Spine Out

New Cover

2012-01-30T16:54:00.002-05:00

For Helen Yentus at Riverhead.

New Cover

2012-01-27T12:41:00.003-05:00

For an older Tom McCarthy book. Plus proposed triptych cover for ipad (not happening).

Photos by Denis Darzcq

Kids Today 6

2012-01-12T16:25:00.018-05:00

Some work from the Fall 2011 students.

Projects include: children's book, classic author series, new cover for "The Imperfectionists".

Ben Grandgenett

Joey Cofone

Myeong Jin Shin

Yang Kim

Hyun Min Kim

John Post

Thaiana Rodrigues

What was a book?

2012-01-10T15:19:00.001-05:00

AIGA talk: The Next Chapter: The Design and Publishing of the Digital Book. With Chip Kidd, Craig Mod, Carin Goldberg and Jeremy Clark (Adobe).

New cover

2011-12-19T14:53:00.003-05:00

For one of my favorite writers, Jim Shepard.

Another great collection of stories, or as the New York Times says:

“A master . . . Shepard’s taut, high-concept, research-dependent fiction covers a bracing, career-long range of hobbyhorses and obsessions . . . And his preference for historical quests, for real people’s big gestures, may help keep American short fiction from falling asleep in the snug little precincts of its usual subject matter.” —Thomas Mallon, The New York Times Book Review

Cover collage by the awesome Fred Free.

Should be out in paper by February if not sooner.

Just in time for Christmas...

2011-12-13T08:23:00.000-05:00

Our charming new edition of Charles Dickens' classic. Only 8 bucks! With flaps, even.

Lovingly designed by Megan Wilson

Illustrations by the magical Peter de Sève.

The rest of Dickens to follow:

Richard M. Powers

2011-12-08T11:03:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don't know the work of Richard M. Powers, make a trip to the sci-fi section of your nearest used bookstore immediately. Powers pretty much single handedly reinvented the look of the science fiction book cover. Drawing inspiration from surrealist and modern art (Miro, Tanguy, Picasso), rather than traditional pulp depictions of spaceships and aliens, Powers' cover illustrations emphasized the psychological and trippy-er aspects of the genre. Largely forgotten (except by enthusiasts), in the 1940s and 50s he was THE go to guy for mass market science fiction illustration. Some of his work was recently represented in Steven Brower's superb study of mass market book covers: Breathless Homicidal Slime Mutants. He should really have his own book. Read more about him here.

The covers below were culled are from the collection of occasional Spine Out guest blogger and knower of all things of interest, Tim Cronin.

Love This

2011-11-30T11:58:00.001-05:00

Todd St. John illustration for the NYT 10 Best Books of the Year.

Contest #4

2011-11-28T17:33:00.004-05:00

Name the designer, win the book.

Is it possible to put LESS on a cover and still have it mean something?

Difficulty level: 3

Good Luck!

30C30D

2011-11-18T15:52:00.005-05:00

In case you are not following along, we just crossed the halfway mark for 30 Covers in 30 Days.

A small sampling here, but check out the website for more great work by amazing designers for a good cause.

Christopher King:

Edel Rodriguez:

Christopher Silas Neal:

The controversial Paul Share cover:

Mark Abrams:

Braulio Amadou:

The Paul Bacon Tumblr!

2011-11-09T15:35:00.001-05:00

And so it begins again...

2011-11-02T12:01:00.004-04:00

30 Covers in 30 Days.

First cover by the wonderful Jessica Hische posted yesterday. The fantabulous Scott Buschkuhl of Hinterland posting today.

I won't spoil all the fun, but look out for Paul Sahre, Edel Rodriguez, Carin Goldberg and 25 other amazing designers/illustrators/artists as they attempt to design book covers in 24 hours in support of National Novel Writing Month.

I will not be posting them all like I did last year, but you can follow along on the NaNoWriMo website.

All That Remains opening

2011-10-26T10:28:00.008-04:00

Fantastic turnout for the All That Remains collage show opening at Picture Farm via Ugly Art Room. Show is up until November 19. If you can't make it, work is available here —at very reasonable prices.

Photos via flickr

Let's just get it over with already.

2011-10-25T13:30:00.001-04:00

Legacy publishers?

30 Covers in 30 Days

2011-10-18T08:39:00.000-04:00

Starts again on November 1!

Abandoned Projects #1

2011-10-16T23:05:00.013-04:00

Train Drawings 2008-2010.

As a way of interacting with the perceived invariableness of my daily commute, I began a series of "automatic" drawings that were dictated by the ebb and flow of my train ride.

Reason for abandonment: I came across the work of William Anastasi.

Odds of revival: 10:1

Vote

2011-10-12T17:56:00.001-04:00

for your favorite Murakami inspired artwork.

Heavy Metal

2011-10-05T10:25:00.000-04:00

What is on Oliver Sacks' desk?

International Collage Show of Epic Proportions

2011-09-29T17:11:00.006-04:00

I am one of the curators of this show. There will be lots of great work to see. And i'll buy you a drink. Mark it down, October 21st.

October 21st - November 19th, 2011

Ugly Art Room (via Picture Farm)

338 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Opening Reception: 7-9pm, Friday, October 21st, 2011

Paul Burgess, Virginia Echeverria, Fred Free, John Gall, James Gallagher, April Gertler, Jenkins, Gordon Magnin, Clarita Mata, Jeffrey Meyer, Tom Moglu, Randy Mora, Nicole Natri, Julien Pacaud, Ciara Phelan, Emmanuel Polanco, Eduardo Recife, Kareen Rizk, Javier Rodriguez, Valerie Roybal, Katherine Streeter, Leigh Wells, Charles Wilkin, Lionel Williams, Bill Zindel

Dragon Tattoo Poster?

2011-09-26T20:58:00.006-04:00

Being designed by the amazing Neil Kellerhouse, who is, for my money, THE best movie poster designer working today (not that it would take that much to design a poster better than the usual Hollywood high octane blandness). Mr Kellerhouse far exceeds.

NOTE: Upon further investigation, this may or may not be final poster art. It was originally posted on the movies "unofficial" Tumblr site. Apparently there's been some issues with the movie poster. No more gossip on this from me.

Speaking of Dragon Tattoo, New ish of Design Bureau has, what sounds like, an interesting interview with Peter Mendelsund.

Sorry!

2011-09-26T14:11:00.000-04:00

Been spending too much time over at flim-flam.

More soon!

Luc Sante has

2011-09-07T11:23:00.001-04:00

a lot of books.

New Cover

2011-08-11T16:24:00.003-04:00

Tom McCarthy's "C". Trade paperback.

Available September 6th.

Record Books

2011-08-03T10:37:00.007-04:00

Records turned into book covers by Christophe Gowans. Check the link for lots more. The app icons are worth a look too.

New Oliver Sacks Covers

2011-07-25T17:26:00.005-04:00

Fantastic new Vintage series designed in-house by Cardon Webb.

Available starting in August.

Nora Jones Peanuts book cover gig poster

2011-07-24T09:40:00.001-04:00

by Matt Leunig

Lo-res Book Covers

2011-07-21T09:26:00.003-04:00

These are great. via Casual Optimist.

Catcher in the Rye:

Even one of mine:

First idea, worst idea?

2011-07-20T10:28:00.005-04:00

I occasionally use post-it notes to jot down very rough thumbnails. They make a size that has nearly the exact same proportions as a book cover. I then either stick them above my computer, hand them off to a designer or throw them out. Looking through some of these from the last couple years made me realize how few of them actually make it through to final. Part of it must be the book cover kill rate, but I also think I might be using this process as a way to get the bad ideas out of the way, though for the life of me I have no idea what projects half of these are for.

New Cover

2011-07-13T15:39:00.002-04:00

Two Friends by Alberto Moravia

Fantastic cover art by Anthony Gerace

some rejected covers

2011-07-05T15:11:00.002-04:00

with their titles missing. From David Gee.

Started a Tumblr

2011-06-28T14:24:00.001-04:00

Called flim-flam

Tomi Ungerer

2011-06-27T14:02:00.003-04:00

Great interview with designer, illustrator, Renaissance man Tomi Ungerer at Design Observer.

A mini interview.

2011-06-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

At Turnstyle News.

Closet Therapy

2011-06-17T11:50:00.002-04:00

A piece I did for this Sunday's NYTimes Magazine about whether therapists should help God-fearing gay people stay in the closet.

Lawrence Ratzkin

2011-06-15T12:14:00.009-04:00

Some more covers designed by yesterday's contest answer.

Jeff Kleinsmith borrows from Mr Ratzkin

Contest #3

2011-06-15T08:37:00.002-04:00

Name the designer, win the book.

Difficulty level: 5

scale of 1-10. 10 being the most difficult

These are fantastic

2011-06-08T07:28:00.002-04:00

Winners of the Design a Polish Book Cover contest

The rest of the entries. How did they choose?

Some of us are getting our work on line...

2011-06-07T15:42:00.002-04:00

The great Barbara deWilde

Kids Today 5

2011-06-01T18:33:00.021-04:00

Some student work from the spring 2011 book cover design class. Third and fourth year students. Special thanks to Evan Gaffney, Tal Goretsky, Chip Kidd and Megan Wilson for their inspiration and expert guidance.

Projects include:

Design a series of classics for a contemporary audience.

Design a cover for a How To book.

Design a cover for the novel Lake Overturn.

Design a cover for a book that is in desperate need of a new cover.

Nina Loschiavo

Rachel Willey

Michele Martinez

Alex Stikeleather

Daniel Rodriguez

Jinyi Roh

New Faulkners

2011-05-20T10:27:00.013-04:00

We've freshened up our William Faulkner backlist. First six about to go to printer. There will be 20 in all. Lots of southern photography, William Eggleston and the like. Lettering by Jon Contino. The ebooks appear to have the new covers—whatever that is worth.

Blog Fodder Friday

2011-05-19T17:59:00.011-04:00

LP inserts

Another great Gary Shteyngart book trailer.

Put a bird on it.

Steve Albini has a food blog. Steve Albini!?

While we're at it, the Vegan Black Metal Chef

This website must have been seriously hard to program.

Somebody already owns this domain name.

Also. I'm looking for anything interesting being done in ebook/epub for ipad. More experimental the better. Post below or email me: jgall@randomhouse.com. Not looking for inspiration or to steal ideas or anything like that.

Finally, what it's all come down to: moustaches.

From the Killed Covers Show

2011-05-16T15:30:00.002-04:00

Some of the work was reproduced in the Book Review this past Sunday.

I will repost the Charles Yu post when I get a chance to REWRITE IT. Thanks Blogger!

The New Yu

2011-05-14T15:41:00.003-04:00

This is the hard cover jacket I designed about a year ago for Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. I really liked this cover. Art by Benbo George.

It made it so far as to be included on the bound galley. At the last minute it was killed and replaced with the UK jacket (seen below). Note to cover design novices: if you are ever in a meeting and someone says "Have you seen the UK jacket?" you know you are in trouble.

As baffling as it was at the time, I can see the point. The toy raygun approach may not have been the best solution, and is a cliche wrapped inside of a cliche, more accessible approach was needed. The novel is about a guy who fixes time travel machines and ends up getting caught in a time loop. He is in love with his computer's sexy voiced operating system and he has a pet dog. It's also a great book.

For paperback here is my bid for a wider pop audience. Die cut/step back cover, silver ink, a ton of wonderful quotes and a dog in a space suit. What more could one want? Cover illustration by our own Peter Quach.

Paperback available June 28.

dreamlike, insane

2011-04-28T14:52:00.007-04:00

Rodrigo Corral's gorgeous new redesign for the paperback of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Tell-All. Rodrigo did original jacket as well.

Killed Covers

2011-04-26T13:42:00.002-04:00

Show coming to the New York Times gallery. Opening May 12.

I'm curious which of my submissions will be included. Whatever is not on view I will display here as Killed Killed Covers.

Polish Book Cover Contest

2011-04-21T12:31:00.001-04:00

Win $400.00!

30 Posters 30 Days

2011-04-19T16:04:00.004-04:00

From the folks who brought us National Novel Writing Month and the 30 Covers in 30 Days event, we now have the script writing equivalent with the movie posters to match.

Guest Contributor: Fred Free

2011-04-07T11:53:00.002-04:00

For those of you who don't know Fred Free, you are in for a real treat. Fred is one of the finest collage artists working today. You can see a sampling of his amazing work here, here and here. In addition, he has recently started a curated art blog called Variety Showcase.

Fred also knows his way around a library book sale. This week he pairs up some of his recent finds. Enjoy!

It's Poetry Month

2011-04-01T15:43:00.001-04:00

Don't forget to sign up for Poem-a-Day!

Keenan. Ishiguro.

2011-03-30T10:30:00.000-04:00

Our new Ishiguro backlist brilliantly designed by Jamie Keenan.

Mobsourcing

2011-03-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

With all this talk about crowdsourcing and mobsourcing and what have you—yes, we've had a number of authors suggest their covers should be crowdsourced—I present the only known (as far as I know) piece of graphic design truly created by the mob. The real mob. Found in NYC sometime in the 1990s.

It's better to fade away.

2011-03-28T13:17:00.003-04:00

Beautifully sun-bleached library books. Found via Letterology.

Vintage James M. Cain

2011-03-24T11:11:00.005-04:00

Our spectacular new designs for James M. Cain.

Conceived by Megan Wilson.

Executed by Evan Gaffney.

They should be out this Spring.

HBO miniseries "Mildred Pierce" starts this Sunday.

Contest #2

2011-03-22T10:39:00.005-04:00

Name the designer, win the book. Clues to be supplied as needed. And no internet cheating.

I'll throw in one of these too (folded).

Clue #3

More "found at the train station"

2011-03-22T10:35:00.001-04:00

People just throw this stuff away. Deep Vintage backlist.

Blog Fodder Friday

2011-03-18T10:48:00.007-04:00

The first three found through Coudal's Museum of Online Museums.

Cambodian pulp novels

Nurse fiction

Erotic Sci-Fi

Mesmerizing: Sleeping Shepherd Boy

And yes: Shit Churches

Finally: Girls Making Gun Sounds. Thanks Cardon !

ebay art

2011-03-17T14:24:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago my "Random Stuff" post got me searching for another old folder of mine. This folder dates from 2001(!) and it contains images taken from ebay. I was convinced, at the time, that the photos people took of the stuff they were selling on ebay would be the next great source of "found photography". In retrospect, three things have become apparent. 1. Almost any photo of a prosthetic device or doll part looks like "art". 2. I spent way too much time trolling ebay for wigs and underwear. 3. The next great source of "found photography" is obviously Google Street View.

More facebooks

2011-03-16T15:23:00.003-04:00

at corpus libris

This Wednesday!

2011-03-14T15:38:00.002-04:00

I'll be talking along with Helen Yentus and Henry Yee about the past, present and future of us. Probably showing a few covers that have never been seen before (nor will they ever be seen again). Type Directors Club.

Now a Major Motion Picture

2011-03-09T17:40:00.002-05:00

A collector of movie tie-in editions.

Deface the Nation

2011-03-09T10:25:00.036-05:00

The recent upheavals in the Middle East and other parts of the world have brought forth a barrage of one of the most potent forms of graphic expression: the defaced political poster. Let's leave aside the actual messages presented in these images—many of the posters come from an anti-Semitic mindset and others have insults not easily decipherable to western eyes. I'm still not sure how Mubarak can be both Hitler and an Israeli sympathizer. But is there a more passionate form of visual communication? On the home front we've seen Barack Obama photoshopped into The Joker, Hitler, and a bleeding-eyed Abraham Lincoln. These pale in comparison to the urgent paint and marker-ed images from the Middle East. Images that people risk their lives to create.

It's Back

2011-03-07T16:38:00.000-05:00

50 Books/50 Covers returns

2011-03-05T14:07:00.003-05:00

Almost 1000 signatures already!

2011-03-04T08:45:00.000-05:00

2011-03-03T11:11:00.000-05:00

Catching up

2011-03-02T07:43:00.004-05:00

Casual Optimist interviews David Drummond

"Vip's" drinking art

A Journey Around My Skull is now 50watts.com

Family. A great bookstore in LA.

This series:

Upcoming events

2011-03-01T07:44:00.010-05:00

A couple of talks/discussions/presentations I will be participating in.

AIGA Dog and Pony Show IV

I will be presenting my Nabokov presentation

at Galapagos on March 8th.

Not Dead Yet

I will be discussing the the future of the printed book with fellow cover meisters Henry Sene Yee and Helen Yentus at the Type Directors Club on March 16th. This is also Book Cover Night, so there will be drinks, snacks and lots of book covers to see.

Guest contributor: Luc Sante

2011-02-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

The fact that it took so long for photography to get any respect is illustrated by how long it took for photographs to appear on book jackets, fiction in particular. When photos did appear they did so in France and on the noir tip, naturally. The Simenon is one of the first series of books he published under his real name, starting 1931. The Fantômas is from the 1932 second edition (after two decades of reprints). Both were published by Arthème Fayard, while the slim 60-odd-page Collection Police and Police et Mystère series (1932-1940) were put out by Ferenczi. The photographers repeat from one house to the next: Studio Piaz (best known for showbiz portraits, lasted into the 1950s), Lecram ("Marcel" backwards), Henri Manuel (a maker of official portraits, then an image factory), Hug Block (once Robert Capa's employer). Together they might make up the output of a small-time movie studio, with the Fayard titles upholding the high end like solid B pictures and the Ferenczis fizzing like slap-up improvised two-reelers.

Luc Sante decided at age 18 to be a writer rather than a graphic designer, and often thinks the grass looks greener over there. His cryogenically preserved blog can be found here. (He is also the author of one of the great books about New York, Low Life.)

Thanks Luc!

Protect and Observe

2011-02-16T16:20:00.006-05:00

All this talk about police photography put me in the mind of my favorite traffic cop with a camera, Arnold Odermatt. Plus, this will be a good lead in for next weeks guest blogger. Stay tuned.

Beautiful mugs

2011-02-15T10:44:00.004-05:00

The most amazing mug shots I have ever seen. Go here immediately!

Thanks to Laura Levine

Cutting Edges

2011-02-14T15:02:00.002-05:00

More info on forthcoming collage book and a nice video interview with editor/collagist James Gallagher. via The Casual Optimist.

Michael Bierut's 100 Day Project

2011-02-10T17:56:00.004-05:00

A selection from five years worth of workshops. At the very least you have to check out "Boombox".

Murakami/Sartorialist mash-up

2011-02-10T11:00:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of Hur Chariot.

Also, design the poster for the forthcoming film of "Norwegian Wood".

New Murakami coming later this year. IQ84. Published by Knopf, October 2011.

Face books

2011-02-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

Having fun in the bookstore. From corpus libris.

McSweeney's picks their favorite e-reader

2011-02-07T10:58:00.002-05:00

and the winner is...

Friday morning barrel scrapings

2011-02-04T10:31:00.015-05:00

From a folder I keep on my desktop called "random stuff" (don't we all have one of those?). I have no idea where most of these images came from so I can't link to (or vouch for) their sources.

Guest contributor day!

2011-02-02T14:45:00.000-05:00

Presenting, in ultra high fidelity, some graphically wonderful, generic 45 sleeves from the collection of the coolest person in New Jersey (that's not faint praise!), Tim Cronin. Among his many exploits, Tim writes the blog ugh! and was previously seen in the post "Postcards by Tim".

Defaced album covers

2011-01-28T16:25:00.003-05:00

These are great.

via Luc Sante

Megan Wilson and her alter egos

2011-01-27T15:40:00.003-05:00

Mendelsund and Kafka

2011-01-26T10:20:00.002-05:00

Favorite Book Sketches

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

First class each semester I hand the students a questionnaire. One of the questions asks the students to draw, from memory, the cover of their favorite book of all time. I superimpose the drawings over a photo of a blank book, then show them to the students the following class. There is an educational point to all this, but I have to admit, its partially for my own personal enjoyment.

And More Book Related Art

2011-01-21T10:10:00.001-05:00

Jean Lowe

Some this work can be seen at the Ex Libris show at Adam Baumgold Gallery and the Rules of Engagement show, curated by David Coggins at Allan Nederpelt

The Peter Saville Headstone

2011-01-19T08:02:00.002-05:00

I'm re-thinking the whole cremation thing.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour

2011-01-13T14:28:00.004-05:00

What's your birthday book?

I stupidly typed in my info wrong. Its actually The Group by Mary McCarthy. I feel way less cool.

and non fiction:

Secret life revealed

2011-01-10T14:38:00.007-05:00

over at the The Casual Optimist

and the Variety Showcase

follow along here and here

A site worth visiting

2011-01-05T15:42:00.001-05:00

Book Worship

Kids Today 4

2011-01-03T14:26:00.021-05:00

Some student work from this past semester's book cover design class. All third year students. Special thanks to Henry Sene Yee for stopping by to inspire us.

Projects include:

Redesign a classic for a contemporary audience, then expand to a series with an ad campaign.

Design a cover for a How To book.

Design a cover for Middlesex.

Design a cover for a book that needs a new cover.

Johan Hammarström

Sebit Min

Paul Chang

Jimin Nam

Tess Lee

Karen Canales

Su Min Kim

Linh Le

Yearbooks

2010-12-21T10:11:00.014-05:00

If any of you graphic designers have children of school age, you will no doubt have been asked to help with the "graphics" on some sort of school run project. A couple years ago I was asked to help design the cover of a grammar school yearbook. Needless to say, a professional designer is probably the last person you want involved in a project like that: "What if we do this?" "What if we tried that?" "If we got some more money we could emboss" "Wait, the children will be supplying the artwork? Seriously?" "People, just what problem are we trying to solve here?" You know what I'm saying. Cleaning up my hard drive, I found this file of (unused) internet research I did on yearbook design. Great stuff.

Nice Q&A

2010-12-20T21:58:00.001-05:00

With those Heads of State guys over at the Casual Optimist. I may be turning up there in some form in the not to distant future. Stay tuned.

The Death of the Carnival Barker

2010-12-20T21:46:00.005-05:00

Nice Sunday Morning piece on book covers featuring our own Peter Mendelsund and Chip Kidd. And I think that's the wonderful Anne Twomey in there too. But goodness, I hope Grand Central isn't really going to use that piece of art on their cover or we'll end up on one of those horrible "covers that look alike" blogs.

Book covers in need of books #2

2010-12-15T15:17:00.002-05:00

Wouldn't you buy the biography of butterfly breeder Carl A. Anderson (I've never heard of him either) if this were on the cover?

For the person who has everything, yet nothing.

2010-12-14T12:50:00.007-05:00

If you are searching for that perfect holiday gift for a literary minded friend, The Heads of State have produced a beautiful, limited edition, letterpress print of fictional business cards for The Great Gatsby's party going set.

smoke, armpit

2010-12-14T08:35:00.000-05:00

Artist Rachael Morrison is documenting the "unique scent" of each book in MOMA's book collection. All 300,000 of them. Also, the #16 Reason to Love New York.

New York Magazine cover

2010-12-13T11:08:00.003-05:00

Did the cover for the big year end "Reasons to Love New York" double issue. On newstands now.

A Nice Place to Visit

2010-12-08T13:27:00.008-05:00

Quaffed a few with a couple of Toronto's finest cover designers (along with Dan Wagstaff of the always great Casual Optimist and Accidental Optimist blogs).

Check out the cover design work of Ingrid Paulson and David Gee.

Ingrid Paulson

David Gee

Definite insanity

2010-12-08T11:25:00.001-05:00

The amazing Sam Potts diagrams Infinite Jest. Available as poster and pdf download.

The Monkey's Paw

2010-12-06T23:03:00.002-05:00

Great book store in Toronto. Probably the most idiosyncratic collection of books for sale I've ever come across. Filled with the "beautiful, arcane, macabre and absurd". Marvelous.

yadda yadda

2010-12-03T13:45:00.002-05:00

Heading up to Toronto over the weekend to give the students at OCAD lots of reasons not to go into publishing and maybe a couple reasons they should.

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 30 1/2.

2010-12-01T10:52:00.002-05:00

Bonus round: Henry Sene Yee

30 Covers, 30 Days: Day 30

2010-11-30T15:39:00.003-05:00

Rodrigo Corral

We made it!

Thank you everyone for all the amazing amazing work.

And wait until next year!