Interesting 2012 Book Cover Designs

Posted on January 4, 2013

The New York Times asked people working the graphic design world, including book publishing industry art directors, to suggest their favorite book covers of 2012.

The result is a collection of 19 unique and interesting covers from 2012, published in a slideshow on nytimes.com. The slideshow also includes comments from the people recommending the cover about what makes the cover appealing. Sometimes the cover art is directly related to the book and sometimes it is just an attractive design that draws your eye.

The cover of Nick Harkaway's Angelmaker is both interesting and related to the book. The book jacket was designed by Jason Booher. Blue Rider Press art director Gregg Kulick tells the New York Times, "Walking past it in the store, you immediately want to figure it out. In addition to being eye-catching, I also love the fact that there is real content relating to the book on the cover."

The unusual artwork on the cover of Michel Houellebecq's The Map and the Territory may not be directly related to the book, but it can draw a reader's eye. Vintage and Anchor Books art director Megan Wilson told the Times, "I have no idea what this cover means and it shouldn't even work - it's barely legible - and yet it's so different from anything else that it begs to be studied closely and then taken home."

Cover art is important because it might convince a potential reader to take a closer look at a book in a bookstore. Online it might help get a reader to check out some reviews or read a first chapter. Dan Poynter explains why book covers are so important to selling books in his article, "Covers Sell Books."