New Murakami Book Covers

Vintage has redone all of it's Murakami book covers in a standardized minimalist design by artist Noma Bar.

More information here. Murakami's books have really raised the bar for book design, IMO. Makes me wish I didn't already have most of these books on my shelves!

Related Posts:

IQ84: Hardcover

IQ84: Paperback
Kindle Covers
Judging a Book by it's Cover

Electronic Book Covers

Book designer Carin Goldberg "declare[s] that the Kindle experience is like 'reading through a tub full of dirty dishwater.'" In a great blog post about the state of book covers, Betsy Morais notes that:

"Pressure comes from the shrunken images on Amazon, a need for covers to be more multifunctional, and, on the other hand, a renewed desire to reclaim the tactile qualities of textured, gorgeous print. The idea of a book cover as a singular form has vanished some time ago, and [Eric Himmel, the editor in chief of Abrams publishing] says, "I don't have a clear view of the future."
Then he saw how Goldberg's students incorporated the vocabulary of bookmaking into multimedia cover layouts. Rather than borrow techniques from documentary film, they used typography in more sophisticated ways that seemed to be digitally-native expressions of book design. Her students also used moving images, video, and audio."

The discussion of the business behind the selling of books and of designing book covers is fascinating. There's a lot of fun new ideas being bandied about, but Paul Buckley, the VP, Executive Creative Director at Penguin, is concerned about cost:

"Benefits have not yet caught up to the costs of this extra content. Because the viewer's not going to pay for it." Publishers' art departments haven't traditionally come equipped with highly tech-savvy illustrators and typographers. And even as more digitally-capable designers arrive, so too will their demand for new tools to support their talents.

The whole thing is worth a read.

Related Posts:
IQ84: Paperback
Kindle Covers
Judging a Book by it's Cover

1Q84: Paperback

It's hard to believe, but the paperback publication of 1Q84 is already just around the corner.  As with Murakami's other books, 1Q84's paperback publisher will be published by Vintage.  Vintage's art director has posted up the design on his website.  Here is a look:

While the set doesn't have the typical Vintage look, I rather like it.  I appreciate that they have broken it up into three volumes,just the way it was published in Japan.  Readers will get the reading experience that Murakami intended -- and it will be much more portable.

Unfortunately, according to the New York Times, readers will also get a $29.95 price tag.   Ouch. 

Related posts: 1Q84: Hardcover

Kindle Covers

The more I use my kindle, the more I think that amazon missed out on something really slick. Rather than one of their generic screensavers - which admitably are pretty cool! - I think that they should display a random book cover on the screen when the device is off. Along with the items I listed here, I'm really missing seeing the cover of the book every time I pick it up to start reading. Perhaps with the next kindle OS?

Related Posts:

Thoughts upon My Entry to Kindle Nation

Gilded Covers

Judging a Book by it's Cover

Judging a Book By Its Cover

I'm a sucker for a good book design. When done right, a good cover not only gives you a good indication of what the book is about, but emphasizes it's major themes in a subtle way. My favorite example of this point is the huge ampersand in the cover of Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon.Not only did the esoteric design of the ampersand reinforce the antiquated prose stylings of the text, but it also drew attention to the fact that the book was about borders, the line between the "and" and the "or", and also about the relationship between Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon.

I mention this because I've been reading through my backlog of Harpers magazines lately and wanted to share what I thought were some excellent covers. To the left we have some very simple, modern designs from the University of Texas Press. Nice and clean, if perhaps a touch too sterile for my tastes, although I love the understated design of Killer on the Road. More interesting to me are the quirky designs of the DalKey Archive Press books on the right. They remind me of the incredible film poster design work coming out of Poland in their expressiveness. The purple forest and shrinking text of The Faster I Walk, The Smaller I Am is my favorite of this batch, although the daunting image for Isle of the Dead is also very impressive - it looks like the above ground cousin of Michael Mazur's illustrations for Pinsky's translation of The Inferno.


Not that it's of great importance, but I bet that the collection of the UoT Press books must look good together on the bookshelf, which the DalKey books probably don't look like they're of a piece. Not that it's all that important, but I do love how all of my Vintage editions of Philip K. Dick books look on the shelf together.

I haven't read any of these books, so I can't speak about how accurate they are in their representation of the stories behind the artwork, but I thought they were too good looking not to share.


Any good looking book covers you've seen recently? (Other than 1Q84, of course.)

Related Posts:
Gilded Covers
1Q84: Hardcover
Book Shelves
Book Shelves Part II

Book Shelves, Part III

Here's a picture of my hardcover bookshelf, featuring 1Q84.

See anything you like?

Related Posts:

Book Shelves, Part II

Book Shelves

1Q84: Hardcover

Book Shelves, part II

Inspired by Todd's post, I thought I'd share one of my shelves as well.

I like to take the dust jackets off my books.  Somehow, they feel more solid that way, and it is also easier to create a harmonious line of books.

1Q84, of course, is the exception since it doesn't work without the dust jacket . . . I have no idea where I'm going to put it!

Related posts:

Book Shelves
1Q84: Hardcover

Book Shelves

Did a little of book reorganizing this weekend: one of my favorite pastimes. See any titles you like?

Two of My Bookshelves

Moving Book Covers

Spike Jonze collaborated with Olympia Le-Tan on a  fun short film called Mourir Auprès de Toi. What makes it relevant here is that it's set in an old bookstore, and features embroidered stop-motion animation of Le-Tan’s illustrations of iconic first-edition book covers. Books come to life! Ah - a nerd's dream.

As an aside, I hope that e-books and kindles won't ruin the art of the book cover. I've always been a sucker for good cover art!

Related Posts:
1Q84: Hardcover