If most book cover designs are conceived as quick-to-metabolize marketing tools, a great one can make the reader do a double take in slow motion. A good first impression is, of course, the goal: to elicit curiosity and excitement before you’ve even picked the book off a shelf. But a great cover can fortify itself in our consciousness, resonating more deeply as we absorb the text within, ideally prompting a second impression after we finish reading.
In a hyper-accelerated culture that rewards scrolling over pausing, that second impression — like the most compelling narratives — becomes a brake pedal, inviting us to stop and breathe, to reconsider the story and its characters on fresh terms. If, after the last page, the world looks more expansive and nuanced, and the cover takes on added significance in our relationship with the planet, it’s likely because that investment of time and concentration created space between our ears to imagine new possibilities. Which is why, despite the more than 150 million unique books in existence today, we still need more of them.
Alphabetical Diaries, by Sheila Heti
Designed by Na Kim
This cover is both an instruction manual for how to read the book and an audacious language experiment. Interlocking the author’s name with her title in the style of a word search, the design demonstrates how the cover’s behavior rhymes with the author’s alphabetical project by singling out an “A,” “B” and “C” with pops of different color. And the type choice clearly signals that this is an experiment we’re meant to have fun with. It’s easy for such distinct tasks to conflict on the face of a book. It’s hard to harmonize them this playfully.
Rooted, by Brea Baker
Designed by Chris Allen
It’s natural for a designer to bemoan having to work with a long subtitle, and inspiring to see one deployed with elegant, civic-minded intent here. In pairing black-and-white photography with a Day-Glo green that feels like it’s jumping off a screen, this cover announces its ambition to use its historical focus as a road map for a possible future.
