Top Ten Tuesday: June 24, 2014 – Top Ten Cover Trends I Love/Hate

TTT

It’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the wonderful blog at The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s topic: 
Top Ten Cover Trends I Love/Hate

OOOH what a fun topic. I jumped on it as soon as I saw it! There have been a lot of covers I really enjoy and some that I’m just tired of seeing the same things over and over again… I’m sure the same goes for you, so let’s discuss!

LOVE

Typography: I looooove good typography and I love seeing it on covers! I think too many images on a cover can sway me about what I think characters look like or what places look like, or even just bad images can cheese it up. As long as you have a good font, I don’t think you can go wrong!

    

   

A specific moment in the book: I love reading a book and realizing that the cover is THIS MOMENT EXACTLY. I actually heard Shannon Messenger speak once about her cover and she said she even tweaked the book a tiny bit to match the cover! (The girl’s hair was supposed to be a in a braid so she changed it to be loose.)

    

Matchy covers for non-series: I think it’s really neat when authors have matching covers, even if their books aren’t a collective series. It’s neat to see them and be able to identify that it’s the same author!

  

    

Ombre/Rainbow: I just love rainbowy and ombre covers. They’re just so prettyyyyyy. What more can I say.

    

    

Minimalist: Rainbow Rowell has some pretty great sort of minimalist covers. Sometimes you don’t need a lot to have a great cover! The images connect with the books, the font is great, and it’s not overdone.

           

Great Art: I love really good artistry on covers too! Fairytales for Wilde Girls really depicts so many aspects of the book and I love the artwork! The Raven Boys is just amazing. Look closely at that cover next time you pick it up… That bird is painted on there and you can see the brushstrokes!

            

I Just Love It. No real explanation. I just love everything about it.

            

HATE

Cut Off Faces: What is the point of this? I can I finish the covers myself? Great idea!

            

Seems like they just didn’t care… Did anyone care about these covers? Or was this just slapped together and everyone said, “Sure, that works.” I mean, honestly. I get so upset about books like The Book of Broken Hearts and The Summer I Became a Nerd because I LOVED them and they got such crappy covers. How does such an epic series like A Song of Ice and Fire get such boring covers? Come on, guys. Don’t be lazy.

    

     

Girls in Dresses: Of course this is a classic one that everyone hates. I don’t mind girls in dresses but when it has nothing to do with the book? Yeah. I do. Like Sweet Evil…. Anna once said she never wore dresses. So why the hell is she in a prom dress…?

        

Things That Have Nothing to Do With the Book: What do these flowers have to do with Sisters In Sanity? And sure, I guess that could be Rose on the cover of Confessions of an Angry Girl, but this cover in no way represented the feel of the book well. The necklace? The nail polish? So… so what? I thought from the cover that it would be some silly, mean girls book and it was soooo not.

        

Misrepresentation of Characters: Shadowlands is the only one I can think of offhand, but I hate it when characters are misrepresented on covers. The main character is blonde, not brunette. She dresses very simply. Not a fancy person by any means. In fact… her SISTER is the brunette and she’s the one who wears skirts and nice clothes. So does this mean her sister is on the cover? Why is her sister on the cover of her book? I actually really like the cover but hate that the main character is not the girl on the cover.

Copycats/Too Close to Other Covers: It was bad enough that I couldn’t stop comparing The Testing to The Hunger Games while I was reading, but did their covers REALLY have to be so similar? Probably what marketing was going for but I think that’s a cheap cop out to try to get people to compare it to THG.
I also hate when stock photos are used like The Trouble with Flirting and The Kissing Booth. Definitely two very different works by two very different authors. But same stock photo/models pop up on both. Sigh.

       

       

Mistakes: It took me a while, but I saw a mistake on the cover of All Our Yesterdays (and the spine). So the numbers are Roman numerals… But why is the four “IIII” instead “IV”? Oops. No good explanation for that one.

Multiple Offenders: Richelle Mead’s covers for the Vampire Academy series and spin-off Bloodlines series. SO BAD. So cheesy — like soap opera cheesy — plus cut off faces, plus things that don’t really seem to pertain to the books… And they continued it with Bloodlines! That was your chance to start anew! To make these covers better!!!! Oh well.

       

So those are my praises and my gripes! What do you think? What kind of covers do you fall in love with? Which ones do you automatically loathe? 

Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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26 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: June 24, 2014 – Top Ten Cover Trends I Love/Hate

  1. Melissa @ Bookmark Dragon

    I agree with just about everything! I love simple covers (Eleanor & Park) but it can get too simple sometimes and make me think that the cover was an afterthought. Great art and cool typography can really make a cover for me, while bad photoshop or white washing totally breaks it!

    Reply
  2. Nicole @ The Quiet Concert

    I agree with you on a lot of these, especially typography and minimalist covers. I typically don’t like face/close up covers and girls in dresses when it has nothing to do with the book. And the VA/Bloodlines covers are pretty terrible hah

    Reply
  3. Quinn @ Quinn's Book Nook

    Holy cow The Trouble with Flirting and The Kissing Booth’s covers are SOOO similar. That is crazy.

    I actually don’t mind girls in dresses covers, but it has to make sense that the girl is wearing a dress.

    I love Simple covers the most, though. Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, ooooh that covers are AWESOME. And a definitely yes to interesting typography.

    Reply
  4. Mel@thedailyprophecy

    Recently I’ve been paying attention to titles and fonts. I love a cover with some good typography on it 😀 Love letters to dead is my favorite one from those. Matching covers for non-series is so much fun. I like it when I can recognize the author. Art/illustrations is my favorite thing 🙂 I also love those covers just because I love them!

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Oh wow!! I mean, it’s very catching, but no. What a misrepresentation that would have been!!!

      Reply
  5. Asti

    I had no idea about All Our Yesterdays, but you’re so right! How weird. I haven’t read it yet (though I do have a copy), but when I’m do I’m going to totally be hunting for a reason why the four is represented as IIII. There surely must be a reason. I refuse to think otherwise!

    And I actually think that’s quite cool about Let The Sky Fall. We tend to complain when covers don’t match books, so when an author recognizes this and is willing to do something to help fix it, that’s pretty amazing. I mean, obviously it shouldn’t be their responsibility in the first place since they already wrote the book, but still, I think that’s pretty cool.

    Oh, and yes yes yes to everything else. My TTT list, if I still did them, would be pretty similar. Though I do have to admit, sometimes I am a sucker for girls in pretty dresses… Whoops 😛

    Reply
  6. Terri @ Starlight Book Reviews

    I looooove the swirly, artsy covers like The Raven Boys. That cover in particular was so fitting because it was light and dark, kind of understated and mystical, a lot like the book itself. (I freakin love that series, I swear.)

    The cover for Anna and the French Kiss put me off reading it for so long, and then of course when I did read it, it became a new favorite. I’ve probably read it 10 times in the last couple of years. The cover is so cheesy, and just kind of like a pose you’d expect to see on an advertisement for a new kid show on Nickelodeon or something. I’m not sure how I feel about the new covers though – they’re a little generic for my taste.

    The thing with the clock on All Our Yesterdays? I’ve seen that on real clocks out in the world, and there’s actually a reason! Or at least, this article (https://www.facebook.com/notes/js-watch-co-reykjavik/have-you-ever-wondered-why-the-roman-numeral-for-4-on-watches-and-clocks-read-ii/433524526255) that gives a bunch of potential reasons. The most common one is that it’s for visual symmetry, so the watch wasn’t oddly imbalanced. WEIRD!

    Reply
  7. Cassi @ My Thoughts Literally

    Amazing list! I’m with you completely on so many of these points. The worst is the copycats and the lazy covers. I don’t dislike the A Song of Ice and Fire covers but they just don’t make much sense to the actual story. The goblet on A Feast for Crows is the worst, put that one on A Storm of Swords. And A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons should have crows and dragons. Call me literal but they are big parts of the story and whoever designed those covers seemed to just throw on an image that signifies epic fantasy and called it a day!

    Now to end on a happy note, I also love ombre/rainbow colors and minimalist covers. Rainbow Rowell’s covers are always fantastic for the simplicity and the color schemes!

    Reply
  8. Nikki

    NOOOOOOOOO, I can’t unsee that IIII thing on the cover of All Our Yesterdays! And I loved that cover!!! D:

    Totally agree with you about the cut-off faces, and the “they didn’t care” covers. I think all of those seem lazy – slap a face on the cover who kind of looks like the MC (or, you know, totally not!), and call it good. Or a boring stock photo and some swirly font for the title and voila! No. O_o

    Reply
  9. Jennifer from YA Book Nerd

    Great list! Loved it. I love when the covers look similar for one author – easy to spot and easy for readers.
    I agree about Richelle Mead covers -super bad, but the books are so good
    and yes, I hate it when the cover doesn’t match the book or just doesn’t make sense.

    Reply
  10. Amanda

    OMG the Richelle Mead covers make me so thankful for my kindle. Love the books, but those covers are the worst. I would be too embarrassed to read those on the train!

    Reply
  11. Inge

    Ah, the girls in pretty dresses. They look gorgeous and I will be the first to admit that I am a sucker for beautiful dresses, but like you said, it usually doesn’t have anything to do with the story. AND the story usually sucks balls, haha. I hadn’t thought about the ombre/rainbow trend, but they look gorgeous!

    Reply
  12. Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Book Blog)

    I LOVE your picks this week!!! Like really really love!! I also really love it when after you read a book you realize how much the cover actually ties in!! Like the cover designer actually read the book!! Because YES the Shadowlands cover designer clearly did NOT!! I like the cover of that book, but it have NOTHING to do with the book. NO fancy clothes, and the girl is blonde! But there is a blonde on the BACK of the book?? Weird! Confessions of an Angry Girl… I think the necklace does have something to do with the story. I’m not 100%, but Robert gives her a necklace?? Or she just wears one for some particular reason? Anyway I know there is a necklace scene. AND lastly, I HATE hate hare all of Richelle Mead’s covers… they’re just bad!!

    Reply
  13. Sarah

    You did such an amazing job on this TTT!! So many great selections for your faves and some pretty hilariously bad one’s for your hates! LOL! I can’t get over the covers that are using the same stock photography…cracks me up! My fave has to be the ombre books you selected…soooo so pretty! All those gorgeous colors!

    Reply
  14. Danielle @ Love at First Page

    I pretty much agree with all of your choices – the good and the bad haha. I had trouble thinking of trends I liked last night, but yeah, you definitely nailed them! Typography for sure – a cool font always stands out. Also, I never would have thought of this – but I also love covers that showcase a certain scene in the book. It’s a nice “oh cool!” moment while I’m reading. I really dislike big faces on covers in general… I don’t really want to know in that much detail what the characters look like haha.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Haha *high five*! So glad we agree 😀 I agree — I don’t like to be “shown” too much of what a character looks like. I’ll either picture them exactly like the cover OR have a picture in my head that looks NOTHING like the cover and it throws me off!!

      Reply
  15. Haley

    I’m a graphic design major and I’m always critiquing cover. Maybe not allowed, but in my head and on my blog. I really love the cover of All Our Yesterdays, and now I see that mistake. Someone should had proofed the cover and noticed that.

    Reply
  16. Ginger @ GReads!

    I chose typography for my favorite cover trend. I’m a sucker for these and will more than likely pick up a book at the bookstore or library if they have this type of cover. I’ve never been a fan of Richelle Mead’s covers. I think they appeal to a certain audience though. Rainbow Rowell has some of the best covers. The minimalist approach suits her stories. I’ve never been a fan of the “girls in dresses” covers and I agree that it’s annoying when they choose a cover like that and the story has nothing to do with it. Remember the original Shatter Me cover? Ugly and did not fit the story, in my opinion.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      I just looooove typography! I definitely think it’s a growing trend too, but one I’m glad to see!
      Ohh I forgot about the Shatter Me cover! That dress… I mean, it was a nice dress but how was that fitting to the story? LOL

      Reply
  17. Anne @ Lovely Literature

    Sweet Evil was on my list too, but for the terrible faces the models are making, and her my stomach hurts pose. I just…? I do love Rainbow Rowell’s covers too. It’s the combination of illustrations, keeping it simple, and nice typography!

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Haha yes!! I loved Sweet Evil and really enjoyed Sweet Peril (still have to get to Sweet Reckoning) but on SR… HONESTLY. HER EYE IS HALF CLOSED. That just bothers me.
      Thanks for commenting!!

      Reply
  18. Allie @ Little Birdie

    Agree on the matching covers for all of the authors books, especially in YA. It’s nice to have similar designs and a consistent ‘theme’. Though I have to say, I’m not a fan of the Sarah Dessen redesigns, which just make all of her books look so ‘samey’

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Ohhhh, good point. I do agree for Sarah Dessen’s new covers they’re maybe a little bit TOO similar. Hmm maybe that should only apply to a certain number of books when they’re not a series? That’s a tricky one!!

      Reply

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