Adrian in Dubray Blackrock is delighted to present ‘Covers We Love’. With a background in graphic arts and illustration from Cambridge and a diverse portfolio in the arts, he is perfectly placed to curate this celebration of some uniquely designed book covers, each promising a captivating reading experience. They say Books do furnish a Room… well these titles will do so with flourish!
Let’s be honest about it, we all judge books by their covers, despite what we’re told. A good cover is like a good menu, it gives us a glimpse of potential pleasures, it’s like a snapshot of the books story, it’s a vibe, it’s the books essence. Cover design is all about attraction.
Publishers make a big deal about covers; they employ talented designers and art directors to think long and hard about how the perfect colour combined with good typography and illustration can be assembled into the perfect object.
I’m interested in how things look; I’m obsessed with art and design. I think typography is important and that a great illustration makes me feel good. Yes, the contents are the MOST important aspect of a book, but without a good cover something is missing. Cover design is about the whole package, the book as a total object.
With this in mind, we have created a project called Covers we Love, it’s a celebration of the best book covers we’ve seen in the past few months. I’ve selected five books of note to give you a little background on the people behind the covers:
Hiroko Oyamada’s The Hole, published by Faber with design by Luke Bird. Luke is a designer based in London. The typography is rounded and lovely, the illustration is stark and minimal, which compliments Hiroko Oyamada’s writing style. The cover reflects what the story is.
The Hive and the Honey is a novel by Paul Yoon with design by Craig Frazer, it’s published by Simon & Schuster. This is a striking cover with a prominent orange shape above a beautiful Japanese style illustration.
Anna Morrison is one of the best and original designer/ illustrators working today, her illustration appeared on Anne Enright’s novel The Wren The Wren, and she did a great job on Michiko Aoyama’s What you are looking for is in the library, published by Doubleday in the UK. Her most recent design is for Christopher Green’s novel Takeout Sushi, published by Neem Tree Press.
Parasol against the Axe by HELEN OYEYEM is published by Faber, with design by Kishan Rajani. It’s a kaleidoscopic novel about illusion and delusion and the cover is reflects this with psychedelic illustration and colours to match.
Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, published by Penguin Books, with beautiful design by Jon Gray, who was also responsible for the new Zadie Smith cover The Fraud. It’s a very South American looking cover, with deep reds and pinks and yellows. The typography is innovative and sits nicely against the sun illustration.
Here are a few more covers that we have loved!
