Introduction to Book Cover Design

Meet Daniel, who tells you about his career as a designer and art director for major publishing houses. He shows you some book covers and analyzes the concept and design of each before revealing some of his industry references.

Discover the communicative potential of a book cover and learn the physical characteristics and finishes of a cover. Learn about editorials, authors, designers, book types, and readers to better understand the industry.

Choose a book, read and analyze the text you’ll convey in visual form, and evaluate what the project entails in terms of budget, time, and resources. Carry out a graphic and contextual investigation to brainstorm and find new ideas.

Next, it’s time to get started on your cover! Using your research, start sketching some ideas and choose the image that best represents the story. See the tools in Photoshop to apply color and learn the best way for working with typography (hierarchy, scale, etc).

Continue with additional steps for designing your cover image. Unite all the different elements and learn how to use InDesign for creating the entire sleeve, including the front cover.

Finish your book cover design with Daniel and get some advice on how to create a mockup of your cover that can be presented to an editor or included in your portfolio.