The Changing Face Of Book Covers

There is a lot of discussion at the moment about the demise of the printed book. But with the shift to electronic reading, what is the current state, and future, of the one page that first attracts us to a book – the cover?

I remember, as a child, buying my first paperback that had a shiny cover with embossed, silver lettering. There was a man running from a car, the action silhouetted against a blue tinted background. I can't, for the life of me, remember the name of the book or what it was about. But I do remember the cover. I was in awe of it.

Fast forward to life today and we are fast embracing the digital revolution. It could be argued that book covers are more important than ever.

The biggest issue concerning book covers these days is size. Even printed book covers had to exist in at least two sizes – the hardback and paperback versions. But in the electronic world, the situation is even more pronounced.

E-book covers have to look good in at least two sizes – 800x600 pixels and 90x60. And that is just cruel. Pity the poor designer who has to do this. Such polar opposites make the job quite tricky. But it can be done.

That small, thumbnail size is probably the most important as things stand. It's the image people see when they're browsing. The one epithet you want to avoid when designing a cover that looks good at this size is 'busy'. A 'busy' cover just doesn't work at this size.

I've seen some wonderfully intricate designs with calligraphic typefaces on covers in bookshops. But then, when that design is transferred to electronic retailers like Amazon, it has no impact. What a publishing is hoping for, at this stage, is that the consumer will have seen the cover in a bookshop on the high street, and retained that memory. That's certainly an attitude that will die out.

In the future, book covers will have to work in electronic form before they're even considered for the print form.

In drawing parallels with the art world, I believe the pop artists of the 1960s would have made geat e-book cover designers. To me, that's also when graphic design also came of age. A lot of book covers used in that era had strong lines and shapes, and a bold use of colour.

But one issue that is the same for printed covers as it is for e-book covers is 'genre'. Largely speaking, people expect certain genres to have certain types of covers. This has always been one of the main challenges of designing book covers. You want the cover to be original, yet you want to assure the reader that the content is in line with the genre she adores. That challenge remains.

What about the future? That could be very interesting. I don't think any retailer has yet managed to build an interface that replicates the joy of browsing in a bookshop. I think the iBookstore comes close. The Amazon interface almost puts me off browsing. But I'm sure they'll change that, especially as e-readers haven't yet finished evolving.

In essence, a good book cover still needs to satisfy the same requirements. It needs to grab people's attention and it needs to reflect the book's content. But with a multitude of formats and delivery systems, it now needs to be very adaptable. Maybe we'll get to a point where there will be a slightly different book cover for each delivery system or interface. And browsing for books will again become a joy.

Mark Capell is an independent author and fouder of The Creative Criteria, providing digital publishing, design and marketing for independent authors.