Hi guys, I am currently working on the 2nd last stage of my book. The cover design stage. The final stage would be sending the pdf file to the printers stage. This book is non-fiction and it's my work memoir. It contains stories about security guards and that's why I went with Guards Gone Wild! for the title. Anyway, I have just received the latest sample from my designer and I have obtained his permission to share it on public forums for the purpose of polling. Art is not my strong point so I would greatly appreciate suggestions from those of you who know a thing or two about graphic design. My question here is: Should this be the cover design for my book? Or Not? Please feel free to comment with a yes or no.
I think it depends. Is your second option better than this one? Also, the 'LOH TECK YONG' should be a little lower for it to look better~
Thanks for the suggestion about the author's name. This is actually the second option. The first option was a rougher version of this design.
To be honest, the yellow stands out, and the title (plus front) looks nice. It's alright, if you want something simple.
Is this the exact cover design for your text or will there be slight changes before it is published? I feel like the font style for your name does not work well with the background. It looks awkward.* Do some more adjustments or change the style.* Furthermore, I feel like this cover design has been done since it is very simple.* Maybe add a mini-security guy holding the microphone? (Don't know if that has been done yet?) Or, something else that pops out in your text. Also, does your memoir contain some comedic element? The vibes I am getting from your cover makes me assume your text is a comedy. (If yes, then the yellow is nice. But if no, then the yellow needs to change.) Overall, the cover seems good, but there needs some tiny improvements to make your text stand out. *Some things have already been mentioned by others.
From an academical point of view, you'll definetly stand out. I am writting a thesis myself, and as a fellow in suffering, here what I would do: -use milder colours (universities tend to be conservative and restreint) -use an illustration with a direct link to my subject (why a loud speaker for security guards? If you can justify it, it's ok) -add the name of the university, the name of the jury who will juge your memoir or at least the professeur who followed you during your research, the year (but maybe you have different rules about that, and you can forget it) - add a subtitle to explain the title : why do the guards go wild? How? I have so many questions about that. If you want to go with that cover, go, it's nice, but a little bit incomplete to my mind. Good luck for your thesis defense! (Mine is tomorrow TT)
Ah no. Guards Gone Wild! is a non-fiction book. My work memoir. It's a collection of short stories about the security industry. As for the loudspeaker... Because I was in an angry mood when I wrote the stories? That's why I asked the designer to get some angry-looking fonts. This book is basically me shouting out to the world about the injustice and so on and so forth about the industry. So I can't add the name of my university or anything like that. I wish I could add some text saying that this's a bestseller or whatever but I can't do that either.
Yellow does stand out, but it's also off-putting as well. Yellow, red, and brown makes me feel like I'm looking at a hot dog. Maybe that's just me. I agree with adding a guard in there. Before reading the suggestion, I was already going to suggest having someone in the background doing something related to partying. Perhaps a necklace of flowers or Hawaiian shirt added over a security uniform with a beer in hand as the guard has his feet up at the security desk. Honestly, what you have right now could have been done by yourself with no money as long as you downloaded a copy of GIMP (which is free). I think they even have the mega-phone in the shapes library. If you're paying a designer, then have them offer up some more suggestions. They're a resource, so don't constrain them. Let them get creative and you might be surprised. Also, since your title is misleading and it's not a comedy of interesting stories, but your "anger" being unleashed, then add a sub-title. It'd help capture more attention.
I have completly misunderstood then. Memoir has the same sense as thesis were I live. Sorry for the spam! Since you were angry, I conclude that security work must be really tough. Hang in there! As for the cover, I would really like a subtitle (as journal of a security guard, or anecdotes from the security post etc ) to explain what the guards gone wild mean. And I would be really interested in reading it.
The concept is good but the execution could use refinement. There are a lot of parts that still look unfinished as far as design goes. In the future, if you want good quality work, you should hire a professional designer or even a student with a nice portfolio. There are a lot of graphic design students who work cheaply just so that they can build their portfolio. Not that you should take advantage of them, but, well. I redesigned your cover to make it cleaner. Here's a link to the photoshop file, you can do with it as you like - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GW08nkw5_vNFLD7wB0zfmbyfOVz5MC1C Note that I don't have commercial printing rights for these typefaces so you would have to switch out the type for your own or purchase the rights. The title type is 'Crappy Dan' (bold all caps) and the sub type is 'Tw Cen MT'.
i think replacing the mic with the one ars made would be good. the one in the original cover looks out of place.
I think so too. I already had a discussion with my designer and he has made changes. Once the new design is ready, I will post it here and everyone can vote on it again.
Yeah. The original megaphone looked like cheap clip art. The blurry drop shadows on the font were kind of ugly too. Honestly the whole thing looked very graphicdesignismypassion.png, Ars' version is much better, and just so you don't have to rip their free work, I'll list the main points as to why: - Much better use of space. The other one looks very empty, lots of negative space. Hog your cover more. - High contrast of the black outline on the yellow. Red straight onto yellow blends and doesn't pop as much. - The title font is still energetic, but isn't as messy to read. It's good to want an energetic and exciting font, but it still needs to be legible. Look at it from different sizes. One thing about the original though... I sort of liked the idea behind it? Like the words were coming out of the megaphone like it was being screamed out of it, I felt thematically it was good, but it didn't nail the execution. The original megaphone clip art was so small it felt meaningless, the font was difficult to read, the cheap sound lines coming out around it just looked tacky - as did the cheap drop shadows on the font. Please, it's 2018, end drop shadows on font. Overall it didn't quite capture the feeling of what was essentially a good idea. But if it was just a mock up of what they were aiming for and were going to do a polished version, it's fine? You call it a sample so I don't know what stage it is. Here's a 5 minute mock up of how I'd approach the concept, because I really do kind of like it: Higher contrast and pop with a slightly darker yellow in the background but that's really up to your printing options. Bold black outline on the megaphone to make it stand out more, borrowing from Ars, white background bubble under the text but in the shape of a shouting speech bubble, pinching and skewing the text to give it more energy and direction. Just overall drop the tacky superfluous elements like the weird lines, keep the simple design, double down on the concept of the title being shouted out of the megaphone. And of course, the addition of "A memoir by" over the author credit. Most memoirs do this, and it does look a little classier.
Okay, this is the new cover from my designer. Does it look better than the previous one? Borrowing from Ars' idea, I asked my designer to place the speech bubble and loudspeaker in the same places. But we made an explosive speech bubble instead of a softer-looking one. And did our own loudspeaker of course. Feel free to vote on this design.
Well, now I'm going to go back on my stuff and say that I like the direction @zloi medved took it... There was a lot of energy and impact, especially in the type treatment. Plus it was easy to read! I think it shows that the designer's concept is great. But they don't have the knowledge yet to make a polished piece of work, yet. Here are the things I think could be made better in the cover you just posted. -Change the typeface. The scratchy type looks difficult to read now on the white background. A thicker handdrawn font like the one zloi used would be nice. -Move the text bubble closer to the center and away from the edges of the picture. Right now it's in a 'tense' spot where the edges are sooort of touching but not really, making it look uncomfortable. -Try making the outside edge of the megaphone thicker? For this cover, you want everything to be loud and bold. The relatively thin lines of the megaphone don't work with the thick lines everywhere else. ALTERNATIVELY you can reduce the size of the speech bubble so that it doesn't overwhelm the megaphone. -Get rid of the drop shadow on the author's name. The typeface also feels like a 'generic' font. Something about it just looks like something you would see on an online picture (which it is) rather than something meant to go to physical print. Maybe try other options. That said, it's not good practice to henpeck the designer like this unless you're paying for additional edits. Whoever is making this will probably want to throw the file at your face if they have to keep starting over for free...
The drop shadow from the last cover design made it a bit hard to read. Especially if the cover is scaled down on a screen. There should also be a real font you can use instead of drawing the title by hand. A suggestion I would make is to mention that it is a memoir like zloi medev did. If I was someone who would be interested in a memoir, I would be looking for that in the title. A Memoir - plain and simple A Memoir: Life In The Security Industry - implies you have legit expertise A Memoir of A Security Officer - more personal Last suggestion, the yellow background doesn't give it a very 'memoir' appeal. It would make it more Memoir-like if you used a photograph of a symbolic place/item in the security industry.