Book cover design is an integral part of a book. It is representative of the story, its genre, central theme, and tone. When you visit a bookstore the first thing that you notice is the book covers and only if you find the cover interesting do you want to delve into the story. Thus, a book cover introduces the audience to the story. However, some book cover designs are so powerful that the audience remembers it long after finishing reading the book. The following section of the blog will discuss five popular book cover designs that are still widely celebrated by the audience. 

Best Selling Book Cover Designs 

Some book cover designs have become classic. Whenever you hear about the name of such books the cover design is the first thing that you instantly associate with the name. Here are five such popular book cover designs that still hold a special place in the audience’s mind. 

1. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Chip Kidd designed the book cover of the first edition of Jurassic Park. He is considered as the best book cover designer of all time. The design was as iconic as the series and became emblematic of the Jurassic Park universe. It captures the central atmosphere and mood of the Jurassic Park world and successfully revitalizes the dinosaurs back into the contemporary world. 

The cover consists of a dinosaur skeleton in a black silhouette and the name of the author in the lower left in red. You will find the title in black on the top of the cover. This skeletal representation of the dinosaur is quite symbolic of how the world knows dinosaurs creating a metaphorically poignant cover illustration. 

2. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author himself designed the cover of Little Prince. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, both an aviator and author, wrote and designed the cover of his much-celebrated poetic tale in the year 1943. The book cover is inseparable from the book. At first glance, the cover might seem like that of a children’s book cover design. However, after reading the story you will realize how complex and layered the book cover is. 

3. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is one of the most celebrated fantasy stories of the 21^st century. The illustration on the book cover has a significant contribution to making the book one of the best sellers. Mary GrandPre has designed stunning book cover designs for each book of the series. The first glance of the book instantly takes you into the wizard’s world. All the covers are colorful and vivid and represent a key scene from each book. 

4. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale was written in 1985. Since then, the book cover design has been changed several times. However, one design that had a lasting impression was a recent 2017 illustration. Noma Bar designed the book cover to match with that of the TV series based on the book. Noma Bar employed a minimalistic style featuring a red silhouette with a tinge of white with a black background perfectly reflecting the central themes of the story.

5. Everything is illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

The cover design of the book “Everything is Illuminated” is one of the most iconic book cover design. Idesign a trendsetter as designer John Grey reintroduced hand-lettering in book cover design in contrast to clean graphics. It was published in 2002 and clean graphics was the dominant style back then. However, Grey’s hand-lettering was instantly accepted and was a hit. Grey thought that book cover designing was similar to cooking as it allowed him to incorporate ingredients as he wished to create a delicious book cover design. 

Conclusion

The blog has discussed the five most popular book cover designs. These cover designs will help you gain key insight into how to create powerful designs to captivate the audience. A cover design must include important elements that represent the story adequately without revealing anything essential.  Make sure you collaborate with reputed book cover design professionals to create powerful cover designs.