Book Design Cover - It is ALL Right by Isabel M. Hickey

I decided to go right from the sketches to working on the project this week, without getting distracted. These book cover designs are shown in order: The final draft, the first workup and the original cover.

While I liked the colorful book cover, I decided to add gold text as the new element required by the design brief, and I was glad I did! The black, with the appropriate shadowing makes the title stand out so much better. It also has a way of pulling they eye to the center, to see the shadowy man on his journey. I think it uses the Law of Pragnanz -- that we want to see the most simple stable image.

I think this is a cover that would catch the eye and draw people in. It was fun to do the gold. I could not figure out how to turn the barcode gold, but that would be my preference. The white draws away a bit from the contrast and the idea of coming out of the blackness to the shining gold print.

This is the first attempt. Although I like the colors, it comes off to me as chaotic, and draws my eye to the wrong place, namely the center of the spine instead of the center of the cover. 

And here is the original again for reference.