Alright, since this is basicly a typography excercise, i'll play.





Comments:
- publishers (and most likely authors too) like to actually have their name and title clearly visible and readable;
- REALLY BIG LETTERS ain't gonna make it stand out more, instead it makes the thing look like pulp;
- the empty bottom just begs to be used for text;
- flipped the image 'cause it looks better on the right, and this way the vertical axis (running through the mans silhouet) is better aligned with the text;
- why all caps? check the cover of Pattern Recognition... and undercast letters look typographically more satisfying anyway;

so there you go.

and just 'cause i was bored:

bored/obsessive same difference

What does the blurb say? (if it is convenient to translate I can't copy and paste it to babelfish)

cute! (in a spooky kinda way!)

quote:

Originally posted by Fashionpolice:
cute! (in a spooky kinda way!)

LOL, love it! Martin's cover just rocks socks...

I have 14 days before Photoshop expires.

le sigh

quote:

Originally posted by editengine:
What does the blurb say? (if it is convenient to translate I can't copy and paste it to babelfish)

I believe it is standard boilerplate (latin?) used to test text layouts, and not an actual blurb.

yeah, basic filler text, and most likely total gibberish (save for the first few lines, which are always the same) if you would bother to translate it. Been used as filler text in the design world for many centuries, because it looks just like regular text and as such doesn't draw unnecesary attention to itself, even though it doesn't actually say anything.
You can read about the roots of "lorem ipsum" here (that's also where i get all my lorem ipsum texts from).

quote:

Originally posted by cyn004:


I have 14 days before Photoshop expires.

le sigh

Hah, nice, i like the two O's, they look like eyes!
Btw, i can probably get you a neatly cracked mac-compatible photoshop cd.

Looks great, Wanderer. A lot of the paperbacks here have the Anton Corbijn photo on the back.

quote:

Originally posted by Wanderer:

This looks just perfect David!

I'd have executed this far better if I had even an inkling of how to properly employ Photoshop's graphics features, but, well, here:

Although that does have a certain "taken with soviet briefcase camera" kind of quality I think the other is far superior. I'd betting that the publisher is going to want some sort of continuity with the other WG titles so I would be pleasantly surprised if this cover was something as simple as an awesome photo.

Does anyone think the US cover was any good?

I liked it fine. Oddly I grew up unaccustomed to book covers in general. The Temple Terrace Public Library was where I learned to love reading. Years ago when I was very small a man burst in one foggy morning and set the place on fire. The fire station was actually next to the library but because of the fog they didn't see the smoke and it took them a bit of time to get over there and put it out. In the end the man was captured, nobody was hurt but a lot of books had some damage, especially to the covers. The library staff had most of the books that survived the fire (the vast majority of the collection) rebound in plain solid colors. The book cover was a random color with the title, author, and Dewey number or first three digits of the last name on the spine. So I always though it odd when I was older and went to buy books and found they all had pictures and blurbs and other stuff. Dust jackets piss me off to this very day, as soon as I get a book with one it is set aside until I am finished with the book.

The copy of PR i own has the last cover, 's probably the UK paperback edition. I like the KISS approach to it, and the varnished map in the background is very neat (specially once you understand how it fits into the story).
I like the graphic used in the first cover, but don't like the typography they used (too busy and the title itself is too small). The middle i don't like...

The one have is the top one, except there aren't a bunch of blurbs on the front, which makes it much less busy (and more appealing). I seem to remember the title was placed differently, too.

Yeah, this one...




And then there's this one...

much better indeed!
Hey, that might actually be the same font i used in my fake cover.