posted October 11, 2017 #
It's hard to say where to start with the work of
Peter Mendelsund. His massive archive of
Book Cover Designs is page after page of inspiring designs running an insane gamut of styles but I suggest starting with this
PRINT magazine interview in which he runs through a massive list of "rules" by which to work by. There are some quality gems throughout:
Remember that all marketing knowledge is retrospective -
it tells us what has worked in the past, but not what will work today or in the future. Design should concern itself with manufacturing desire. There is no science to this. But if you study the culture (readers/viewers/consumers) you will glean some of its wants and needs (again, not what the culture's wants and needs were, but, rather, what they are and will be).
And some that are good advice but only work if you've already achieved respect and authority:
Minimize the institutionally calcified practice of "uglification." Uglification is a process in which designers -by request or demand - make their work uglier, one detail at a time (Can you change the font?; I don't like red; Can you use a different picture...? etc., ad nauseam, ad absurdum.) Uglification is what happens when final decisions about how something looks are made by people not qualified to make aesthetic judgments.
All and all, it gives some excellent perspective as you steer into the
full body of work.
