Top Ten Tuesday – November 12, 2013: Top Ten Covers I Wish I Could Redesign

TTT

It’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the wonderful blog at The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s topic:  Ten Covers I Wish I Could Redesign

Well, of course I spent WAY too much time on this, deciding to redesign the covers myself. Therefore, you only get two today because I am in no way a graphic designer and ideas as well as Photoshop take me forever hahaha. The “new designs” aren’t fantastic either (again, lack of skillz), but you’ll get the gist of what I wish they could be!

   newbookofbrokenhearts

The Book of Broken Hearts – Sarah Ockler

This is one of my FAVORITE books and the cover does it no justice. I do love the purple on the original cover but what a STOCK IMAGE. God, I hate that book folded into a heart. The flower, the book, ugh. Just has nothing to do with the book (well, the book does, but not the way it’s pictured. ICK.) so I chose to redesign this cover with something I felt was a teensy bit better. Still not 100% the way I envisioned it in my head, but Photoshoppin’ ain’t easy! I wanted this book once full of love torn up! So there you see the general idea of what I would have liked this cover to be!

    summer

The Summer I Became A Nerd – Leah Rae Miller

Again, not EXACTLY how I wanted the “new” cover to come out, but I just didn’t like this girl’s legs in the background. Her shoes, her costume jewelry, weirdly shiny legs…? Just not working for the cover. That’s not even nerdy. Not a fan of the font either. My re-imagination isn’t exactly how I wanted this to turn out either, but you struggle with Photoshop for a few hours and you take what you can get haha! Anyway, I just wanted it to be a bit “nicer”… If I could have done it the way I wanted it to and not turned out crappy, I probably would have thrown something silly or cute on there like a pair of glasses or formulas or comic books. You know. I tried, but it wasn’t turning out the way I wanted it to, so I settled with summer, whimsical, and neat.

More Covers That Could Use a Facelift…

      

The Beginning of Everything – Robyn Schneider
Sweet Evil (Sweet Trilogy #1) – Wendy Higgins
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) – George R.R. Martin
Sisters In Sanity – Gayle Forman

  • I LOVED The Beginning of Everything and I totally understand WHY the roller coaster is on the cover… But I don’t think it’s a big enough part of the story to be on the cover. Technically, it involved a secondary character AND it wasn’t even a roller coaster like a Six Flags theme park — it was a ride at Disneyland. I don’t think it should be the main focus of the cover although I LOVE the image and the color.
  • I totally fangirled over Sweet Evil when I first read it but… it even stated in the book that Anna wasn’t a girl who wore dresses. So why is she in a prom dress on the cover? She never wore a dress the entire book. It’s a striking cover and gorgeous, but not applicable to the book at all except for the fact that the main characters are on there.
  • A Game of Thrones is a pretty freaking epic book and an epic start to an epic series. So why is the cover so dull? (The rest of the series follows suit…)
  • Gayle Forman’s first YA fiction novel Sisters In Sanity is a little lesser-known but I still really enjoyed it! But what’s up with the cover? I’m not quite sure what the flowers are for…?

      

Life After Theft – Aprilynne Pike
Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver
Bloodlines (Bloodlines #1) – Richelle Mead
Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins

  • Life After Theft was from a male POV… So why is Kimberlee on the cover instead of Jeff?
  • The cover of Before I Fall is kind of scary. You can’t see the rest of this girl’s body and it almost looks like…. it’s not attached to anything? She also looks really young and I actually thought this was an MG book for the longest time. I thought the main character was like, 12 and not in high school. Laying in the field also has nothing to do with the book…
  • I actually didn’t think the Vampire Academy series was TOO bad but for some reason I feel like the Bloodlines series got even more soap opera-looking. I also feel like this burgundy color is just really dark for a background.
  • Lola’s eyes seem REALLY big on the cover of Lola and The Boy Next Door haha. I also feel like aside from the two models on the cover, everything looks really Photoshoppy.

So sorry there are only two actual designs today! I wanted to give you an ACTUAL new cover design instead of just listing them though! The rest you just get listed line by line! I think a lot of these covers could have been designed a BIT more carefully and I wish I could seem the redesigned! I know Lola got a new cover recently but ehhhh. I’m still not a huge fan!

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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23 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday – November 12, 2013: Top Ten Covers I Wish I Could Redesign

  1. Brandy @ A Little of the Book Life

    For claiming no skills you did pretty darn good. lol I like the redesigns (*love* the Ockler book) and I agree with all your choices that could use a facelift. I’m SO glad I’m not the only one who thought that Before I Fall was a MG book with this cover – she does look awfully young to be the age of the main character. And Lola… while the book was really great, that cover (and the redo) does not do it justice one bit.

    Great post! 🙂

    Brandy @ A Little of the Book Life

    Reply
  2. Stormy

    I love your re-designed covers, especially the one for The Book of Brokenhearts! I had the same idea for TTT(actually designing covers), but I gave up on that one quickly, haha. I was too lazy for that.

    Reply
  3. Maggie @ Just a Couple More Pages

    I’ve always liked the book pages in the shape of a heart, but you’re right, it has very little to do with the actual book. I agree with you about The Summer I Became a Nerd, too. I did a worst cover freebie TTT a few months ago and listed that one on there. And visually I love the Beginning of Everything cover, but after I read it I thought the same thing you did about the roller coaster being such a small part of the story and about it not even being that type of roller coaster.

    Reply
  4. Rebecca @ The Library Canary

    I like your new designs! Super cute! 🙂 I totally agree on the GOT covers. They’re so boring! I haven’t read the books yet, but I’m addicted to the TV show. I really want to read the books eventually. Hopefully I’ll get around to them soon. And I think that the Bloodlines and VA covers both suck. You described it perfectly. They look very soap opera-y.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thank you so much!
      The books are LONG but really good! I still need to catch up on the TV show 🙂
      Thanks so much for commenting!!

      Reply
  5. Kristen@My Friends Are Fiction

    You did a great job with your redesigns! I totally agree with all you have listed. I’ve actually not read The Summer I became a Nerd because of the cover. I just couldn’t get past it. Just didn’t ‘look’ like something I would like (not a huge contemporary fan). I like your cover much more! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Nicole

    You are amazing. I think both covers look great but I especially love The Book of Broken Hearts. And The Beginning of Everything is in desperate need of a face lift. Super lame.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thank you!! 😀 😀
      I liked that the cover of The Beginning of Everything related to the book but……. I didn’t feel like it related to the right part of the book to be featured on the cover! It’s very eye-catching though.

      Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      I’ve seen that stock photo on another cover and it especially ruined it for me! I hate seeing stock photos on multiple covers. It just takes away credibility and uniqueness for me! 🙁
      Thanks for commenting!!

      Reply
  7. Hollie @ Music, Books and Tea

    I definitely agree with The Summer I Became a Nerd! I like the cover, but there’s something uncomfortable (to me, at least) with the way she’s standing, and I end up focusing on that more than I should, haha. I totally agree on the Before I Fall cover too, it just doesn’t reflect the story as well as it could.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Definitely!! She’s standing so awkwardly and I don’t know why but I REALLY hate her shoes hahaha. I feel like they’re plastic dress-up shoes you get at Toys R Us haha.

      Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      I can’t decide which I like (or don’t like) more! The originals are super cheesy, but I kind of like that we see the characters on the cover… And with the new ones, I like the colors and the locations but I hate the font and random shape that seems like a place holder. Hmmmm.

      Reply
  8. Jan

    Really interesting topic – I could spend ages re-designing book covers! The ones that bug me at the moment are the Chicagoland Vampire series. Merit is supposed to be badass with her sword and the girl on the front looks like a 5 year old could take it off her!

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      I haven’t read that series yet but I know the covers and…. They could definitely use a re-design! I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but admittedly, sometimes I do!

      Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thanks, Jennifer! 🙂 I just wish the GoT covers were just more…. EPIC! 🙂
      Thanks so much for commenting!

      Reply
  9. Angie

    I like your redesigns! I despise the Summer I Became a Nerd cover, and I wish that all of the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines books would get new covers, without faces. Some cool design would be awesome.
    I liked the original Lola cover, but I LOVE the paperback redesign.

    Reply
    1. Brittany Post author

      Thanks, Angie!! I wish the VA books would have gotten redesigns for their paperbacks… The originals just don’t do them justice!
      I like the new Lola cover (and Anna) but….. I don’t like the font and random shape. It seems cheap and thrown together (to me). I LOVE the colors and the locations on the cover but the font kind of ruined it for me!

      Reply

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