As I’m working on my layouts, I’m also experimenting with front covers, as they’re a huge part of a book, and can really sell what’s inside. Even though the classic saying is “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” I know that I often do, and I want my cover to reflect what’s inside. I am definitely drawn to minimal covers, and quite simple, so either no image, just a texture and a title, or a full bleed image with a title. 

Firstly I did some experiments with textures, which I got from free stock image websites (on my previous post), and just did a few simple covers that were black and white, either a black textured cover with white text or a white textured cover with black text. I wanted to choose a bold but simple and easy to read font for my title, so it isn’t distracting. 

Then I tried a cover with an image, at first I wasn’t sure which image to use, I didn’t want to use a portrait as I didn’t want one character to define my book. However I had a photo of just my hand from my warrior shoot which I love, and my peers and tutors also really like it. It’s mysterious and quite ambiguous, the splash of red from the fake blood really contrasts against the white background and my skin. I think it’s interesting and would really make me want to pick that book up if I saw it on the shelf. 

Overall, experimenting has really helped me pick what I like, as before I thought I’d only like plain covers with a texture, but now I really prefer the hand image as my cover, so I’ll get some feedback next week from tutors to see which they prefer.