Book covers

Book covers

Lord Loss–Darren ShanThe lettering on this book is script and has messy edges which reflects the storyline which is about demons and lycanthropy curses etc. the tagline of the book is even ‘it’s in the blood’ and the lettering looks as though it could have been written in blood. The type used for the author’s name looks old fashioned and sharp which suits the horror genre which is what his books are.

Too Big To Fail–Andrew Ross SorkinThe Title of this book is ‘Too Big to Fail’ and Type is in large lettering that takes up most of the cover, has Lines with a thick width and is in black which really stands out against the smaller white lettering with thin line width. however the letters look as thought they’re stacked upon one another leaning to the side implying that the title is not true.

Just my type – Simon GarfieldThe typography for this book cover used a different style for each letter yet they still fit together as the width of the letters in the word is about the same. Using different typefaces is appropriate for this book as it is ‘a book about fonts’.

Book covers

The Hunger games –Suzanne Collins This cover has bold and modern/futuristic looking text this is appropriate as the book is set in the future, the text also has jagged holes which makes sense as it is a dystopian future. The cover also has blood spatter which suits the violent themes in the story, also a mocking jay which is a bird key to the story. In the eyes of the R & A there are silhouettes of the main characters Peeta & Katniss.

This way up –Paige Nick This books cover is entirely made up of typography. The type is clever as it features arrows on the word ‘this’ which suits the title of the book. The colors' are pastel which suits the plain style of story (normal life) as they are neutral neutral tones, you can clearly tell this is not an action or horror etc. from the cover

Tokyo Ghoul – Ishida SuiThe typography on this cover suits it well as it’s colours look like the ‘kagune’ of the ‘ghouls’ in the story. it is also made from mostly blood red which suits the horror, action genre and nature of the story. The picture is of the main character and is made up of mostly cool tones, this shows the dark nature of most of the storyline.

The original cover for the woman in black:I think the type used on this cover suites it well as it is serif but with lots of curls at the ends of the letters this seems appropriate for the time when this book took place and the serifs also make it look somewhat formal which is suitable as the main character went to Eel marsh house on business. The picture is appropriate as it is of the house which is a main theme of the book and how people shouldn’t go there. There is also a rocking chair hidden under the ‘c’ in ‘black’ in the swirls around the lettering, this was a good design choice as in the story the woman uses a rocking chair to hang herself, there is also a wagon wheel under the ‘A’ in ‘woman’ and the boy in the story died when his wagon sank is the bog. The swirls also make up reeds at the top, like would grow in a boggy area. The greyscale/sepia colouring makes the book look old fashioned.

Book cover ideas

This font would suit the horror genre as it looks messy. The drips and spatter is also quite common for the horror genre as they suggest there may be gore as the writing looks as though it could be written in blood.

This font would be appropriate as it doesn’t have straight edges and has lots of gaps which symbolizes the chaotic nature of the horror genre.

This font is similar to the other two in that it has spatters and a messy look but it looks more hand drawn than them, this could reference the part of the book where the main character finds messy writing beneath the wallpaper of the house

This font would be suitable as it looks formal however has cracks and the letters do not sit on a straight baseline, this reflects the storyline of The Woman in Black and the horror genre of the book

The font Black dahlia would be suitable as it looks dilapidated and suited to the genre of the book it also looks

as though it could be made of twigs/roots and there is a scene in the book where the main character sees the

woman in the woods

This font would be good as it is degraded like the house and also represents the horror genre well.

The font Knife fight, would be suitable as it has harsh edges with prominent points and spatter as if it were a sharp blade and blood which would show the violent nature of the book in that the woman kills children.

This font is very similar to ‘oh no’ as it also has spatters, a messy look and looks hand drawn, therefore it could also reference the part of the book where the main character finds messy writing beneath the wallpaper of the house however I think this font looks sharper than the other one so possibly representing the violence of the woman killing the children as well

This font looks a lot like ‘knife fight’ in that it was sharp edges and bold straight stokes, however it lacks the spatter/drips. This font also looks like it has tree branches/roots so like ‘Black dahlia’ could represent the forest scene.

I think that this text would be appropriate for the book as it looks as though it would have been written in blood which suits the horror genre, it also has harsh, straight lines which contribute to it’s horror theme.

Book covers

This font would be suitable as the book is set in approximately 1916 and the classic style of the font suits that era however the accent letters also show the horror theme as they are distorted and degraded like the old house in the story.

The font is script with varying line weight, and is conjoined like handwriting.

I decided to try a lot of different typefaces with this cover to see which worked best, I chose the Dirty and classic typeface because The font would be suitable as the book is set in approximately 1916 and the classic style of the font suits that era however the accent letters also show the horror theme as they are distorted and degraded like the old house in the book.

To make this cover I sketched the lines for the silhouettes of the children then I used to Photoshop to select the parts I kept blank then inversed the selection and used a black to transparent gradient on it. To make the woman I put the sketch on illustrator and used image trace then changed the colour fill to black but with a lower opacity where the veil is

I thought this cover would be good as it shows the woman and the children she kills silhouettes in the background which is the main theme of the book and I then put the name of the book on in Dirty and classic and changed the character setting to make it look nicer

I thought this cover would suit the book as there is a scene where the main character pulls wallpaper off the walls and there is writing underneath so this is similar to that scene To make this cover I used Photoshop and painted the lines of the rip in the teal colour and then set the background as a beige colour gradient then used messy brushes to make it textured and look worn down, I did the same to the teal only I used a clipping mask to make sure it didn’t go over the wallpaper, I also added shadows to try and make it look more 3D.I then added the title and author name and used clipping masks to colour the letters with theMessy style without going over

To get the picture that I used I set the camera to a long exposure time and then moved the doll part way through taking the image to make the ghostly look.I then put the image on Photoshop and turned the temperature down, then used messy brushes to make the picture looks distorted and degraded, I also used a layer of black and a layer mask to cloud the corners of the pictures. I also used a clipping mask on the lettering of the title and author's name. the font I used is Black dahlia.

I wanted to use the image of a doll as children are in the story a lot so I thought it would be a good idea (especially as it also wear black also wears black) for this book cover.

I used Photoshop to edit the picture, I first changed the temperature of the image to make it cooler I then made a layer of all black and used a layer mask to darken the corners. I then used an Iris blur to make the doll was the focus. to make it look old I used splatter paint brushes and messy brushes to paint on a layer then I turned to opacity down. I also used to brush tool to put white scratches over it’s eyes.

To make the doll appear more clearly than other items around it I took the photo with a low aperture and focused to lens to the doll

I then put the image onto illustrator to put the font on in a good place and changed the settings of the baseline shift, leading, tracking etc. then after I liked the placement copied the text back into Photoshop as a smart object then used a clipping mask to add the colours using messy and splatter brushes. I also added the publishers logo but changed the background colour to match the cover. I was inspired by the Quay brothers animations as I liked the dark style especially as they use a lot of dolls and so I thought it fit well with the horror theme of this book.

To make this cover I took a picture of a doll then used Photoshop to trace around the outlines with the paintbrush tool then used the magic wand tool to select outside the lines then inversed the selected then filled it in with black, then drew the face in white

I then used Illustrator to make a clipping mask of the silhouette with text from the book and wrote the title and author name with the font Dirty and classic, I also changed the character settings to make it fit & look better

I thought it would be a good idea to use a doll for this cover as the book is a lot about children and the doll I used wears Victorian style clothing which is similar to what the people In the book wore. I used text to make the image of the doll as I think it fits the typography theme well. I was partially inspired by the quay brother an their use of dolls for the horror genre.

I decided to make the cover this way because I thought the silhouette of the doll was original as the official book covers tend to focus more on the house whereas the dolls are more to do with their children that die in the story, the words I used in the clipping mask of the silhouette are from the first page of the book and are in the font of ‘Dirty and classic’ (the same one as the title and author name) however I removed some of the gaps from the paragraphs to make the lines more clear. I think this fits the theme of typography well as I used the words to make up the picture of the doll and considered which font to use so that it properly fit the theme of the book. The back cover has the words ‘the woman in black’ in the background as decoration so it wasn’t so plain as well as a silhouette of of the doll, they all had the opacity set to 13 so when they overlapped it built up the colour, I made this overlap onto the spine of the book so the spine didn’t look disconnected.