A Professional Designer Explains the Process
How a book is made has changed very little since I started my career over 25 years ago. Yes, visual tastes and styles have changed; the technology involved — both in design and printing — has changed. But the process itself is very much the same: I receive a manuscript, read it, generate ideas, receive feedback from the author & publisher on those ideas, incorporate that feedback, and a finished design eventually emerges.
The most important thing I look for is an author with as few preconceptions and prescriptions as possible about exactly how their book should look. This is challenging, since the author has spent months — even years — working on their manuscript; they are very close to the work, and many find it hard to cede control to someone new to it. And yet fresh eyes are critical to the process.
That said, it is often helpful to receive some direction, or the kernel of an idea, from an author. A good example of an author who can properly balance openness and specificity is Eileen Tabios. For her upcoming book, Collateral Damage Blues, along with her manuscript, Eileen sent the following cover bullet points:
- The color blue is significant
- Reincarnation is a prominent theme
- I would love, if possible, to have the image of Sargon of Akkad, the Sumerian ruler, be part of the cover
She included a snapshot of a Sargon sculpture, which, due to its modest resolution, had to be used at a small size. Her note about reincarnation inspired a repeating pattern, and with a blue overlay, the cover was complete.
Daniel Morris also showed a great balance of openness and specificity … For his book, Auditioning the Routine, he requested a cover showing an empty comedy stage with a microphone in its stand. Once I read his manuscript, however — and saw the action and inventiveness in it — the particulars of his idea seemed a bit too cold and static, so I introduced a performer and a saturated, colorful palette. The “You Are Here!” quality fits Dan’s point of view very well.
It is also important for authors to understand that “graphic design” is very different from “art.” I have worked with many authors — especially poets — who suggest a painting for their book’s cover. Often, that painting is very dense and complex (think Hieronymus Bosch), and the author will send me a lengthy explanation of their reasoning for using it, the meanings and resonances they see embedded in it, and how it reflects the text. Yet this misunderstands the purpose of a cover. A cover is not meant to be an analog to the text. A cover is not art, which is meant to invite introspection and contemplation, slowly over time. A cover is graphic design, which needs to do its job almost instantly — literally in one second. It is emotional, not intellectual.
Finally, I look for an author who understands that the cover is not the most important part of their book and often has little to do with whether a book breaks through, especially in the contemporary marketplace. A cover is one small piece in the puzzle of how to connect with potential readers. The days of assuming your publisher will handle marketing, outreach, publicity, are long over, even at major publishing houses. All of the traditional avenues of awareness are dead ends (nothing is more useless, for example, than an ad in the New York Times Book Review). The day your book rolls off the printing press is only the beginning of the process of finding and growing your audience. The more creativity and energy you can bring to this stage of the process, the greater your chances of breaking through.
Mark Melnick began his graphic design career at Interview magazine while still in college, and went on to staff positions with Tibor Kalman/M&Co, Viking/Penguin, and Vintage/Knopf, before starting his own design studio in 2002. He has designed multiple career-spanning monographs for artists Chuck Close, Chip Kidd, and Duane Michals; has worked extensively with The Library of America and The Harvard Lampoon; and has designed dozens of covers for prize-winning playwrights through Theatre Communications Group.