Cover Design

Your magazine, brochure or pamphlet is about something, and the cover design should reinforce that theme. Pick an element that takes control and reflects that theme. Avoid including too many elements in your cover.

Think of your cover design like a billboard that you see on the highway. If the billboard has too many elements, you'll never be able to figure out what's being marketed. Billboards usually have a few words and are intended to quickly communicate to people driving 60 miles per hour. Make sure your cover does the same thing. What is the genre of your magazine? Is there a central story theme in the issue? Can you feel the tone through the cover?

Great cover design has always been necessary to attention and that remains true today.

Yes! Every photo, image and word you include in the cover should reinforce the message you're trying to communicate to the reader.

You should avoid white backgrounds. White backgrounds disappear on a page, especially when shown as a small thumbnail. Use a color, a texture, or a background illustration instead.

Colors are important because colors create emotional reactions. The colors you pick should be connected to the story and mood. For example, a magazine best suited for the beach should consider incorporating cool blues and jade greens to give a tranquil feeling. Dramatic covers should consider using black, bold red, and similarly dramatic colors to underscore the mood of the content.

The cover image will be reproduced on large monitors and mobile devices. In fact, when you’re searching on amazon, you see just a small thumbnail of the image. That makes it especially critical that the design is simple. Simple designs are more memorable and less confusing, especially when viewed on a smaller screen. Take the iPhone, for example (or any comparably sized phone), a typical magazine cover will be about 1/2 inch wide by 3/4 inches tall. That’s not a lot of space.

Yes, and in fact, this is very common. You might need more help with graphics and illustrations or the layout. You can easily start a private 1-to-1 project with your favorite designer.

We know that people have different budgets and we want to be sure that everyone gets a phenomenal cover design. You'll get a great design regardless of pricing package. Having said that, higher awards to tend to attract more experienced designers and so you'll have more high-quality designs from which to choose your favorite. And, of course, if you need some privacy in your projects, our higher priced packages offer private galleries, non-disclosure agreements, and more.

When you reduce the cover to a small thumbnail, can you read the title? Avoid using script fonts - those can be very difficult to read, especially when someone is seeing a thumbnail of your cover design.

Colors and a great image are critical to effective cover design, but you also need text and an effective font that matches the cover and the story. For example, if your audience is mostly women, you might prefer fonts that have more feminine flairs, such as scripted fonts. But don’t go overboard – some fonts are easier to read than others. There are thousands of fonts and not all of them are clean and readable on a small screen. Use a simple typeface and be sure you’re not using many typefaces on the cover. It’s OK to use two fonts on a cover, but more than two fonts will make the cover look busy and less readable.

Look for imagery that expresses the mood or overall tone of the magazine. You want to provide a context, not a literal image.

And remember to focus on one main image. It’s tempting for some authors to get carried away by trying to represent all the symbolism in their stories. But when it comes to magazine covers, less is definitely more. Remember that the cover will be typically seen as a small thumbnail or while the reader is walking by a retail shelf and you want your reader to understand what they’re seeing. You don’t want to confuse or overwhelm the reader with conflicting or busy imagery.

Good design is about balance. Pick one constant and tell it visually through the cover design.

You should know the dimensions for the cover, any printing requirements, and what information will need to go on the front and back covers. Every cover is different so think about what you'll want to have on yours.

Yes. If you have specific images in mind, please include them when you post your project. You can also ask designers to use stock images (which you may need to purchase directly from a third party when you select the winnng design). Designers will let you know whether you will need to do this, and the price, when they submit each design.

Crowdspring guarantees your satisfaction in cover design projects. There's NO fine-print. We are not happy until you are. People are so thrilled with the designs they receive on crowdspring that we are proud to stand behind the work and make you an unconditional promise.