Book cover designs of the mid-2020s

I was walking around my local Dymocks this morning, not looking for anything in particular, and thinking how much goes into book cover design these days. Not just the actual design, but the printing too – spot varnish, holograms, embossing and gold leaf weren't all that common in past decades. Here are a few that stood out to me. Although, will I look back on these in 20 years' time and think, "That looks so mid-2020s!"?

Let's Find Out.

You would expect a book about the moon to have a picture of the moon on the cover, right? That's No-Brainer Book Design 101. But the moon is just...a nondescript grey ball. Sorry, but it is. Don't get me wrong, the moon is a wonderful thing. In fact my niece always looks for it in the night sky and I've started giving it more attention than I used to. And this vivid colour treatment used here is pretty dynamic, with its high contrast and sense of gentle rotation and motion. Also, it's a good book, from what I read flicking through it.

A travel book that avoid the usual clichés, instead going for more abstract imagery and vivid colours. Bold typography and spot varnish on this larger-than-A4 hardcover book.

m    i    n    i    m    a     l     i     s     m

I like this one, with its bold orange (or "satsuma" if you will [no]) contrasted by the dark background, with the Eurostile typeface prominent. The only thing I don't like is the extraneous text, and this is far from the only example. Does "The number one bestselling author" really need to be there? Number one where? And when? And which? And also, "A novel" written under the title. Thanks for that, mate. I thought it was a board game, but thanks for setting me straight.

Old-style/vintage typefaces and iconography always score high with me! It's a crappy photo, but you get the idea. For some reason this treatment always works well when there's a character's name in the book's title. "Glorious Revenge" on its own just wouldn't cut it. Don't ask me why. More extraneous text here: I'm also not a fan of pull quotes cluttering up the front cover. No, I'm not particularly interested about what the Sydney Morning Herald had to say about this book. Leave me alone.

As a fan of The KLF and their bizarre antics in the world of late '80s–early '90s house music, I actually want to get this book! But, you know, times are tough. But the design uses the same Compacta Black typeface used on The KLF's cover art, and the lurid pink and yellow is redolent of Never Mind The Bollocks, so that's a plus point too. And the sheep. And just so you know, yes, they actually did burn a million pounds. More power to them.

A simple gold leaf overlay of a dinosaur skull, and simple sans serif typographic layout in a tasteful orang-utan green. The top half isn't actually dark, I just took the photo like that to emphasize the gold lettering. Not that I had much time to set up the shot in a crowded bookstore.

Not the best photo, but hopefully you can see the hologram effect on the book title and other design elements on the cover. Some designs overdo holograms but this one is understated and quite effective. It actually makes me want to learn more about phosphorescence. Well, no it doesn't. I can take it or leave it. But opposite this was a book called "Taylor Swift and the clothes she wears". Zzz. I know which one I'd rather read.

Depending on how long these books stay in print, it's fair to say that these cover designs will not be permanent. Unlike record covers that stay the same regardless of how long the album is in print, book designs are regularly updated and re-designed. (Why is this, I wonder? Can anyone tell me? Hello? Planet Earth, can you hear me calling...)

Sticky Institute Zine Fair II

Oh, happy, happy, joy, joy! Today was Sticky Institute's Zine Fair and for the second year in a row I had a table there (exact same table, too). Last year was not a very enjoyable one, in that I sold bugger-all. Zilch. Nuffink, guv'.

I was rather skeptical about setting myself up for a second session of this annual tedium. But then I began to think about the reasons why I never sold anything last year. It was a zine fair, and primarily I make comics. I hadn't understood the audience of this event. So I actually produced a number of zines by hand, meaning that they were not printed, they were all lettered by hand onto pre-stapled A6-size booklets. I had ten of them. And I sold all except one!

Another customer was kind enough to purchase Airbury Vol. I, so in making ten sales, my sales numbers were up 1000% from last year. And that, dear reader, ain't bad.

To be honest I was beginning to lose the enthusiasm I originally had for producing humour-based illustrative works, since no one seemed to give a damn, and who reads this comic crap, it's all insignificant pablum anyway. But this was a step in the right direction and it increased my confidence once more. It was a pleasure talking with the various people who stopped by my table to talk to me and buy my zines, especially my friend Chris, who was at the table with me for over an hour, and also Steve and Antoinette from SCAR who were once again at the table next to me and keeping a beady eye on how I was doing sales-wise.

So unlike that dismal day in February 2016 I am actually looking forward to doing it all again next year.

One final thing, on the train home I noticed Metro trains have replaced the fabric on the train seats. The old familiar pattern that has been there since before I moved to Melbourne is now gone, and has been replaced with this. But my question is –

How come 'Brunswick' gets to be so big?

Homecooked Comics Festival

I had a table at the 2016 Homecooked Comics Festival today. It was held in the Town Hall in the suburb of Northcote. Want to see some photos from the day? No? Tough.

Here's my table with the four volumes of Airbury Academy, Rob's zines, and a hand-painted Airbury bag.

Comics artist Bruce Mutard was there, and did a series of drawings for the kids.

Meanwhile, a drawing demo was in progress. Here's Steve from SCAR with his motorbike monster...

...and Matt from Pikitia Press working on a similar effort. The drawings were timed.

Finally, here's Michelle and Antoinette from SCAR looking at my zine, Xtra Cheez!

Now, push off!

Four Volumes Of Airbury

Beware the Ides of March! The photo below shows the four volumes of my Airbury Academy series that are now complete. Only two more volumes to go!

That all amounts to over 450 pages of comic art, and a whole heap to go...well, a three-digit number at least.

Sticky Institute Zine Fair

The Sticky Institute is a small shop in Melbourne, located in an underpass beneath Flinders Street Station, which sells zines of all kinds. Robert Scholten and I got a table at their zine fair today, and experienced the "zine scene" for the first time.

Zine production is unabashedly low-tech. A long-arm stapler goes a long way, as does a spare printer. Here's Rob doing some stapling. On the table is the "Never Trust A Songwriter" title card he did in Thailand for the China 5 music video (which I also filmed in Thailand).

The finished zines.

My zine, Xtra Cheez, was available in several flavours.

The Melbourne Town Hall was rather packed. Who's that at the bottom right?

Rob at our table.

Steve Carter of SCAR, with way more titles available than we had.

Antoinette Rydyr of SCAR setting up their extensive catalogue of zines and comics. She also came up with the name of my zine. I picked it from a list and changed the spelling.

Now, naff orf!

Ancient Writings

Ahoy there, matey! Today Rob Scholten and I met up after nearly one and a half years. He's been living in Thailand, you see. On a trip around St. Kilda, I found this old book in a bookshop called Nefertiti. It's a Latin religious text printed in 1733, and published only once. The bookshop owner was only able to locate one other copy in the whole world.

What made this book intriguing was that on the endpaper was half a page of handwriting in that was done in the 18th century – well, it mentions "January 1766", at least. How's your Latin?

I'm On The Shelf

Ahoy, lubbers! 'Tis my very own book, Airbury Academy Volume I, on the shelf at All Star Comics.

If you wanna check 'em out they're at 53 Queen Street in the city most people refer to as 'Melbourne'. If you see my book buy it. Go on, do.

Airbury Academy Volume I

How exciting, it's the proof copy of my second self-published book, Airbury Academy Volume I. Why was the first volume second to be published, and the fourth volume first? There's a good reason, but I can't be bothered explaining it here. Anyway, it looks good!

Airbury Academy IV: Now On Sale!

Here it is, Airbury Academy Volume IV – the comic I've been working on since November 2012, set about self-publishing in mid-February, got my proof copy of on March 6, and received 30 copies fresh from the printer today! I've had work published before in magazines, but never my own book, so this is pretty special.

If you want to buy a copy, you can click here to buy online. Or, you could send me an email and tell me your address, which is easy if you live in Australia. If you don't, the first option may be easier.

Thanks go out to Dave Piper who helped a lot through the pre-printing process and also with the logo you see on this very cover. Check his stuff out at Sunday ink!

Lino Carving: Airbury Logo

I'm gearing up towards the possibility of getting Airbury IV printed, so the cover art has to look decent. After showing the rough version around it became apparent that the logo or header needed to be improved. The rigorous precision of the words "Airbury Academy" in the Trajan Pro typeface looked nice, but didn't really stand out. And if anything has to stand out, it's the title, right?

So the other day I got this small piece of lino I'd had since my TAFE days and transferred the header onto it in reverse, then used my lino-carving tools to carve the lettering in relief.

Using black ink and a roller, I made a few prints onto cartridge paper. Each print was different, with its own 'character'. It gave a pleasingly rustic and handmade look, as befitting the titular Academy which started in the 16th century. The pages above were scanned and a comp image was made...

And dropped into Photoshop, the end result being quite satisfying. Maya will feature on the cover for Volume IV, holding a snowball, or rather a snowman's head with carrot attached. More news on the possibility of the book will be coming soon!