](https://www.canva.com/learn/author/pickclaud/) Claudia Pickering
Judging books by their covers isn’t an uncommon thing.
Turns out, 79% of people say that a book’s cover plays a decisive role in their decision to make a purchase. You don’t want to rely on that remaining 21% as your entire market — they’re just buying J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown.
But what if you’re a non-designer and you can’t design anything complicated? If you’re looking to put your book’s best foot forward, but you don’t have as much design skills as you’d like, this post will give you a variety of simple stylistic options to suit a wide range of books. We’ve also added matching Canva templates so you can make it happen right away!
Ready to be inspired?
Think about those Mad Men advertisements: Red, black, white and bold. Minimal detail, maximum impact. To use Donald Draper’s own words, “Make it simple, but significant”.
Bonus points for the double meaning of “shedding a light on the ethics of interrogation practices”, and for making us feel like we’ll be in on a secret.
Edit this design in Canva</figcaption></figure>
This cover takes that sensory experience one step further by depicting a simple close-up on a texture. Such imagery sends strong messages from our sense memory to our tingling hands. This sort of experiential reaction can only be a good thing when enticing new readers to your book.
Her necklace charm, the only item that should give us a clue about the girl in the picture, has been completely obscured by the text box. The viewer wants to see more, to learn more.
The brilliant placement of the text over his eyes, nose and mouth leaves us with only his hair, skin and shirt as a template to hinge other identities off. After a few moment’s consideration, the viewer realises that in fact, it doesn’t matter who this guy is, as there are many more people interchangable with him. Very clever. Full marks.
This cover refers to itself ever-so-brilliantly. To the point that I feel perhaps saying too much would ruin the effect… Dead philosophers. The book is flat on its back.
I think I’ve ruined it.
Anyway, if you can find a way to get all meta on your concept, run with it. And remember to keep it graphically simple, as the great architect and philosopher Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe once said, “Less is more.”
This design really caught my eye as it had my mind doing somersaults – also, extra points for being a clever working of the book title. The sky in the image creates a fantastic shard of light through the composition, creating its own version of white space as the house textures are so complex. If you’re at a loss, try turning your image on an angle and see what new meaning that action bestows upon it.
This cover is largely blank with a palette that gives a sense of stillness. By depicting the building itself, it leads the viewer to ponder the lives of those who once felt safe within those walls, while the emptiness above it carries a heavy sense of memorial. It is the simplicity of the composition that is, in fact, very moving.
This design gives a strong first-person perspective and draws the viewer’s gaze to the title. There is a sense of danger, of investigation, of being watched or perhaps surrounded. This bold graphic choice that does not rely on photographic imagery can give viewers a wonderfully tense sensation in their stomach, and a yearning to wrap their imaginations around a thriller!
Be it the clearly ironic use of an overall vintage-style, the bold choice of color, or the upside-down poodle silhouette, there’s just something about this cover that screams dry humor to me. Simple, effective, and polite (which makes me think the book may, in fact, be a bit rude), it looks like a little treasure that I’ve found in an old bookstore that is going to teach me some lessons.
This is the kind of cover that tells me that there are going to be some bold statements made in this book. It orders and challenges its audience, it gets hearts pumping, it gets minds racing, and we haven’t even opened it yet! If yours is a book full of words that form envelope-pushing ideas, let your cover be a direct representation of it.
Three-tone designs mix simplicity with a block of pop color. These covers would be great in black and white, but when one single block of color is added as the background, the whole design is taken to the next level. Like honeybees and birds, we are attracted to bright things… play to those instincts!
This cover is shrouded in mystery. It’s the hoodie, it’s the anonymity, it’s the techno-font across the face, and it’s all likely to spike the interest of a curious audience looking for a fresh new read.
The beautiful juxtaposition of a very clinical text and line style superimposed on a simple gestural image gives the audience a lot of food for thought.
For example, the photograph shows only an inanimate red chair leaning against another red chair, and yet as humans, we naturally personify those objects and read the image as one chair snuggling up to another — like a person might lean their head on their partner’s shoulder. With their first point demonstrated so simply on the cover, I think it’s time to turn to page 1.
Body language speaks volumes – in fact, current theory suggests that 93% of communication is non-verbal. So why not take advantage of that and communicate with your future audience the best way we all know how: through gesture? These examples use hands to communicate meaning and give a sense of feeling. Perhaps there are other expressive actions that might capture your book’s message? Curled toes or the eye of a smiling face…
This is a very bold graphic choice. It confronts the audience with the inner thoughts of the person, and suggests a similar sense of introspectiveness from the book itself. There is something very contemporary about this cover – it’s got a strong “Mr. Robot” aesthetic.
The whimsical beauty of the imagery combined with the simple composition makes this cover a terrific example of refined classic design. The change in font carries a real sense of poetry with it and calls out to a philosophical-minded audience.
Finally, this cover gets my vote. A perfect bit of trickery playing on the concept of loneliness coupled with a basic palette that has only a bold moment of red. The dot of the i appears trapped and alone in a black box. Point made. It is simple and very clever, and sometimes that’s all you need.
There it is! 20 of the most incredible book covers ever published. Which design strategy suits your book’s concept? Remember, most readers consider the cover to be an artistic representation of your book, so make sure your message is clear so it can end up in the hands of your target audience and generate the biggest return.
If you’re still feeling a little unsteady with your newly-discovered design skills, check out these design school tutorials for a helping hand.
Once you’ve got a great cover, it’s time to promote your book launch online! [Here’s a few great hints of how to get started!
