Book Cover Designs and Concepts

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami. In the book, the narrator can hear a wind-up bird in the trees but cannot see it.

For his design of the cover Chip Kidd focuses on a cropped image which you are uncertain what it could be until you open the jacket completely, then you can see it is a mechanical wind up bird. This mirror the narrative of the book in the sense that the narrator cannot see straight away what he can hear. Very clever and very eye-catching.

The focus of the image is around the bird's eye. It draws you in to read the intricate text that encircles it.

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Dry. A memoir, Augusten Burroughs. Memoirs of the author - a high flying executive who was an alcoholic and the intervention that took place.

As described in his TED talk, Chip Kidd calls this "typography in denial" and I couldn't think of a better way of putting that. Just like an alcoholic who says his not, this is what the design does. Again another simple and effective way of creating visual representation. He "took the typography and made it look as though it was lying." (Both quotes from TED Talk, 2012)

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The Little Friend, Donna Tartt. Story of a young girl trying to find her brother's murderer. What starts as child play turns into a dark, menacing journey into Mississippi's underworld.

The image of the doll is very menacing, coupled with the the black background it emits a sense of the unknown and also the naivety of the main character.

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Intensity, Dean Koontz. A murderous sociopath intent on satisfying his intense needs.

The cover is designed in an abstract pattern of colours to represent the state of mind of the character. Rather than show the reader exactly what is going to happen or what the book is about. Even the type has an angry feel to it. almost unhinged.

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Possible Side Effects, Augusten Burroughs. A set of funny essays from nicotine gum addiction to incontinent dogs.

In this design, Chip Kidd used illusion. To reflect the title of the book he introduced the image of a six fingered hand. He used to a yellow background as a light-hearted colour to suggest the humour in the book.

I could go on forever with his book cover designs...