Have you ever stood frozen in a grocery store aisle, unable to decide between the dozens and dozens of options staring back at you? Sometimes, having too many choices can actually make it harder to design effectively. This is especially true when it comes to designing covers for books, which usually have many different characters, settings, themes, and plots. This can cause a designer to be overwhelmed by the freedom of design and creativity they have before them. How do you pick which elements to include one the cover?
A helpful technique when approaching a project that has a lot of freedom is to set limitations for the design based on key elements. You can decide what the key elements of the book are, then choose what visual elements express those elements. Challenge yourself to create new and original limitations for your designs, and you'll be surprised and the inspired ideas that follow!
Click on the limitation below to reveal an example of the limitation.
| Restrict yourself to a specific color palette that matches the tone of the book. | A book on the Civil War will only use blue and gray to represent the North and South sides of the American Civil War. |
| Pull certain plot elements from the book and represent them in visual elements. | A novel about a speech writer might only use letters and words in the cover to represent the main characters profession. |
| Focus on only the tone of the book and not the content. | A book about New York City at night could include lots of visuals; but maybe the designer will limit themselves to only using a black background with yellow circles to represents the city lights at night. |
Limiting yourself will help you focus on the remaining elements of the design without the distraction of all the possibilities. You may also stumble onto creative solutions to issues that come from your limitations. These solutions will help you create unique designs that stand out from other designers who may have taken more traditional design routes.
