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Judge It By Its Cover: Spring 2016 Best Book Covers

4/02/2016

With the change of season we hear people talking about their most anticipated book releases but being designers we decided to talk about the covers we think are the best ones to be released this spring. We might not read all of these books but we love their covers.

· Company Town by Madeline Ashby

Cover designer: Erik Mohr
This is probably our favorite one! It is the perfect example of when the typography integrates so well with the background that it becomes part of the illustration. This cover is the definition of typography-made-image. We have seen countless attempts to achieve this kind of style but most of the time the typography falls flat and we think this one is one of the few that were extremely successful. 


· Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima

Cover designer: Erin Fitzsimmons
Illustrator: Sasha Vinogradova
This is 3D. There was actual rendering involved with the making of this cover and we think the detail is incredible. We know, from experience, 3D modeling isn't an easy task, because you aren't working in a flat environment, instead, you have a space where lighting, textures, and angles can make or break your design;  so this is very impressive.

 Also, this is one of those covers where an illustrator and a designer worked together to achieve a really good result. The designer took this beautiful 3D object and then made it work in 2D space without taking away any of the magic.

· Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

Cover designer: Kristin Smith
Illustrator: Lisa Perrin

Like the previous one, this is a cover where two professionals combine their abilities in order to make it a cohesive and functional end product. Here, you can tell where the designer's work ended and the illustrator's work began, making it a cover that is not only beautifully integrated but it also feels complete. What we also like about this cover is that it is organized clutter, there is a lot going on but somehow it still feels clean.


· Night Speed by Chris Howard

Cover designer: Joel Tippie
First of all, we love the concept. The cover basically tells you all you need to know about the book you are about to read. The lines, lights and cars are a visual metaphor of the book's premise: drugs that make you superhumanly fast. Graphically, the design makes really good use of perspective and different effects to make it feel alive, not to mention the color scheme is absolutely stunning. This is another good example of successfully integrated typography into an image.


· Rebel of the sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Cover designer: Will Steele
We picked this cover because we like how it plays with perception. If you look closely, the frame appears to form the outline of a dragon's head; we are not sure if the story has any dragons in it, but we think this is a very cool visual illusion that ties-in with the theme of the book. 

 This design is full of easter eggs; for example, what appears to be the stars in a night sky are actually shimmery sand dunes. The artistic style, as well as the typography, looked to be influenced by Arabian art, which helps the reader imagine a setting for the story.


· Risuko by David Kudler


Cover designer: James T. Egan
This cover encompasses everything we love about Japanese art, it is clean and organic and fluid. We are not sure if this was intended, but looking at the layout we immediately thought about the Japanese flag with the circle being in the middle of a white background and the little red accents surrounding it. 

 This design feels light and airy, with just the right amount of well-positioned elements and textures that make it look complete yet not over-worked. Overall we think this is just a beautiful cover.

· The Raven king by Maggie Stiefvater

Cover designer: Adam S. Doyle

What we like the most about this cover is the illustration style, with its high contrasts and level of detail. We think this cover is a really good addition to the series, it has its own personality but it is cohesive with the rest of the collection.

 We noticed all the covers on The Raven Cycle tend to directly tie-in with something in the book without it being too obvious, the illustrations talk for the story and some of the characters.

 In case you didn't notice, all our picks are designs where the typography plays a major role. We love covers where type is given its proper place and importance and the designer finds a way to make it not only look good, but also functional. 

 What do you guys think? Which are your favorite covers of books released this spring? Let us know in the comments below.

 Happy reading,

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2 comments

  1. UnknownApril 03, 2016

    I'm so glad that you liked the cover for Risuko! I too thought that James Egan did an absolutely beautiful job with that cover.

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    1. Gphx GeekApril 03, 2016

      Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog! When we were browsing the covers, Risuko was one of the first ones that jumped out at us and we definitely had to put it in the spotlight. Not to mention we are really looking forward to reading the story!

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