Why size matters for effective book cover design.
Understanding how impactful cover design works will help you massively when you are evaluating your range of cover design options from your designer. It helps you critique the designs and feedback to your cover designer with confidence.
Size matters
We all know about Alice in Wonderland. She is quite mischievous and gets involved with that ‘drink me’ potion and ‘eat me’ cake far too much. Each time she shrinks and grows she remains perfectly proportioned at every size and clearly recognisable as herself. Your cover will also be seen at very different sizes, from a tiny thumbnail on Goodreads or Amazon sites, a paperback in your hand, to even a promo banner at a book event.
The visual elements of your book cover should be just as clear whatever size it is seen.
Be clear as a thumbnail
snapshot of a google search for indie thiller novels covers
What ‘POPS’ first - title, image or name?
Often the first time your readers encounters your book it is as a tiny rectanglular image on a book site, on social media or a google search, surrounded by heaps of other books. Take a look at your cover at that small size, what ‘pops’ first? The different elements are title, image or author name.
Simplicity and Clarity of layout and elements
You want to avoid all these elements merging together into one big blur, where the reader can’t decipher your key message, and scrolls on by.
Contrast of colour
Colour plays a big role in this too, contrast in colour helps to differentiate between visual elements.
What elements do YOU want to be seen first?
It’s choice time! Will it be the title, image or author name?
Having a hierachy to the elements on your cover stops everything competing for attention. Heirarchy doesn’t mean the order of the elements from top to bottom, it relates to what you notice first, second and third. Usually one element stand out the most, and the others support. This makes it easier for the reader to navigate visually around the cover and quickly understand your messaging without having to work too hard.
Title first?
Often the title is what people to remember, so it works well when it is up large. Clarity of reading the title helps them know what to ask for or look up on a search. The font will need to have the RIGHT personality to fit with the message and tone of your book. So no generic bland typefaces here!
COVERS BY BOOKSMITH DESIGN
Image first?
A memorable image or layout of your cover can also be the first thing to ‘pop’. This is great when you want the tone and emotion of your book to be reacted to first. The main image needs to be clear and decipherable at the thumbnail size.
COVERS BY BOOKSMITH DESIGN
Author name first?
Many mainstream authors use this approach. It’s a less popular option for Indie writers tend to drive the genre and message of their book over their names.
Double up
It is sometimes appropriate to have TWO elements on your cover with the same emphasis. The key to sucess is to keep the cover uncluttered with minimal overlapping of type and image.
COVERS BY BOOKSMITH DESIGN
Look to your genre for guidance
Check your cover design options against the bestsellers
It’s advisable to check what is common practice within your genre. If it appears that most people are ensuring the title stands out, it could be beneficial for you to do the same to align with readers’ expectations of the genre. Trends change over time, so keep a close eye on the bestselling books in mainstream and indie categories to see if there is a shift in element heirarchy.