cover doesn't just “personify the book, it becomes a piece of art. She pushes the boundaries of what a cover can be.”

Kulik emphasizes that if you want to use one visual image for the cover, “you cannot start work without a clearly formulated idea. You need to decide for yourself what your goal is.” He says this rule is especially important if the cover design requires photography (Kulik used photographs for the covers of books by Mike Tyson and Penn Jillette). Publishers' budgets are often modest, so designers rarely get to experiment as much as possible. To realize the intended cover design with limited resources, Kulik poses the question: “What kind of book is this? What is it about? What is its essence? And then we have to try to find this essence in photography.”

Compared to visually detailed book covers, where designers can give free rein to their imagination, using just one photo is a challenging and interesting task. Sometimes you're tempted to add more to a photo, but there's a danger in doing so: it can make the cover visually noisier and less impressive. Kulik says that using just one photo taught him that “you have to set tighter limits to make an idea work. You need to stop putting in extra effort and let the photography itself do the work.”

Pearson loves creating images using typography, so much so that he even founded his own company, Type as Image. He notes that this approach allows for the creation of so-called “spaces of misunderstanding,” which create a certain distance between the book and the reader. It sounds as if Pearson is advising people to deliberately mislead readers, but he says this technique works in the opposite way.

“You're not taking away people's ability to come up with their own images, you're inviting them to take your visual idea and connect it to the text.” According to Pearson, this format of communication with the audience is the best that a book cover can do.

David Pearson discovered that many young designers are wary of typography because “some teacher told them that using more than one font is for bad designers. This is just nonsense! Pearson says that you need to play with typography, stretch and break it, and then put it back together, in a word, “mock” it in every possible way,” the designer says ironically.

Nobody is saying that you need to forget the rules of typography, you just don’t need to tie yourself hand and foot with them. “The thing about typography is that it can set a mood and a style,” says Pearson. “It's about what sound you give it. It’s just another visual medium.”

Pearson admits, with some embarrassment, that he often uses typography to create images because he doesn't feel very confident in other areas of design. However, he does not see this as a limiting factor. In his opinion, this, on the contrary, gives a feeling of freedom. Explaining his position, he gives excellent advice to all designers: “When you decide on visual means, you immediately cut off thousands of other potential solutions to the problem. It helps a lot to concentrate." In other words, “the most important thing is to limit the choice from various options. Once you do this, you will feel much freer.”

Using old materials from archival photographs to old Japanese baseball cards, John Gall gives old images a new spin. "If you take historical images and look at them as symbols or metaphors, you can take them out of historical context," he says. This way, designers can create unexpected and intriguing covers that pique the reader's interest while still conveying the message of the book.

Pearson loves working in collage techniques, both for commercial projects and for himself. He believes that contrast is very important in collage. It is achieved by “combining two ideas that may have nothing in common at all and finding their points of intersection.” But a collage is not created by arbitrarily combining two pictures. According to Pearson, a designer should ask questions like, “What are we telling the audience by inserting a small fragment of this image? Or will there be too much of it here? Don’t these two objects located nearby hurt your eyes too much?” Finding the right balance is the key to creating a great design, and therefore a great cover.

Each publication is a whole series of elements under one cover and binding, which must be harmoniously and carefully matched to each other. And artistic design is one of the most difficult stages, since you need to follow a number of rules:

visual images and the printed word should be perceived harmoniously,

external design must correspond to the theme of the publication

The cover should not contain too many bright pictures or inscriptions.

Professional development of a cover layout means attention to all details to obtain a beautifully designed publication.

What is the design solution?

Once the book layout is ready, the extensive work of preparing the original design begins. Our designer will make every effort to ensure that your printed product stands out from the rest. In our printing house you can order the development of a layout in Moscow, taking into account various stylistic solutions:

a basic design is simply a background onto which a specific pattern, texture, or lettering is applied. Basic information is the name of the author, the title of the book, the year of its publication. The creation of a color scheme, as well as the arrangement of elements, depends on the preferences of customers. The price of this design is the most affordable;.

The decoration looks catchy and original. Of course, the cost of this type of layout will be more expensive due to the selection of more complex fonts and the use of various effects on the surface. Shapes and vector drawings can be used as additional objects, while the style or color scheme can be selected according to the client’s order;

author's design is the most expensive, but most effective way to highlight your publication. The design is developed on the basis of an individual sketch, and the cover can be in the form of an illustration, cross-cutting motifs of the work, with a photograph of the author or a symbolic image of the hero..

To publish original printed products, we suggest complementing them with such a stylish accessory as a dust jacket. It will protect the book from external influences and emphasize its individuality.

Stages of work.

To order a book layout in Moscow, you can contact our publishing house. Several specialists who have published a huge number of magazines and brochures will work on your publication at once. All work is carried out in three stages:

a layout is being developed,

layout is being done,

external design is being thought through.

We strive to ensure that every book we publish attracts and appearance, and internal filling.

What is the price?

We will offer you many options for designing your book. The circulation of the publication, its format, the materials used, color – all this affects how much the printing will cost. Whatever edition you order, we will complete the full graphic design of the publication with design title page, endpapers, spreads and other important elements.

To find out how much a book cover design costs, just write to us and indicate your requirements. We will send you a quote and tell you how to print at the most profitable price for you.