Books have always been the most loved and valued piece a human can possess. The love and craze for books is the only thing in the fast-changing world that is still intact, whether they are educational books or novels. Or either a comic book to amuse children. The popularity and the need for book cover has simply increased and not seemed to decline at any given time. Nevertheless, the books have not changed, but how they look has evolved.
For a long period of time, the sole purpose of the books was just to protect and secure the hand-made papers and printed pages. Moreover, people used to bind them together to avoid mishandling and disorganizing the book.
Back then, the writers and publishers didn’t pay much attention to the book covers. However, they work to make it look beautiful and display its cultural relevance. The decoration of it had nothing to do with the internal content.
The cover usually had the author’s name and the book’s title; sometimes even they don’t bother to write that as well. Their main focus was just to prioritize the functionality of the book rather than the looks.
Further, at that time, they had no book cover design services available to cater to their needs. Honestly, they had no desire to adorn their books excessively. But ever since, the technology began to overpower every single industry.
The book cover designs also came under its influence and went through a gradual to drastic change. The heavy cloth and leather book covers, which actually look really sophisticated, started to be replaced by an inexpensive item, paper.
With the help of advanced machinery like steam press binding and printable processes, lithography, and half-tone illustration processes, the tables start to turn for book cover processes.
Let us dig into the interesting history of book covers and see how it evolved over time.
The Early Days
The early age of the book cover designs was very plain and simple as we said earlier, at that time, the publishers and the writers were quite straightforward regarding the appearance of their books.
They prefer their books austere and unadorned. The main purpose of the book cover is to protect the inner material from wear and tear and any sort of damage. The need to decorate it with symbols and obsessive writing was pretty useless to them,
The books at that time typically had the author’s name in bold, along with the title of the book over it, along with the tiniest illustrations and images. Their agenda and main emphasis were on the content they wrote rather than the aesthetically pleasing look of it.
The Birth of Creative Covers
In the 19th century, gradually, people were inclined to the artistic aspect of the books and slowly started accepting the minimal artsy symbols and elements in their books. The publishers of the books started to integrate beautiful pictures and lettering.
Moreover, they start to learn and practice their new embossing techniques to adorn the books. The gold leaf designs were eminent due to their ability to catch the attention readily and make the cover look appealing.
The intricate yet elegant designs of the books clearly reflect the romanticism and graceful image of that particular era.
The Rise of Dust Jackets
The early 20s was the prominent era in conceiving the idea and production of Dust Jackets, which helped significantly in revolutionizing book cover designs. The feasibility of removing the cover of the book allowed the publishers to play with the cover and showcase their artsy skills.
The dust jackets featured beautiful typography and lettering. Further, they were also used to display essential advertisements. This handy feature of the books enables the publishers to make books visually more genuine and a powerful tool for marketing.
Modernism And Minimalism
The book cover designs took an interesting turn in the mid 20’s. Modernism and minimalism have become a vogue. Further, the integration of clean lines and bold typography become a trend. Moreover, abstract art was also used in creating an eye-catching design for the book.
The unique and captivating yet delicate designs reflect the artsy sense and taste of the publishers of that time. Along with conveying the essence of the content inside with simplicity, limited color palette, and composition.
Photographic Covers
After the trend of keeping things minimal, the late ’20s faced the rise in photographic material. Hence, incorporating stunning photographs on the book covers became a sensation. The publishers started to integrate landscapes, portraits, and appealing visuals on their covers,
Which doesn’t only look appealing but also helps to convey the storyline of the book. They believe in the concept that the first impression is the last impression. And knows that a beautiful book cover has the ability to attract the reader.
The Rise of E-books
Now, in this digital world, book covers are facing a daunting challenge since the eBook is a soft copy of the book and does not have the proper platform to display its ravishing cover. Because the design of the book cover merely shows as a thumbnail on the screen.
The room for the book covers to make a lasting and profound effect is very limited. However, it does not indicate the decline in the importance of the book cover designs. It is just that capturing and attracting the audience is now quite a task.
But bold and clear typography and high-quality, simple illustrations can help you display the essence of your book.
Wrapping Up
Every era and its distinctive book cover designs represent the prevalent tastes and trends of that time. However, they were all good and did justice to the book designs. Yet, still, there is a lot to come. Let’s see how the cover design technology unfolds in the near future.
Would it make us fall in love with the new adaptations, or will it leave us craving for the old sophisticated design?
