Great book cover designs are visual extensions of a book. Designers wield visual cues instead of words to call out to us as we peruse the library shelves or the aisles of a Barnes & Noble. The cover sparks your initial curiosity, and you stick around for the story.
Our favorite cover this year is Jessica Svendsen’s design for Jacques Rancière’s The Intervals of Cinema. Svendsen molds two images together with rectangular bars as visual intervals, and aligns the type in these breaks. The black contrasting with the flesh tones creates a cinematic tone. The images are strategically arranged to censor the eyes, and it’s like looking through the slats of blinds into another scene. Another compelling jacket design is for Mark D. Jordan’s Convulsing Bodies: Religion & Resistance in Foucault. Designer Anne Jordan overlays the book title on an image of intertwined fingers. The breaks of the type create a dynamic trip for the eye down the page.
Here’s our collection of the best book covers of 2014.
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The City Under The Skin by Geoff Nicholson | Oliver Munday
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Give Me Everything You Have On Being Stalked by Jason Lasdun | Julia Connolly
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In Case of Emergency by Courtney Moreno | Sunra Thompson
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The Martian by Andy Weir | Eric White
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The Bees by Laline Paull | Steve Attardo
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Resurrection by Wolf Haas | Christopher Brian King
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Playing For The Commandmant by Suzy Zail | Matt Roeser
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No Country by Kalyan Ray | Christopher Lin
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Mistakes I Made At Work Edited by Jessica Bacal | Jaya Miceli
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Karate Chop by Dorthe Nors | Carol Hayes