book covers

One of my favorite books in the world is The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Visually, the cover is definitely... interesting. Compared to other books, this cover is a lot more empty and the title of the book is not big (in comparison to the author's name) and not as attention-grabbing.  In addition, the photo of someone's legs is at the corner of the book, not the middle or taking up more than half of the cover.  By having so much empty space, the cover is actually stands out more than if it had less space since not many books use this technique. The cover also reflects the story itself since the book is about a boy named Charlie, who is a wallflower--a shy or retiring person who remains unnoticed at social events. Like Charlie, the book's cover is also not purposefully attention-grabbing or flashy and the title of the book just seems to fade into other books on a shelf.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

Five covers:

I really like the simplicity of this cover.  It's just a light hanging down from somewhere with a gradual black to dark grey background.  There are no honorary mentions or awards on the cover -- just the title and the author. It's not flashy, but simple and straight to the point. Also, everything is aligned in the middle, so it makes the cover look more organized and balanced in terms of composition.

One of the main reasons why this cover caught my attention was the effect of putting a picture behind a brush stroke. I used to love doing this effect for posters because it looks really clean but messy at the same time. I also like how the title and author aren't aligned at all since it gives the cover a spontaneous quality to it.

I really enjoy looking at the simplicity of this cover. It's true that there is a lot of blank space, but I guess that's one of the qualities I like about it.  It sort of gives the viewer a break from clumps of information and pictures. The designer also used three difference font sizes and two font styles, where the font isn't decorative or anything.  Also, the three designs are aligned at the bottom, which makes the composition of the cover more balanced.

One of the main reasons why I like the cover of this book is because of the fact that the image is upside down (which actually matches the title completely).  Upon first glance, I had to do a double-take to make sure I was not going insane and imaging the image to be upside-down. Other than that, the cover has no fancy fonts or flashy pictures and colors.  There's a sense of quietness to it as well because the designer essentially draws attention to what is aligned in the middle (title and author), which is only one font.

Lastly, I like the sketch of the ear since I am attracted to realism.  Also, the title is in bright green script, which sort of screams attention (hence the word "noise" with the sketch of the ear). The red font for the author is clever since it creates contrast between the title and the background.  Overall, I think this cover is extremely simple and clever.

The main reason why I probably like these covers is because of their simplicity.  I hate things that look overly complicated and flashy since I think all that extra work is unnecessary. In addition, almost all of these covers have one subject as the background, like a picture or a solid color. They also only use up to two types of font sizes and types and no more than that. However, one difference between them some of these is that some tend to be more colorful than others.  The colors are either more vibrant or more dull.