The Futurist

More little plastic people, last seen on the Sarah Vowell and Will Self books. Looks like we've got a trend!

Talk Talk

Can you say impact? Sure you can.

Malinche

I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but here's yet another design that really suffers from the use of computer type. Hand-letters of the world, unite and take over!

Stradivari's Genius

I don't love either of these, but the first one (the hardcover) proves that less is definitely more.

An Award-Winner from Turkey

I get a lot of satisfaction from doing this blog. Without a doubt, one of the cooler things is hearing from readers from other countries. People from Germany, England, the Philippines and Greece are among those who leave comments and make this a better blog. To wit:

Hi,
I take the Turkish Society of Graphic Designers "GMK", TÜYAP Book Cover
Design Award 2006 for the second time. I'm very happy... You can see
the cover from my weblog: http://www.utkulomlu.com

Thank you.
Best wishes;
Utku Lomlu,
From Istanbul-Turkiye

So meet our new friend Utku Lomlu and check out the award-winning work:



Only one question: what's the bell-shaped white object?

Heat

I am a big believer in "simple is best, and the simpler, the better." Thus I love this -- but only in principle. It seems to me that the colors are all wrong. I get the use of yellow -- but what's with the blue? Isn't a warm / hot palette needed here?

Digging to America, US and UK versions

I'm not sure that the stars around the border really add anything, but overall I like this: a great illustration, and simple, effective type.



And a thousand times better than the UK cover:



No, wait. Make that two thousand times better.

The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia

When you've got a schnozz, um, profile as recognizable as Dylan's, you can get away with having no text on the front cover.

Icebergs

Frequent readers know that this is the kind of Photoshoppery of which I am just not a fan.

Collected Stories of Amy Hempel

Repetition as a design tactic often produces brilliant results, but not here. And this further convinces me that vertical type almost *never* works.