Book cover design is an underappreciated art form, yet it can help make a book. The cool thing about book covers are that they are all different styles, colors, sizes, even textures. Lots in way of inspiration. So today I put together some beautiful, well designed book covers for your inspiration.

Birds

Use negative space in your illustration to add in details. This book cover uses the negative space in the color of the book cover to create the figure. It melts into the background, and adds an interesting twist to the illustration.

After Freud Left

Book cover design, at its height, is an amazing commercial art. The best book designers continue to amaze and surprise us with their graphic design prowess.

Feathers

Whether you design the cover and select a binding type yourself or work with a professional, you might want to become familiar with industry standards and guidelines, and take advantage of free tips offered by the experts. After all, the ultimate goal is to get your book into the hands of receptive readers who will be watching and waiting for your next book!

The Impersonal Business of Death

Your book cover design is what draws people into the story you crafted from only a blank page and an idea. It is likely the image that your readers will most associate with your story, so let’s look at this inspiration you can start building the cover design you always wanted.

Glimpse of Another Shore,

In book design, clarity is essential. Typically, you have only milliseconds to appeal to your potential reader. Therefore, keep it simple. The best book covers have one incredible piece of art, and basic typography. Don’t burden your cover with unnecessary effects or extras.

It’s like it’s on fire!

I have no idea if this is the actual final cover (the book’s not out until January), whether Peter was the designer, or how many layers of jacket were required to create that effect, but I love it and want it NOW!

All Over The Map

Sometimes, to compel your reader, all you have is an image; so make sure it counts! Finding a brilliant photo or illustration often means finding a brilliant photographer or illustrator. Stock photos do not count! Remember, you want a unique image.

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

Whether you’ve crafted a work of fiction, a Children’s book, or an educational treatise into health and happiness, tell the readers a story by delivering a cover that gives an insight into the nature of your core message.

Book Cover project inspiration

This book cover is an example of minimalistic graphic design with a more significant profound meaning. The word fine has a much more broad sense in real life. Every individual battle their demons and yet manage to hold on to a smile. However, this does not stop them from helping others.

Peter Pan

Part of the beauty of design is that is tells a certain story, fostering emotion and human connection to hundreds or thousands of people. Pair this action with literary storytelling, and you’ve got an impactful design that people will cherish for years to come.

Oil on Water

A simple cover like this will probably appeal more to young adults. It seems a little more friendly, light, fun. Maybe humorous.

Little White Lies

A great cover doesn’t necessarily need to be complex. In fact, the goal for many cover designers is simply to distill the essence of a book into one image — or “one idea,” so to speak.

Hackbooking

Expect to see this sort of typography splashed into the midst of bright colors, as subtlety isn’t exactly the game here. You’ll frequently find it paired with books with emphatic titles, too .

Circulation and the City

Simple and understated typography is actually used with a lot of purpose on book covers — it elegantly balances the elements to best highlight the illustration. Great designers aren’t afraid to let the typography be restrained so that the illustration can take the center stage.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

By giving you only a glimpse of the whole scene, the designer makes readers wonder where the rest of the picture might just take them.

TM magazine cover

Minimalist covers strip a cover elegantly down to its bare essentials. Often characterized by a simple font and a marginal amount of content, these quiet, clever covers instead rely on white space to turn acres of nothing into something.

Fahrenheit 451

The best covers manage to give book browsers an idea of the book’s plot, tone, themes, and genre, all without revealing too much.

the great gatsby

Simplicity can be especially important for a good cover, much like this one. There are few images that better summarize the act of interrogation.

lolita

On Art and Artists

Perla | John Steinbeck

Eloise

Sketch for book cover.

The Shallows