The art of book cover design

The very first project in the DP-course is to create book cover designs. How to shape a graphic design telling the book lover anything about the story, and how to transform a package of papers into something attractive? That is the problem, and Anna-Karin Ericsson, one of the students, here explains her ‘how’ and why’.

The "Biodemocracy" book cover designed by Anna-Karin Ericsson

“This book cover is created for a manuscript written by one of my friends. It’s a political/philosophic text about how to restructure society to let the individudal obtain more influence as well as increase democracy. Nature /ecology is in focus, as well as the individual. Also the personal capacity of every single person is more appreciated than what it is in Sweden today.

The author asked for a pure and correct cover “like a Bible or something...”. In his opinion green was the best choice of colour because it connects to the field of environment/biology. In a political point of view it’s also rather neutral.

First I imagined the cover filled up with green blades of grass, but in the end these blades were transformed into green stripes. The white and black colours strengthen the clarity of the green fields and bring the title more in focus. First I tried different colours for the stripes but later on I chosed some green tunes which I think make the cover more sophisticated. Asymmetri is quite important, otherwise the stripes would look dull and heavy, and the impression would lose its living appearance.

I think books are a bit like accessories, the back of the book must look good together with other books in the bookshelf, and the book must look attractive on the coffee table”.