A book cover designer is an artist in every sense of the word. The only difference is that the book cover designer is also a marketing expert. He or she is working with a specific goal – reflecting the content of the book and striving to make people buy the book.
A book cover designer knows that the book cover is not intended to be hung at the wall in a living room. It doesn’t always have to be decorative, beautiful or peaceful. Heck, there are times when it doesn’t have to be aesthetic pleasing as well. It can be downright repulsive, offensive and controversial. A book cover design can be provocative, conflicting and downright politically “incorrect”. It has to stir a debate, many times it has to be unconventional and unorthodox. While the rules for genre fictions are pretty much in place, other genres or genre-less books require more conceptual, abstract designs.
A book cover designer has to have a deep knowledge of literature, history, fashion and contemporary politics and arts. While he or she is not an author, an historian or a politician, he or she has to be able to play around with the ideas and concepts of our generation. The book cover designer is a fashion designer, working on a canvas, a tablet. And just as fashion is evolving all the time, so is the design expectations of book covers. While many ideas and rules are deep-rooted in book cover designs, there are nevertheless always a flow of change and a serious reconstruction in the design landscape every minute we breath.
In the end the book cover designer is working best when left alone. As soon as the client or author start meddling with the design starts disintegrating, the holistic aspect is lost and while the client may be satisfied with the result, the hearth is lost. That is why we give our book cover designers complete freedom here at BookCoverZone. We want their imagination to run free and wild. Because we know that the best ideas comes from a free and unobstructed spirit.