Erik Carter Hideo Yokoyama, Seventeen, design by Alex Merto (MCD) The layout also extends into the interior making this a unified object, something that you don’t see often enough with books. Sarahmay Wilkinson Laboria Cuboniks, The Xenofeminist Manifesto, design by Chloe Scheffe (Verso)īold design, bold colors, bold book cover. Lauren Peters-Collaer Eve Babitz, Black Swans, design by Kelly Winton (Counterpoint)Ī green cover is always a big win! And this type is just the tops. The fractured painting and vivid yellow living together in those impossible geometries is wonderful and intriguing. I remember being involuntarily propelled toward this cover upon seeing it. Tyler Comrie Thomas Pierce, The Afterlives, design by Grace Han (Riverhead) It’s impossible to choose among her covers (.so good, so enviable!), but Sexographies rises to the top for its brilliant simplicity, pop palette, and double entendre. Throughout the reconnaissance conducted for this post, Na Kim emerged a clear winner. Emily Mahon Gabriela Wiener, Sexographies, designed by Na Kim (Restless Books) Stylistically this is such an original and inviting package.
It looks that much more spectacular in person, with the gold background and subtle debossed type. The color and illustration and typography come together so seamlessly on this cover. Alison Forner Ned Beauman, Madness is Better Than Defeat, designed by Tyler Comrie (Knopf)
It also takes full advantage of millennial pink but manages to rise above its use as a publishing marketing ploy. The carefully placed elements tell you this novel is subtly humorous, smart, and slightly off-kilter. It signifies “office” without being a slave to the concept.
The anti-design aspect of this jacket really appeals to me.
Na Kim (8 books) Ling Ma, Severance, design by Rodrigo Corral (FSG) The designer with the most covers on the list: The press with the second most covers on the list: The press with the most covers on the list: Lucia Berlin, Evening in Paradise, design by Na Kim The third-best book covers, with 5 votes each:ĭavid Sedaris, Calypso, design by Peter Mendelsund José Revueltas, The Hole, designed by John Gall The second-best book cover, with 6 votes: Melissa Broder’s The Pisces, designed by Rachel Willey Nico Walker’s Cherry, designed by Janet Hansen But of course, some of them had similar ideas about the best of the best. This year, I asked 27 designers to share their favorite book covers of the year, with a bit about why-and they came back with a whopping 75 different covers of note. We also featured great essays from designers themselves, reflecting on their work: Janet Hansen on Nico Walker’s Cherry, Charlotte Strick on Rachel Cusk’s Outline series, Sarah Wood on Joseph Cassara’s The House of Impossible Beauties, Kimberly Glyder on Gone With the Wind, Roman Muradov on Norah Lange’s People in the Room, and many more.īut it is December, and therefore I am inclined to ask: which book covers were the best? As I did last year and the year before that, I asked the experts: book designers. We gave you a brief visual history of Virginia Woolf’s book covers and treated you to 100 covers for One Hundred Years of Solitude. Here at Lit Hub, we unpacked the biggest book cover trend of the year, compared US covers to their UK counterparts, and remembered the best and worst covers of Lolita as well as Edward Gorey’s own cover designs. 2018 has been many things, but it certainly has not been lacking in great book cover design.