Book Cover Design Trends in 2022

Two years into a pandemic, many people were forced to stay at home while our brave front liners sacrificed their lives for the freedom we should have had after this catastrophic time. So, where did the rest of the world indulge themselves? Social media, streaming sites, and books!

So this 2022, though we are close to going back to our pre-pandemic everyday lives thanks to the vaccines and continuous effort to social distance, reading books will be forever a trend. That is why many people today are entering the book publishing business.

And another trend? People will always judge books by their cover designs. Therefore, cover trends will constantly revolutionize how cover designs are planned, designed, and published together with the whole manuscript.

So for a short tour of the world of cover design, please sit back and relax as we discuss it here in the article.

Book Cover Design Basics

Designing book covers is not as easy as it seems to be. Covers have three parts: the front, spine, and back. Creating all of these sections should have balance. Everything should have the same feeling when the readers pick it out of the shelf, and the one that should stand out the most would probably be the front.

Front covers have two parts, imagery, and typography. Imagery can be everything from photos, illustrations, or geometric patterns. It is advised not to over-design book covers with imagery or overpower typography. On the other hand, typography is the font style used for the book’s title, subtitle, and the author’s name.

Meanwhile, the spine is designed. It should still catch people’s attention, not as fancy as others, especially if books are placed sideways in some bookstores. Page numbers of the book will always determine the spine’s width.

Lastly, the back covers are about showing additional pieces of information about the book. The back cover excites the idea about the contents, as it mostly has the book description, book reviews, author’s bio, and the ISBN and barcode. In some hardcover or limited edition book copies, however, back cover designing will go as far as designing the dust jackets.

Book Cover Design Trends

You might be surprised that some book cover designs will resurface and re-trend this year. Trends never fade; they go back whenever it is needed.

Minimalism

Not everyone is a fan of loud book covers in the bookstore. Others might enjoy the minimal cover designs perfect for Instagram stories with your daily sip of coffee.

Minimalist cover designs have clean fonts, less imagery, and are full of white spaces. Yet, it somehow captures the idea that simplicity is better, as it tells its readers that they should focus more on its contents.

Though simple as it may seem, designing books under this trend requires intensive symmetry between the cover and the vibes it might reflect about the book. Selecting the correct graphic elements such as typography and layouts should ensure that it still looks minimalist.

Whitespace of the book cover designs should take the readers’ vision to the main focus, which are the title, subtitle, and author’s name. It should also communicate rightly about its small imagery and symbolic messages through cover designs.

Once executed perfectly, minimalist book design’s effectiveness might take it to the following years of sustaining its trend.

Bold pattern designs

Unlike minimalistic designs, bold pattern designs stand out the most on the bookshelves.

But bold designs are not for everyone. This design should always reflect whatever the soul or theme of the book is. We do not wish to give false hope about a book’s content thanks to a misplaced book design, don’t we?

So if you think your manuscript’s themes are perfect to go full rogue with bold patterns, visual metaphors thanks to custom book cover designs should all be addressed together with bold typography.

The balance should still be present in this trendsetting design. Typographies should never get overpowered by the patterns shown in the imagery; that is why they should look equal to the graphics.

As long as the right balance of features is presented in bold-patterned book covers, add its suitability with the book’s plot and twists, then it might be the perfect formula of why this design keeps on trending every year.

Nostalgic covers

Book cover trend cycles are endless. It might get a hiatus, but witty book publishers will call for its comeback just to perfectly fit the manuscript’s narrative. People like nostalgic and vintage vibes, and this cover might channel the inner old souls that people have today.

Nostalgia vibes through book designs are sometimes resurrected thanks to the manuscript itself. Though a booming trend, this book design is not for all books, primarily if the setting is based on present times.

Notable nostalgic book covers’ starter pack features black-and-white or polaroid-filtered imagery and sometimes typewriter-looking typographic font styles.

Suppose it is non-fiction books like autobiographies or memoirs. In that case, the authors might request the book cover designs and the photographs they kept about the period they tackled.

Embracing such a design trend can be a blessing or curse, given that the power of nostalgia is not picture-perfect as we see in childhood photographs. On the other hand, it might trigger trauma or suspense to some people who had terrible times in the era you are channeling; a wrong move if you want your book for every age range.

Customized illustrations for a book design cover satisfy the idea showcased by the fiction about the book characters and help illustration artists get recognized for their talents.

Illustrations

Illustrated book covers are flexible and can be used by everyone, as it is simple, elegant, or chaotic. Illustrated covers project through the cover and manuscript’s perspective.

Illustrated book cover design is unique and can visually impress readers and bookworms thanks to its authentic and underrated aestheticism. Book cover design is complicated to decide, but with the right people, manuscript reflection, and imagination, it will radiate its beauty in a full bookstore of book design.

The Content Experts PH can help you with book cover design, layout, and other tasks for your self-published book. Contact us today at marius@contentexpertsph.com!