Support the Book Design Review. Or Just Buy Some Because They're Cool

I've created a series of postcards and greeting cards based on some scans from one of the greatest things in my possession: a "My First Communion" booklet from the 1930s. I've posted three of them here, but there are others at:

http://www.bellyitcher.com

If you're a fan of graphic design, religious kitsch (or both), you might enjoy these.

Novels by I.J. Parker

Design by Julius Ohta

Saw Black Arrow in a store window this afternoon. I think the treatment around the title and author name drew my attention as much as the illusration. The colors are a little flat, both in real life and in this scan.

I didn't know, though, that this is a book in a series, and that the colors on the other books are rich and saturated. But what they might gain from vibrant color they lose in placement of the blurb for the series. It's much better placed on Black Arrow.

Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion

Designed by Lynn Buckley


If not wholly unique, this simply and clearly communicates what the book is about - a woman's conversion to Christianity and her founding a food bank.

The typeface used for the title makes me think of goth metal bands, though...

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Irrationality

If you've spent the weekend drinking, you might want to take a pass on this one.

Read the Oliver Sacks blurb at the top and the Richard Dawkins blurb on the bottom -- or just keep reading this sentence -- and tell me that the middle figure spins as your eyes scan the words. Please tell me that's happening to you as well, or else it's time for me to go to the optometrist.

On Beauty, UK and US (paperback)

It took me a minute to see the female figure in the UK version (top). Beautiful. I don't dislike the US version (bottom), but this race isn't even close.




Buy the U.S. paperback from Amazon.com

The Ruling Caste

Designer name TK


Need some help thinking this one through. This is a wee bit too busy for my taste, and while at first I thought it was because of all the ornaments, on second thought I think it's the letterforms that are pushing this over the edge. It certainly helps that the ornaments on the top haven't been colored in -- had they been, I think this would have burst into flames.

What do you think? Too busy? If so, what makes it too busy?

After Dark

I get *really* excited about new Murakami novels for two reasons:

1. I love Murakami novels. I like his short fiction; I *love* his novels.

2. Knopf (usually Mssrs. Gall and/or Kidd) always does such a wonderful job with the Murakami books. Looks like another home run to me, and a long wait until May 8 when it's released.

Interesting that "A Novel" is placed right in the middle of the cover. This here blog gets more comments about the use and placement of "A Novel" than pretty much any other design-related issue. Personally, from what I can tell from the scan I like it; it draws my eye deep into the cover and enhances the three-dimensionality that the photo and the overlay treatment create.

Buy this book from Amazon.com

More Fun with the NY Times Magazine

Metamorphosis & Other Stories

So brilliantly Penguin Modern Classics. I want to move back to England when I see something like this. :-)

On Michael Jackson

Some might remember the hardcover of this book, which baffled a number of us. There's a certain philosophic pretension that comes with titling your book On Michael Jackson (or On Truth, or On Bullshit, etc etc) and an aesthetic that comes with it. Whatever we think of this new paperback, at least it makes sense, which is something that couldn't be said of the hardcover.