I admit it, I'm completely guilty of judging books by their covers. It really isn't the authors fault if the cover artist makes a boring cover, so I know I shouldn't, but I've always been drawn to neat covers. Which is why the
New York Times Book Design Review Blog was a dream come true, until they stopped posting. Luckily there are 5 years of posts to satiate me for awhile. Check it out, you won't regret it.
But what spawned this topic was the fact that I saw this cover on the blog
OKGreat and I just had to mention it because its one of my favorite books ever. The book is "The Raw Shark Texts" by Steven Hall, and it's completely unique and visual and just amazing. (People sometimes compare it to Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves". There are similarities, but HoL is much much creepier and scary whereas this ((despite the creepy cover)) is more adventure story.)
Either way I thought this cover design by
Jesse Walker was pretty cool. Notice how when it's open it becomes like the full typewriter? Pretty cool.... Also if you look at the picture below when you open the book you see what looks like a photo negative of the typewriter, right? Apparently for every chapter in the book the author Steven Hall has "negatives" of the chapters available to the world. I haven't read any yet, but it seems as if they're supplements, things you don't know from the book. Some are on the internet, and not all of them have been found yet, but that could be why the artist chose the negative image. And how cool is that? That there's even more to the book than the book! Like a treasure hunt! But it also reminded me that I really want to reread the Raw Shark Texts so I can do a review of it on here. (I last read it Summer 2007. I bought it at an English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli, read it on the Chunnel to London, on the train to Brighton, back on the train from Brighton to London which was like 4 times longer than necessary because of "flooding on the tracks in New Crichton", and then while waiting for my bf to arrive from Italy while at our hostel in London. So it took 2 travel days to read. The day I finished was also the day the Deathly Hallows came out at midnight in England. While I was reading it on the Chunnel I met a charming man who was German, living in Paris, but going to London to interview for a job at Burberry. I always wondered if he got the job. I hope he did, he seemed like a great guy. Sorry that was the longest aside... Needless to say I haven't read it in over 2 1/2 years and want to!)
Either way I thought this cover design by Jesse Walker was pretty cool. Notice how when it's open it becomes like the full typewriter? Pretty cool.... Also if you look at the picture below when you open the book you see what looks like a photo negative of the typewriter, right? Apparently for every chapter in the book the author Steven Hall has "negatives" of the chapters available to the world. I haven't read any yet, but it seems as if they're supplements, things you don't know from the book. Some are on the internet, and not all of them have been found yet, but that could be why the artist chose the negative image. And how cool is that? That there's even more to the book than the book! Like a treasure hunt! But it also reminded me that I really want to reread the Raw Shark Texts so I can do a review of it on here. (I last read it Summer 2007. I bought it at an English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli, read it on the Chunnel to London, on the train to Brighton, back on the train from Brighton to London which was like 4 times longer than necessary because of "flooding on the tracks in New Crichton", and then while waiting for my bf to arrive from Italy while at our hostel in London. So it took 2 travel days to read. The day I finished was also the day the Deathly Hallows came out at midnight in England. While I was reading it on the Chunnel I met a charming man who was German, living in Paris, but going to London to interview for a job at Burberry. I always wondered if he got the job. I hope he did, he seemed like a great guy. Sorry that was the longest aside... Needless to say I haven't read it in over 2 1/2 years and want to!)
very good cover design. specially when you open the the book full and can see the complete cover with typewriter on back cover side. I liked the idea, color and treatment. As a cover designer myself I find it really interesting to check other designers work. I personally feel that this cover could be better if the typeface of book title is in a typewriter font but even with a thick san serif font (i think it is helvetica neu bold condensed) it is looking good.
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