E-Book Cover Design For Your Next Project

Book covers are a piece of art, in both their visual and verbal presentation. When we look at a cover we are drawn to it for the dynamic visual presentation. Each cover has layers of concept as well as visuals that bring it to life for the author and the reader.
I don't know many authors who haven't thought of what their cover will look like once the manuscript is finished. With every word they write the cover starts becoming more real. Same with the title of the book, what may have been just a working title becomes the actual title.
However, things can and do change. What was once thought to be the final creative becomes something different when the author begins the production process. After months of living the story it's now time to make it 'real'. It's the job of the book designer to make this happen. To take the authors passion and visualize it. How this is accomplished is as different as each subject and author. It is determined by a series of questions.
Often times when a designer asks the author why they wrote the book they are given pearls of wisdom, a view that the author never realized was there. Yet was the motivator for the project, the passion and within this dialogue the cover begins to take shape.
Layers: Story. Author. Design
Author: what is their vision, the purpose, motivation. A book cover designer is very curious and asks lots of questions until they get the feeling, the direction to begin the cover deisgn.
Story: who is the audience, what are their motivations, what is the era or location of the book. Each factors into the look of the cover, another layer of form and structure.
Design: what is the desired response... shock, question, association, pain, joy. strength or weakness. Color, image and typeface have their work cut out for themselves. The book cover designer takes them all and works them into a unity.
When all the questions are in, all the parts to the why of the cover design, the designer then begins to look for images and thinking of the typeface that will bring it all to life. They consider color, will dark or light colors work for the focus. Will the image be of people or landscapes or both? Will an abstract image help a difficult subject seem less threatening? There is a never ending string of question and perspectives that are covered over the concept research time that builds on each piece once put in place.
Typefaces are like clothes, the dress up the cover, some think they take on masculine or feminine characteristics. Which will represent the books subject best. Will a bold san serif project the strength of the subject or will a complicated serif give the reader a feeling of safety?
So, creating an artful book cover design is like painting layer after layer of creative process and discovery.