How a cover layout specialist works

As you are aware with subject matter, the formal aspects of visual composition can be
likened to the grammar of language. In writing, a story is written with words – the subject
matter. Essentially, good literature is more than words and cover layout/illustrations are
more than pictures.

In literature the organisation, sentence structure, style, and so on can make or break a story
whereas with covers, the arrangement of formal elements can make or break a good layout
or idea. The cover specialist will successfully use design principles and apply them to the
visual elements of a story, we often call this ‘visual grammar’. Our experienced cover
specialist are encouraged to develop and experiment with the ‘visual grammar’ as this is
their profession, honed by years of experience. Design matters for two important reasons:
It’s what gets people to pick up your book in the bookstore or click on the thumbnail when
browsing online.

The end result with a cover specialist is a cover that is balanced, professional and takes into
account the multitude of nuances required for a successful cover, including but not limited to
‘the 25% thumbnail image rule; trends in cover layout; a design that helps tell your story.

Cover design principles

This list is an example list only.

• Emphasis - is about dominance and influence. Most cover specialists place elements off
centre and balance it with some minor themes to maintain our interest. Some cover
specialists avoid emphasis deliberately as they want all parts of the work to be balanced and
equally interesting.
• Harmony - Creating complementary layers and/or effects can be joined to produce a more
attractive whole. Like a musical song, the whole is better than the sum of its parts, such as
just the sounds of a tambourine. The composition of text and illustrations is complex, and
yet it is designed to fit with everything else. Again, the whole is better than the sum of its
parts.
• Unity - When not one element distracts from the whole, you have unity.
• Opposition - utilising contrasting visual concepts principles. For example, various colours,
dark and light, big and little, curved and straight, dark and light (low key - high key), open
and closed (in the frame and extending beyond), soft and hard, smooth and rough, positive
and negative (subject and background), dark and light, parallel and branching, spiral and
concentric, and so on.
• Balance - is the consideration of visual weight and importance. It is a way to compare the
right and left side of a composition. Symmetrical or asymmetrical balance, informal or radial
balance.
• Variety - In visual composition or creating 'visual grammar', there are many ways you can
change something while concurrently keeping it the same. Variety occurs when elements are
changed such as repeating a similar shape but changing the size can or keeping the same
size but changing the colour. That said, too much in variety can lead to a cluttered look.
Balance is import.
 • Depth - If manipulating the effects of depth, space and projection this can add interest. In
the real world, linear perspective makes things look smaller the further away it is. Some
illustrators and cover specialist will manipulate for realism others not so much. Colour
saturation, sometimes called 'colour intensity' or brightness can also give a feeling of depth
and space. Overlapping is often used by cover specialists to create depth.

These are just some of the design principles our cover specialist will review when creating a cover.
They are also working to your budget (Standard Cover / Premium Cover / Advanced Cover) in the
best way they can.