Monday, February 22, 2010

New March work

New work





Wow, this March issue really flew by--hard to believe it's already hit the shelves. Thanks to a reminder from David Johnson, famed photographer who shot these beauteous new spreads, I hereby present March samples:

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Business book design...

...needs a revamp. Wow, what an uninspired category. Obviously there are some exceptions, but the majority of books seem to be designed as an afterthought. Such an important piece of a publication's marketing wasted.

Now, we designers know there are always concessions to the scrubbing machine, but these cover designs are not so much design as...well, giving up.

For samples, take a gander at amazon under business book bestsellers.

Branching out

New year, new projects. Today I got a book cover assignment. It fell into my lap at a crazy busy time (three magazine issues simultaneously), but I am excited to design something new despite my schedule. It's my first book cover--well, first real, live, not-student-work cover--of my career, so of course I'm feeling a little pressure. In preparation, tonight I'm sitting down to research and come up with a few ideas. I'm fairly sure it's going to be typographic (tradition dictates, but I'm going to attempt to mix it up), and since it's a business book, it'll have to be fairly straightforward.

My challenge is keeping it fun and interesting while reinventing--yet staying true to--a 5-year-old, stale brand.

Let's look at some samples. I chose these covers in the first two minutes of searching. My requirements were simple: that the cover jump out at me. Now, granted, I am looking online without any of the distractions of the newsstand. But, I think they can all be called straightforward and simple, and not hugely surprising (a great contrast color), each cover uses red.

Off for more research. I'll check back in with my progress later! Here's a look at the covers I pulled (above).