Roundup: Cover Designs – Series [Part 1]

Book cover design is one of my favorite things. That sounds strange, maybe, but between considering the text, choosing what to communicate about it, and designing a visual representation of that style, intention, or content… it’s always been a fascinating process to me. I started looking through some of my favorites for a roundup, but quickly realized that I could easily create at LEAST 5 posts, and that’s just with the covers I have bookmarked, saved, or pinned!

So for today, I narrowed my selection down to recently produced series, mostly of classic works. But I ran into so many amazing works by Coralie Bickford-Smith and David Pearson that although two is not much of a roundup (I know, we’ve been though this before!), I’m going to do a post on their projects alone and follow up with a separate post about other amazing (albeit slightly less prolific) designers doing creative series covers.

I’ve always liked visual repetitions, series, and patterns – not to mention books! – so these are right up my alley. I love the way both designers have come up with innovative ideas, developed flexible templates, and created modern imagery that still recalls the familiar or traditional.

You may have seen Coralie Bickford-Smith’s work before, either in your bookstore or on design blogs. I suspect that this whole trend got a big boost from her designs for a set of classics. The design of these hard-bound books uses the same template for each cover, color choices and featured items are really unexpected. I really like the way some of the designs are almost abstract, like the waves on The Odyssey, while others use simple everyday objects, like the scissors on Little Women. Really, I love them all, though, and would love to somehow have them on display on my walls.

Design*Sponge published an interview with Bickford-Smith about the project’s beginnings, her design inspirations, and her creative process.

Since then, I’ve seen two more Bickford-Smith projects on design*sponge and other sites. I really like the way the way that each set has a very distinctive look, with strong designs that both stand on their own and complement each other seamlessly. Here are a few examples from a set of metallic F Scott Fitzgerald covers…

… and here are a few covers from a series on classic writings on food. For each book in this project, Bickford-Smith pulled a design from classic kitchenware associated with the time period of the text. I love the way the primary colors for the covers are chosen so carefully – look at the way the set makes a rainbow when shelved together! Grace showcases more of the covers in her post – check it out, there is an amazing variety of designs!

When I went to Bickford-Smith’s website for good images to use in this post, I also found this great set of classic horror books. It looks like it was only published in the UK, so it probably didn’t get as much coverage here. How cool is that slightly off-kilter alignment and registration? How creepy is the abstracted, ghostly quality of the shapes? How versatile is that yellow??! I hate horror books, but I kind of want these around just to make me shudder!

The Causal Optimist posted an interview with Bickford-Smith in 2009 – she discusses the responsibilities and opportunities of her job, the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement, and rich design heritage at Penguin Press.

David Pearson is another British book designer, and from what I can tell most of his work is published in the UK. I saw his work online, though, and was struck by the strong identity of each series and the clean, geometric templates that he seems to favor. He took the same route Bickford-Smith did with her set of classics, designing a template and adjusting the main imagery for each publication. His set of classics were apparently so well received that he was asked to design covers for a “great loves” series and a “great journeys” series.

This was my introduction to his work – a table in my local Barnes & Noble:

I think it’s interesting that he used illustrations from several different artists to complete the series – the variations in styles are a bit wider than I would have expected, but that template really ties it all together, particularly since it’s continued around the binding and the back cover, and it makes for a sort of eclectic effect.

The “Great Loves” series imagery looks a lot more consistent. The covers seem to have each received the same stylistic treatment, but I love the way that the subjects make for such graphic, pattern-driven images. I also think the muted color palette helps to tie the wide variety of shapes and scales together.

For Pearson’s “Great Journeys” series, it looks like he sort of combined the two effects. By making his detailed imagery symmetrical, he turned it into a more graphic motif and brought the attention back to the centered cover text. The objects on the cover add a sense of excitement about the story within, and they seem to part for the titles, inviting you in…

Be sure to check out The Book Cover Archive, Readerville’s Coveted Book Covers, and The Book Design Review for more great covers! I’ll be posting more of my favorites soon, but in the meantime you can see a few that I’ve collected on my Book Cover Design Pinterest board.

What are some of your favorites? Are there any book designers whose work you’ve noticed? Any series that you’ve admired?

Image Credits:
1, 2, and 3: All images via Coralie Bickford-Smith’s official website
4: Images via Readerville
5, 6, 7: All images via David Pearson’s official website, except the B&N shot which was courtesy of my iPhone.