I've touched on this before with certain bookcovers that I've compared with the old and new but I just love when fresh new designers have their own take on a book and it's style. I adore the "Emma" bookcover because of the embroidered look it mimics and the youthful color pallet which is very reflective of all the Austen stories. While the cover is relaying an image for a victorian era book it still has a very contemporary feel. Harper Lees "To Kill a Mocking Bird" is on everyone's favorite must read list and while I don't know how well this cover relates to the story it striked me because of it's beautiful typography. I love how the title and the caption are in the foreground and very bold while the author name is pushed back a little but still very effective. Overall I think both designs are fresh and effective for the literature at hand.  

I think all three of these book covers are successful. My personal favoriate is the first one. The art deco style is perfect for the story line and time period. I love the texture of the book and the the shadow on the figure is subtle but works very well.  The second works in a pretty great because of it's contemporary take on a 1940s book. I love the wild illustration style that kind of mimics the insanity of Jay Gatbsy. The last one is beautiful in a disco crazy way. The face of what seems to be Daisy is great because it is kind of taking over the entire book like she did with Gatbsy's life. From a personal opinion I think the first and second covers have the most resolved type. Especially the first one, I like the mix of type faces together with the illustration.  

I'm pretty sure Mindy Kaling is my personality twin, awkward sauce. I had originally planned to blog about all of these books separately but then I realized how crazy funny all of these women were and how well designed all their books are. Sooo... I lump them together.

"Bossypants" is a hilarious books with an even more hilarious cover. I really love the manly arms and body on Tina {Anyone else think that's Alec Baldwin's body?} and the mustard color background. I think the image itself is simple but it gets the point across and gets a good reaction. I also like how Tina's name is in a structured, sort of strong serif and the title is more of a feminine typeface. It's a nice contrast.

Mindy is awkward and so is her book cover, but that's good! The type is really simple and I think it should be because of the crazy Victorian wallpaper styled background and pink dress Mindy is rocking. Crazy type with all of that could have been a design upchuck. The expression on Mindy's face and her stance is perfect for the book, even by reading the title and looking at the cover one can tell that she's an awkward, conflicted, odd little woman-- Aren't we all?

Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea... This cover is perfect for a fake family "tell all". I think Handler wants people to think she is this nitty gritty, party girl, cynical etc. and it really shows through in her book cover. I especially like the typography. I think the handwritten type really adds to the overall feel of the book and makes it seem less structured and a little silly especially with the placement on her arm. I really love the font face that "Chelsea Handler" is in. When you look at it at a glance it looks vectored but upclose it has a hand done feel too. Really quirky but sophisticated because of the rich pink color against the black. The picture is hilarious and I'm pretty sure she is suppose to be drunk.

  

 {Source: sfgirlsbybay via Pinterest }

 My Dad and Boyfriend a serious collectors of vintage things. All of my life I've been surrounded by old clocks, radios, appliances, clothes and even books. Today I visited home for the first time since August. My Dad had all his latest vintage finds out and behold a small stack of original Penguin books. Sadly none of the books were of any interest to me but I really love how they use to design the covers.

These were some of the types of books he had, I'm not much into Christie and I read Seven Red Sundays for school once and was bored two pages in.The thing that captivates me about the generic Penguin design is the simplicity. Each book has this color blocking idea and similar design, yet in some way they all kind of differ. I like the sophistication of the sans-serif and the well established hierarchy with the bold, regular and different sized type. I also admire the paper. It's strange to think about that, but paper is a huge factor in books. Usually it's a one sided glossy texture or a hardback but the paper for these kinds of books is a rich thick, almost cotton paper. It's nice to feel while you read, I suppose! The really awesome thing about these covers is the ambiguity towards the story. Nothing about the cover tells you anything about what's inside. Nothing is misleading nor does it turn you off. I feel like with these covers you are strictly reading because of the title.  

So my freshman year in Art School my design professor assigned us a research project on a contemporary designer, I researched Jessica Hische. Ever since then I have been following her work. I was on one of my favorite designer's blogs, SrslyLiz , and noticed that Hische had partnered up with Penguin Books and featured her awesome drop caps on some of their books!

So this review is going to be 100% positive. I'm obsessed with the Victorian style letter illustrations. For "Pride & Prejudice" cover I think the color pallet is so sophisticated and while I'm not sure what peacock feathers have to do with the book, I love how whimsical they make the letter A look! As for "Jane Eyre" I must admit that the color pallet doesn't strike me as colors for that book, it really works in the design aspect. The pin-up illustrated letter has a great 3d quality and looks as though it's been screen printed on the book which is kind of sweet since it's vector. I think the ornamental designs really add to the eras and styles of both books.

I am seriously considering buying all my favorite novels that come in her designs. Ahh they are all in hard back too!    

I had originally intended on "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" being my last book cover that I would review at the end of the semester because it was was my favorite book. But today is my birthday and all I really want to do is curl up and read some of Charlie's letters & pretend that I'm Sam. I read this book my sophomore year of high school & I think & always will think that it helped shape who I am today.
While in most of my design classes I doubt we could get away with a cover like this, I really love it. The idea of the BRIGHT crazy neon green surrounding this quiet, faded image of someone standing against a wall speaks volumes about the book. It also demonstrates what the  book is about without being overly obvious. I love the subtle type the title is in but I must admit I don't know what value the author's name holds in the bottom being all chunky and bleeding off. I don't mind it yet I don't know why it works there, conceptually or visually.

 With the big screen adaptation of the book a new cover and a movie poster have been released. (I am hoping someone, *cough* boyfriend *cough* will take me for my birthday) I think both the poster and new cover are quite beautiful. The poster is an excellent adaptation from the book cover and that makes me hopeful that the movie is too! I'm not crazy about the font on the poster but the "We Are Infinite" quote helps me forget how bad the type is. The new book cover is beautiful, but I'm not sure if it does anything other than being beautiful. It reminds me of "Extremely Low & Incredibly Close" book cover and that turns me off considering how different the books are. The idea of the words being is Charlie's head isn't conceptually viable considering in the novel we are reading his letters not first person. And well I think the flowers were thrown in to attempt to give to the title name, but fail considering it's not that kind of wallflower, haha. I am wondering if the artist read the book at all?

In the excitement of going to New York tomorrow I completely forgot to have a really thought out & meaningful blog about a special book that I love. But I remembered, at 1 am, that I own and love love love "How to be an Explorer of the World" by Keri Smith. Keri Smith is kind of a jack of all trades when it comes to illustration, writing and design so I love all of her books, this one the most!
While I am personally starting to move away from hand done elements in my design work I love her use of messy cut textures and the hand done type. The way she organized the shapes and played with color really activates the cover without making it look too boring or busy.
The qurky type is so much fun. I think it was really thought out in placement and style. I also loved the marking out of the word art  to make it life museum.