Beginners Guide to Book Cover Design
Designing a Concept
First you need to decide what kind of a message you want to send with your cover. Who is the target audience? Come up with some visual metaphors that will describe what the book is about.
Book Cover Design Tips
You need to generate excitement to draw readers in. Book covers are a great marketing tool that should be utilized! The book cover should clearly depict what the genre is by "talking" to the readers with the type of font, picture, and colors used.
Pay attention to poorly done book covers as they can teach you what not to create. There are even boards on Pintrest dedicated to bad book covers. Two main problems with these types of covers are the typography and stock images used.
Sources For Ideas
Pinterest and Flickr have some excellent examples of covers that you should look at for inspiration. Before jumping in to making covers it is important to see how some experienced designers create theirs.
1. Research the books topic on the internet.
2. Potentially shoot your own photos for your cover or find stock photos.
3. Manipulate your images and digitally edit them. Its rare to find a photo that is instantly cover ready.
For more information from this book cover designer look here.
Kirk DouPonce's simple steps he follows when creating a
cover:
Creating a Cover
1. Read the book and take notes while looking for scenes that could be recreated on the cover. Decide what kind of message you want to send with the cover.
2. Discuss with the author and the editor what they want on the cover.
3. Give the author the kind of cover they want and also provide other directions that they might not have thought of.
For more information on this book cover designer look here.