As is now Literary Hub tradition, I am pleased to present the best book covers of the year–as chosen by some of the industry’s best book cover designers.
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This year, I asked 54 designers to share their favorite covers of the year, and they came back with a grand total of 167 covers (NB: for the purposes of this list, series concepts will be counted as single covers), representing work by 105 different designers for 83 different imprints at home and abroad. This year, there was somewhat less consensus than usual–the first place citation only got 8 mentions, compared to last year’s 12, and only 62 covers were selected by more than one designer, leaving over 100 selected by only one–which ultimately just means we have more exciting book covers to look at than ever. All of the designers’ choices, and their comments, are below.
But first . . . the stats.
The best of the best book covers:
First place (8 mentions):
Jeff VanderMeer, The Southern Reach series (10th Anniversary redesign)
design by Pablo Delcan (Picador, July)
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Second place (tie–7 mentions each):
Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!
design by Linda Huang (Knopf, January)
Liz Moore, The God of the Woods
design by Grace Han (Riverhead, July)
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Third place (tie–6 mentions each):
Solvej Balle, tr. Barbara J. Haveland, On the Calculation of Volume (Books 1 & 2)
design by Matt Dorfman (New Directions, November)
‘Pemi Aguda, Ghostroots
design by Sarahmay Wilkinson, art by Day Briere (W.W. Norton, May)
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The presses with the most covers on the list:
First place:
New Directions (14 books)
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Second place:
Knopf (7 books)
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Third place (three-way tie):
Riverhead (6 books)
Astra House (6 books)
FSG (6 books)
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The designers with the most different covers on the list:
First place:
Alex Merto (6 covers)
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Second place (tie):
Luke Bird (5 covers)
Janet Hansen (5 covers)
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Third place (tie):
Tyler Comrie (4 covers)
Suzanne Dean (4 covers)
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The best month for book covers:
First place:
September (23 covers)
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Second place:
October (22 covers)
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Third place:
July (20 covers)
If you hand Pablo Delcan a brief that includes “biological contaminants,” “peculiar creatures,” and a greenlight for holographic foil, he’s going to knock it out of the park. That fact is as immutable as there will be weather tomorrow. These covers are unlike any others I’ve seen and their hideous beauty feels perfectly matched to the writing.
This new cover and series redesign fit the books so well…the holographic foil! The distorted animals! I can’t get over it.
The whole trilogy is a work of art. This cover is brilliant, beautiful and terrifying.
Perfectly weird covers to match its perfectly weird contents. Such a good blend of creepy and beautiful.
It is so striking. The use of foil is not redundant but adds to both theme and effect.
Incredibly weird, which is so right for this series of beautifully and deeply weird, opaque books.
Mesmerizing art ✔️, holographic foil ✔️, sculpt emboss ✔️. This one is for the collectors.
I am very jealous that Pablo got to design this cover. But I am not mad because it’s so good. But Pablo if you’re reading this, I am jealous of you.
The figure saying “a novel” was perfect, but the addition of “New York Times bestseller” in a speech bubble took this to a whole new level.
Great use of negative space. Clever way to add a bestselling line.
Eye-catching! Minimal! Negative space!
Boldness and restraint in equal measure—an instant classic.
Iconic.
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar succeeds in making its 2-color palette feel rich. And like Model Home it feels like a throwback, but refreshed for 2024. The oversized, condensed serifs are as sharp as the cartoon character’s blade ought to be! I love that the publisher embraced the designer’s restraint—leaving all that bare, unexamined space for the main character and reader to explore.
Martyr! was the most memorable cover of the year for me. So fun and perfect in every way.
This one has already been comped a million times in our cover meeting, for good reason! I also loved the read and understanding the symbolism of the pink paint drip made me love the cover even more.
After reading this book—I love the pink drip for what it represents. So subtle, a little creepy, and just hits the mark.
I’m sure this will top the lists everywhere. There is something about that bubble gum pink drip on the green painting that no one can stop thinking about. Am I supposed to feel this way?…I’m not sure of the feeling I’m feeling when I look at that drip.
This cover manages to hit so many notes—it’s atmospheric, taut, beautiful, ominous, inviting. An incredible balancing act.
I was instantly inspired to learn more about the book and to see if I could gleen what that perfect clean pink drip represented. I did not figure that out of course but I was brought to the purchase page, which is a win. This design is toggling the thriller and literary fiction crossover genre so well with the wise use of this particular typeface. I also love how the art extended itself well to the publisher’s marketing materials.
That pink drip! It’s perfect.
Love the contrast of imagery here, and the use of vertical space. Don’t think I’ve seen classical oil painting upcycled like this before, and in such a satisfying, tactile way.
If there was such a thing as an anti-2024 book cover, this is it. No large type or remnants of a human element,
yet still so emotional and warm. I’m both in awe and my heart is sinking. Love it, a lot.
A colorful little squiggly thing, circumscribed by a ribbon of type: how else do you calculate volume?
A really lovely series design, so soft and warm.
VERY classy gradients.
I’m already a sucker for time loops; this dizzily otherworldly constrained/unconstrained aura seals the deal.
Love the mix of organic and geometric forms here. Plus small type working beautifully. The design speaks volumes!
On first glance I was convinced this was a Jane’s Addiction album from the 90s. Surprise, it’s not. And after a playlist deep-dive I could not find anything remotely resembling it, but still can’t shake the familiar feeling, which tangentially fits the theme of being haunted by the past. I love the dark fairytale imagery, block print border, and stretched type.
In this first year of AI overlord/overload, I feel myself yearning for evidence of the human hand—and this cover delivers. The bold, commanding typography feels refreshingly unconventional, and that pop of red in Day Briere’s art is the perfect finishing touch. My fave cover of the year.
The textures and patterns of the illustration are gorgeous, and the minimal colors are used so well. The type mirrors the energy of the illustration while still letting it shine. It all comes together so beautifully.
Really wonderful execution and use of art and ornament. The simple choice of setting “Ghost” in a more condensed face brings this design to life.
I love the poster-like effect of this composition. The type treatment beautifully compliments the art without overpowering it.
The cover for ‘Pemi Aguda’s story collection Ghostroots took me back to my art school days of hoarding woodblock-printed alphabets and seeking their digital variants with names like Poplar and Oak. I was charmed by the designer’s instinct to combine that chipboard-esthetic with African ornament and full-color illustration. The sweet fawn resting in a bed of Ben-Day dots begged me not to pass it by.
Smart! Cheeky!
Butt!
Nice bum.
Bottoms up.
Just when I thought I didn’t need to see any more pink background covers…perfect!
The photocopied paper effect lends a gritty tone. Fun, irreverent imagery and color palette.
So fun, so punk and I love a cat reference 🙂
I love the retro xerox/90s feel here.
Perfectly encapsulates the vibe of a xeroxed, 90s zine.
The gritty xeroxed texture, the cat face with single tear, and the restrained palette is all so good, alongside that amazing title.
This cover completely captivated me from the moment I first saw it. I’m confident this will be the crowd favorite. From the inventive hand-made type to the art selection and color palette, everything just works.
The type takes you on a tour around the cover and then becomes a gateway to the painting lying beneath, it’s perfectly balanced.
I love how the hand drawn type pushes out to become a frame.
I love how considered the lettering is, yet it also feels so loose and spirited. The juxtaposition of painted modern type with the classical painting makes it so eye catching.
Sublime.
Dynamic, beautiful use of typography to create movement and depth.
I love the overall simplicity of this design and the color palette. The subtle mashing of time periods in the different elements is so clever!
Love this 3-D type treatment floating in space.
Favorite cover and favorite type of year!
I’m always a sucker for 3-D typography. This is my new favorite. Sorry, Breakfast of Champions.
Brave and satisfyingly brilliant.
I said this almost a decade ago, and I’ll say it again: Janet communicates so much with the barest of moves. The oversized letterforms of the author’s name make a powerful statement about identity. I love the way they contrast beautifully with the small, curvy title. Paired together, they are a work of art—a Franz Kline painting.
I’m just a sucker for a well-executed all-type cover.
NAM. VIET NAM. BIG TYPE? GOOD.
I love how playful this is, and the way the chunky letterforms dance around the plastic house.
An obviously perfect concept executed perfectly. The weirdness of the ‘sim’-like woman sitting at the edge of the bed really gets me.
Tyler is so versatile. This is very clever and fresh.
This concept is fun, fresh, and so well executed.
I’m drawn to optical art like a bowerbird to blue, so there’s no denying this one for me. Ignore what I said earlier about theater kid energy, this cover is pure sensory overload and I can’t get enough of it. This feels like the perfect analog to the kaleidoscopic premise and how about that color palette?!
I stared at this cover for way too long. Such a treat, especially in person.
Every time I see this cover it catches my eye. Great use of color.
This design is a striking departure from the author’s other books, and is unlike any other cover I saw this year. The optical illusion, color palette, and stark geometry all merge in a way that is strangely, surprisingly likeable.
Whimsical, wavy, and wonderful.
I love a brown cover, this reminds me of a dream.
Is this what happens when you overdose on the absinthe with the convent at the afters?
Besides being a huge fan of medieval drawings, I love the playfulness of the interaction between type and figure here, and the unexpected bright green of the background.
The perfect pairing of old and new; seamless integration of type and image. Jon manages to translate medieval type and imagery into contemporary art.
I have no idea what this book is about, but I wanna read it because the cover looks so damn fun! That sausage pink + acidic green combo makes it even more intriguing.
Great design and great use of collage. This cover has an intimacy to it that feels fierce and vulnerable.
Great elements all around. I especially love how the title rephrases depending on how it’s broken.
Collage has always presented an unfamiliar organic-ness to me. The combination of organic and order is great.
Left no crumbs! Every inch thoughtfully designed, fun, action packed, yet still so clean and balanced.
The movement of the type alongside the collage is excellent.
Quiet and at the same time audibly hissing with barely contained rage.
I bought this book based on the title and my expertise and experience with the book’s subject, but after I had the book in my hands, my feelings changed. The cover is formidable, but also the fade is everything. It could be the exhaustion of it all, or just the way liars disappear in plain sight, or how we just let them fade away so we can live. I now keep the book face out on the self in my home because the cover.
Spot-on type design for Unreliable Narrator / Nature of Stories Itself.
What a singular thing of beauty. I can’t remember the last time something so graphic felt so astonishing. The playfulness of the script—chef’s kiss!
I’m currently reading Beautyland, and I keep flipping back to the cover to look at the title beaming outwards from that tiny point of light in the void—it deepens in meaning with each turn of the page.
A design that manages to reference the title in the most unexpected way possible. Also the green background and red nails—electric!
So glad I looked at this week’s releases to spot this one to include! So effective and done confidently. The pared back simplicity works excellently at the blessed thumbnail. And then up close, I’m further intrigued—is it a mannequin? Must read more!
Incredibly smart and clever. Love everything about this.
I love the composition here. The combination of the marble statue against the bright red and pink. The cheeky bite mark. A little scary, a little sexy. So much fun.
The contrast of textures: marble statue and punctured paper makes my brain happy. Modernity from history. This cover stuck in my mind all year!
I’m a sucker for this color palette. Fun, and makes me want to know more. I want all vampire novels to look like this!
Everything here clicks for me (and love the split translation copy).
Feels like a haunting question. So beautifully and simply done.
Every time I see it, I’m mesmerized by the figure (from a photo by Isabelle Wenzel). Weird, beautiful, and set against the most perfect background color.
Jaya knows how to put emotion into a book cover one million ways. Iconic photograph + great color.
Such a striking image—I love this bizarre posture.
You could spend hours investigating this cover, it reveals so much each time I see it. The imperfections are perfect and I love the frames that aren’t framing anything.
It takes a true expert in color to incorporate so many hues at once while still maintaining readable typography
Beautifully-executed, vibrant collage. I just love looking at it.
This made me smile when I saw it, so clever!
What is more delightful than a book inspiring its own playful objectification in this way?
I love the elegance and simplicity of this approach. The cover works on its own terms, but also becomes a house when you start reading it. Brilliant!
Love the tactility and personality of this cover. It almost feels like a real piece of graffiti you’d see on a random block as you’re heading towards the subway.
Thomas has such a special talent for making nonfiction covers just as exciting as fiction covers, if not more. I love this maximalist NY moment jam-packed with character.
Stunning typography. It’s brilliant.
I love those jarring green eyes paired with the smart and sexy font and color choices. Startling in the best way & I can’t look away…!
This one leaves me speechless.
Embodies experimental German psychedelic rock beautifully.
Of course the legendary Seymour Chwast was the perfect illustrator for these reissues, but I’d like to also call attention to Alex’s design system–from the wry typeface to the clean, horizontal rules. They feel fresh and frame the illustrations into collectable classics.
When a redesigned backlist makes you want to buy them all, the design is definitely working.
So cute, so simple, so pure. I’m immediately drawn in and must know every emotion this little frog is feeling.
So sweet, so sad. Darkly funny, much like Stevie’s poetry.
Mesmerizing, but also, how did you get this approved? Asking for a friend.
Imagine a grubby corner bookshop with a rack for local zines—these would fit in fairly well, I wish to acquire them all.
Perfect oddballs! I love them!
I love how the pulp board background transforms into sand and the shadow suddenly comes to life.
So much can be said with so little when the idea is smart. Thank you to the designer for the beauty and simplicity of Mojave Ghost by Forrest Gander. The quiet wit of this cover sings to me.
Uncanny and disturbing in the very best way.
The cover for Model Home by Rivers Solomon froze me in my airport-bookstore-browsing tracks. Was it the flood of toxic swamp-green overprinted with black? Was it the eerie Alice in Wonderland-sized eye passively peering through the second story window? Or simply the font choice: a 1980s dark alley mashup of medieval Uncial x Victorian Copperplate . . . those truncated capital “S”s slithering up through the suburban lawn? In a word, YES!
These images are great together and the reduced palette really helps relate them to one another. So minimal and yet so suggestive.
This cover makes me squirm, in the best possible way.
This cover makes me feel a beloved nostalgia for quieter, more classic designs. In the sea of similarities in cover design we see today, this classic yet modern, smart and intriguing portal is a breath of fresh air. It is bold in its quietness and suits the subject perfectly.
This brings to mind the haunting ending of the movie The Vanishing (the original one, from 1988, please) but in a much, much more cheerful, Pushing Daisies way. Love.
An amazing combination of just the right imperfectly perfect illustration and hand lettering.
A pitch-perfect encapsulation of the title, in all its deadpan hilarity.
That plume of orange brings this cover to life.
Painterly. Classic.
There is an edginess to the melting art as it guides your eye down the cover.
This falls squarely into “covers I experience viscerally” territory. It’s almost as if the artwork is melting over the type in real time.
Hilarious! Brings me joy.
This cover could easily have been too silly, but the muted orange, leftward glance, and slightly angry expression create a Goldilocks balance between funny and intriguing.
I loved the vintage vibes of this cover, and what fun fonts!
It feels nostalgic and contemporary at the same time.
One of those covers that, after seeing it, you just nod and say “yep, of course” and accept that nothing else could possibly have worked better.
Minimal and impactful!
Zoomed-in, gooey mouth AND brown background! The number of times I’ve been told no to each of these things on their own… and combined! Look at this beauty! Don’t you just want to feel it? Could anyone let me know what finish this has? Lol. Kishan strikes again!
It’s subtle but textured. It’s a cover that is already beautiful when you pick it up but becomes more brilliant as you get to know the story.
It’s the pearls, they’re floating on a plane between me and the rest of the cover and it is mesmerising.
So beautiful and strange. I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to.
A beautifully simple and elegant cover.
There’s something so pleasing about the way that this cover can be viewed from almost any angle, and it still works just as well.
Playful, eerie, and also elegant—a perfect combination.
Strange and unexpected. I like the way the body parts look like hovering, unsettling, abstract thoughts.
This stands out so much in a landscape of large lettered, brightly coloured, shouty book covers. Understated, off-kilter and brilliant.
This cover is pure poetry. I’m drawn to the marks, their gesture and placement, and intrigued by the mythology of this lyrical ram.
This design creates such a sense of place. A universal place that could be anywhere and offers an entry to the story. You can hear the electricity humming.
THIS book HAD to have THIS design. It’s perfect.
Love this clever collage, really catches the eye.
This design has stayed on my mind all year. I find it both timeless and totally fresh.
This cover is going for a mood and absolutely nails it. The tension is palpable and utterly compelling.
The type makes my eyes work across the cover in a way that echoes a huge semi-full venue, it makes me feel like I’m there.
I want to zoom in twice over.
I may be biased since this cover uses my favorite shade of pink, but Alex’s Merto’s design hit this one right on the head. Loved this cover as soon as I saw it.
This cover is playful, joyous, and confidently simple. The perforated tabs add a fun tactile element, transforming it into a considered and highly covetable object.
A delight!
This cover is so striking (no pun intended). The gradients, the texture, the photo, the typeface. Harmonious. Perfect.
This has such a lovely combination of the brutal and the beautiful.
The weaving of the snake and bird between the maze is so powerful, and the tension between the snake’s tongue and the bird’s eye is a satisfying detail. I love the unique color palette as well.
Full disclosure: Robin and I work in the same art department, so I had the privilege to watch this cover evolve into the brilliance that it ended up as. Nonetheless, it’s a magical example of a perfect collage in an unexpected layout. The silver labyrinth works best IRL.
One of those covers you feel rather than see; as captivating as the poems inside.
A beautiful cover, full of emotion.
Of course she did!
The typographic gymnastics and simple use of color are incredible.
This is such a strange colour scheme, but it works so well and there’s something about those two brown dots lining up with the eyes that grabs me.
A more perfect painting for this book doesn’t exist. The attitude the painting exudes, the cropping, the nods to renaissance painting but with Black subjects. It’s just perfect.
The cropping of the painting and handlettered type—the emotional pull of this jacket is undeniable.
Give me a dog on a cover any day! Kate is a master at using retro imagery with unique type. See also her cover for Layman’s Report. Also love the US cover (by Rodrigo Corral). [ed note: both also on this list!] After seeing the two, I knew I NEEDED to read this book and what more is this job?
Missing Faces seems to be a thing at the moment, one of those bursts of design weather under no one’s control, but this one still deeply tickles my fancy.
Playfully medieval with gorgeous typography.
My role at Bindery Books has thrust me into the world of fantasy and noir fiction. It’s thrilling to turn the fantasy cover trope on its skull (!) as the designer of Nicked has. I applaud the simplicity of the thief’s brazen gesture, gripping the fearful half skull through its non-weeping socket; it illustrates M. T. Anderson’s title artfully.
Brilliant, striking. Serene despite the violence of the knife wound. I can’t imagine a more perfect cover for this book.
Such a fitting solution that it feels impossible to imagine this book having any other cover.
So weird and yet so beautifully balanced. “Essays” is the star of the show.
This somehow combines joy and uneasiness, and in such a beautiful way!
Big and bleak, just like László!
Great marriage (couldn’t resist…) of illustration and typography.
The tension between the angular typography and the lush painting, the fantastic use of negative space, and the mystery of what lies outside the frame—this one is a stunner.
So smart.
Eleanor’s illustration integrates and breaks through the classic series design format adding dimension, lushness and a provocative peek into “a world where newly-forged communities and reverence for nature rise from the ashes of a pandemic-ravaged society” in this climate action fiction. Perfect in concept and execution.
Everything Rasmus Pettersson does is brilliant. This Swedish edition of 1984 is not only gorgeous but manages to resist the usual Orwellian tropes.
Perfect.
That author type is so, so good. Every element is just really creepy. In a good way.
So simple but so impactful. I love how the illustration feels at once otherworldly and familiar.
Brilliant! Chef’s kiss! Immediately understood what might be under this cover and so beautiful. That tension between the hot pink splotches and the sparkle has me hooked.
I remember the ‘90s Satanic Panic from my adolescence, and this cover is a fantastic modern spin on that wild cultural flashpoint. I especially like the type treatment—the edges of the type vibrate, as if they had been repeatedly run through a Xerox machine.
I have to limit myself to one Joan Wong every year, so I’m choosing this one, though I could easily pick The Obscene Bird of Night for the melty dreamworld nightmare goodness. Anyway. The lion, perched, folded into the loop. The mountain, nestled, in another. I’m in.
This design is both extravagant and stunningly simple. A dessert itself.
Pure energy exploding craziness but at the same time super controlled and refined.
Typographic perfection.
I ordered this book immediately after seeing the cover Jack posted. Woah it’s so good, it feels broken.
I’m a sucker for a painting on a cover and this beautiful, almost monochrome piece by Jess Allen works so wonderfully with June Park’s minimal design. Adding that red stripe is also genius.
This design reminds me of looking out of an airplane window, but instead of seeing something distant and expected, it is too close and too monstrous. The claustrophobia and minimalism work perfectly in concert.
It has a 1920s elegance that is timeless but is also ethereal in a way that is very contemporary.
Suzanne is a master of using the perfect illustrator for a cover.
The colors caught my eye immediately. A great twist on two genre styles, hitting the perfect tone. Suspenseful but bright and contemporary.
Delicious.
Love the delicate details in the windows.
The collage of the author’s artwork lends an element of the archival while the small scrap of paper itself is suggestive of a tablet. Beautifully chaotic and considered.
The feeling is that of a whole universe of competing sentiments—fragility/confidence, hope/reality, motherhood/childhood—forced into some kind of haphazard, contingent resolution. There’s a terrific sophistication at work here.
I admire Sarah Schulte’s designs. This cover is a lovely example of her artistry and understated elegance.
I love how unapologetically fun this cover is. The design absolutely sits within the crime genre market but done so in a way we’ve not seen before. I think a part of why this book has done so well is undeniably in credit to this gorgeous cover.
Quietly beautiful and haunting. I love the tension created by the placement of the title.
There’s nothing like it out there. Love, love, love.
Beauford Delaney’s portrait of Baldwin sings.
I love the choice to arch the type and sharp serif!
This is my most favorite cover of the year. The cover looks like actual action figure packaging, and the special effects are just the cherry on top.
A little bonkers and completely original.
Just incredibly stylish and tasteful.
This cover is a masterpiece of simplicity. Its striking art eliminates the need for a subtitle. It evokes the spirit of 1960s protest posters, brimming with raw, human energy. I love how the human-crafted essence shines through in both the art and composition. Honorable Dean mentions: Dogs and Monsters, the Murakami redesigns, Paper Boat by M. Atwood (unreal!), An Yu’s Sunbirth, etc… Suzanne has truly excelled this year!
I love the multivalent minimalism at work here. Combined with the back cover and spine, this is a lovely object all around. Leave it to Michael Salu to give us the unexpected.
There’s an elegance to this cover that is combined with the confrontation of the eye contact photo and the chanting repeat of the type. The duality of feeling is incredibly striking.
This looks like it comes from somewhere else. Nice to see a cover that stands out because, unlike everything else, it’s not colourful. I like how the image sits somewhere between being a photograph and a drawing and the reflection in the mirror tells us nothing.
Eerie & intriguing, such a great use of negative space.
It’s always a treat to see which repeating geometric shapes and colors will anchor this series each year. On this cover, I love how the painting’s background blends with the flat tan color to chop those red shapes into sharp triangles.
Everything about the packaging of this book is iconic NYC! From the illustrations, to the sprayed edges, to how the table of contents are laid out.
The type of cover that makes you go, “Damn it, I wish I designed this…”
The simplicity! I love a good fuzzy gradient.
Gorgeous use of white space. (Use your erase tool to knock out the quote bubble.)
I included this cover because I’m so excited to read it! Murakami is one of my favorite authors. His work feels like a Southern Gothic style told through a Japanese lens, directed by David Lynch. Jeopardy!’s favorite book cover designer Chip Kidd really captures Murakami’s mysterious, yet human and relatable writing.
I’m a sucker for an original combination of images done in such an offhand, spontaneous, casual style. Dare I say, timeless and fresh all at once.
You never see a cover with a giant swan. I love it. I love how the swan is smushed and bent to fit in the space. Poor swan. The type marries sooooo nicely with the illustration style.
“It’s giving zine you were never cool enough to have stashed under your bed.”–Emily Temple ←YES
The composition of the illustration, the limited palette–a beaut!
This cover is so cool and groovy and weird and wonderful!
Even with their 2D, flat illustrations, these covers feel incredibly dynamic, and I want to read these books knowing nothing about them. The curving type that envelops the illustrations are also really lovely!
I’m not sure I’ve seen a horror cover quite like this. It gives horror via sly—almost inviting—touches of sinister dread. Effective and well-done.
Wow! Die-cut peepers too.
All the type is on the stamps!! Perfection.
It’s one of those covers that just gives you chills when you see it, both beautiful and unsettling.
So unexpected. Jarring, in a really good way.
I was immediately drawn to the craft in this design. Visually, the cover feels like it was composed by one or both of the story’s sisters, and conceptually, natural elements held in suspension works so well for the book’s themes. This elegantly eerie cover begs to be displayed face-out.
Such fantastic colour and texture.
I find something new to love in this design every time I revisit it. The colors, the textures, the scale(s), I love it all.
I can’t really explain why, but this image, this typeface and these colours just work together so beautifully.
This cover is so cute and fun and packs a ton of information into a tiny package.
These colors are amazing, and who doesn’t love a sheep?
Eerie, foreboding, surreal and undeniably cool. I love everything about it.
Close your eyes and you can practically hear Steely Dan and Thin Lizzy riffing in the background.
Such an elegant design. Beautiful illustration and movement.
Clever mirroring of art and type.
The type is beautifully positioned to frame this arresting image.
Henry has designed the PB series for these, and they’re all brilliant, but Tremor is my favourite. This cover so brilliantly captures the entrancing, fleeting visuals that this book evokes. The ink-trap type on this cover is also super confident and striking.
The lion’s teeth-as-title is just brilliant. The neon pink really makes the whole cover come alive.
This is another cover that brought me to the purchase page to find out about the yellow shape which represents a golden cd that seems to be part of a pivotal moment within the text. Another juxtaposition of a modern clean element with a textured lush painting creating gorgeous tension and interest and a cover that stands out.
A paperback redesign that stops you in your tracks.
Such a great example of an organic illustration and hand lettering working together harmoniously. The limited color palette makes the cover even more striking.
Scary-beautiful! I love the unique composition and the texture.
I am mesmerized by this shape-shifting sculpture, how it’s made of metal, but feels more like it’s composed of air, water, or even fire. It’s poetic in its own right while also capturing the collection’s theme. I take this one as a pleasant reminder that book covers don’t have to bring the energy of a theater kid during a manic episode to be memorable. Nothing against theater kids.
I love the reverse contrast on the type against a white background, the brutal cleanliness works so well with the severed finger.
Matt’s brain is something else. Beautiful.
I hope this cover exists in every universe. The shimmering portal calls to me as a designer and as a reader.
The colors, the patterns, the movement!
Andrew Bourne continues World Poetry’s run of stunning book designs. The cut-up type here is the perfect analogue to the translator’s approach in reshaping a centuries-old work.
The collaging of textures, artwork and photography gives warmth and richness to a seemingly very simple composition. Like the very best design, the result looks effortless.
All the covers I’ve seen in this series have been so bold, colourful and captivating, I love them!
Three immediately recognizable women, and an evocative title make such a strong design. You want to ask them and know the story through their eyes.
I bought this in a real life bookstore when I saw it. I was like POW I gotta have that. Also, maaannnnnn, how she’d get that approved. Dang.
It reminds me of rainbow scratch art from childhood!
Aslak Gurholt designs all the books for Norwegian publisher Flamme Forlag, whose covers remind me more of record companies like Factory and ECM than publishers. There is stripped back, minimal aesthetic that runs through all of the covers designed by Gurholt for Flamme, without it ever becoming a ridged template. In an increasingly sales driven industry, it’s refreshing to see a publisher do something so unique and interesting.
Covers that transcend their main purpose will always capture my heart. This kind of design thinking buoys publishers among the POD squall.
Restraint! Beautiful.
Gorgeous and dreamy. The color palette feels unique and fresh.
I’m obsessed with the curved type on this cover. It really leads your eyes across the entire design.
Subtle and simply beautiful.
My daughter brought this book over to me in a bookstore and said, “I like this one because I like horses and I like orange juice.”
All about this comic book treatment and its details. The artist’s seal of approval on the top right is genius.
Micaela’s redesign of these books is nothing short of masterful. Each cover is brimming with intricately illustrated elements that seamlessly come together in perfect harmony. These designs are truly captivating, inviting you to pause and savor every stunning detail.
Big fan of this arts and crafts project!
Love the simplicity and title play with the bag of limes.
Absolutely love new and creative ways to execute a silhouette. Will nailed it!
I love the evocative combination of image and title.
Love the use of clip art and playful type.
Such energy! Everything about this is bold, and pulls me in. Great palette too.
The infinite books on books is done so well here. Wonderfully simple.
So bold and striking.
My favorite spy novel cover this year. Pete created a fresh and simple series look!
Clever and warm.
Ironic Consolation Prize:
“I acknowledge that differing viewpoints are a natural aspect of human relationships.”
