(Beginner): how to proceed when designing a book cover with a spine that contrasts with both front and back?

[Amy Choue]

I watched quite a number of tutorials on book cover design and at one point almost felt as if I now had a basic concept of how it's done. In the case of Amazon KDP, they give a template for the paperback. So creating a cover for KDP paperback is about, in its essence, creating layers that will fill the template space: background layer, layer for the front cover, layer for the spine, and layer for the back cover. 

That's what I, a total beginner, thought. And some tutorials do seem to go about it that way. But is this the right way to think about it? I am wondering about creating a cover like this one, Tony Judt's Postwar. When the back cover is a continuation of the front cover but the spine is not (spine here is in stark contrast to both covers in color, with no graphics), what are the ways to create the spine? In such a case, I sort of guessed that there must be a background layer, two layer groups (for front and back), and a layer for the spine; you place the background layer first, then the layer for the spine (with its fill color) and then proceed with designing the front and back. 

Is that the right way to think about it? This seems like something that can be taught in a single class and become intuitive right away but becomes mysterious for a self-learner surrounded with somewhat confusing tutorials. 

So my quesetion is: when creating a paperback cover with a spine that severely contrasts with both front and back, what would be the good ways to do it? 

[stokerg]

6 hours ago, Amy Choue said:

In such a case, I sort of guessed that there must be a background layer, two layer groups (for front and back), and a layer for the spine; you place the background layer first, then the layer for the spine (with its fill color) and then proceed with designing the front and back. 

Is that the right way to think about it?

That's the method I have used in the past when I needed to do this, however, mine was just for an on-screen mockup so didn't get printed but the workflow should still be the same.

If there's an easier or better method, I'm sure someone will post that shortly  

[Amy Choue]

On 8/30/2023 at 10:40 PM, stokerg said:

That's the method I have used in the past when I needed to do this, however, mine was just for an on-screen mockup so didn't get printed but the workflow should still be the same.

I am still struggling to figure out how good book cover designs are made, but I'll probably have to hire a professional in the end. But it's great to know that that can be the workflow! I may try my hand at creating different layers and seeing how they combine to create what effects. 

It must be really, immensely helpful if Affinity provides in-depth tutorials on book cover design, paperback formatting, and other relevant aspects, for self-publishers. Please do make them!! Do consider making them! 

[dominik]

3 hours ago, Amy Choue said:

I am still struggling to figure out how good book cover designs are made

Hello @Amy Choue,

I think there are different workflows depending on a person's preference. Here's how I do it:

• I use one artboard of the dimension of the entire cover (backcover plus spline plus frontcover plus bleed).
• There I place three rectangles from left to right of the sizes back cover / spine / front cover.
• The most important thing is to figure out the width of the spine. This depends on the number of pages and the thickness of paper. Often printers offer some sort of calculators to find that out.
• These three rectangles are my 'drawing boards' for everything of the design that goes on top of them. I lock these layers (= rectangles). They can be filled with the required colour of the covers and the spine respectively.

Does this make sense to you? I attach a simple Designer 2 file that demonstrates the above setup. Make sure to show bleed and margins.

d.

simple-book-cover.afdesign

Edited September 1, 2023 by dominik
Typo

[thomaso]

On 8/30/2023 at 9:02 AM, Amy Choue said:

So creating a cover for KDP paperback is about, in its essence, creating layers that will fill the template space: background layer, layer for the front cover, layer for the spine, and layer for the back cover. 

Actually any layers in the Layers panel or a layout separated into front, back spine don't really matter for a "correct" cover layout but are rather virtual guides only.

You can imagine and treat a cover layout just as one page which has certain requirements for specific object positions to be visible in expected areas on the printed result, e.g. author and title on front + spine, description and ISBN on the back. Just as you would position page numbers away from the spine of a brochure or place a logo near the bottom in an advertisement etc. Accordingly you may also want to consider margins but you don't have to – depending on the wanted look. So you might even want to place text partially in the bleed area where text edges would be finally 'hidden' (cut).

Apart from your layout / design flexibility the four parameters bleed and width of back, spine, front should be in your mind but don't need to appear as rectangles or objects in the layout or your exported print pdf. So you also could just place two vertical guide lines to indicate the spine area during the layout – regardless of your design decisions where what element should appear finally. As you may place an image or background colour across the entire cover you theoretically could place the front title for instance overlapping with the spine area or set all text within only one text frame layer with columns, indents etc. (although this would work to get printed correctly it would be rather cumbersome to get set this way). – Accordingly, to start with a cover layout this items may be sufficient, just indicating the areas while your custom placed objects and their layer hierarchy is flexible and depends on your design ideas. Just note, in western media the front is on the right (in e.g. Arabic books or Japanese manga it would be on the left).

[Amy Choue]

On 9/1/2023 at 3:41 PM, dominik said:

These three rectangles are my 'drawing boards' for everything of the design that goes on top of them

It seems this is how I may become most comfortable designing covers. I am now creating my very first cover (I might give up in the end, realizing I cannot make it look good enough) and began looking at book covers in a new way. I didn't really notice this before but many books have covers where the front stands alone but the spine and the back are continuous (in color, at least). Since I've heard something about the alignment for the spine margins going a little off all the time upon printing, "continuity" among front, spine and back seemed like a safer choice for a beginner like me. But then somehow continuity between spine and back, while front stands alone, feels not quite right also, even though I found tons of book covers designed that way, many of them beautiful. Probably having a single rectangle for the whole cover would be the safest choice for a beginner. I'll have to complete the cover and see what happens. 

Designer on my PC says it cannot open the file attached because it contains later elements, but it also says it is the latest version. Is this a common problem? 

[Amy Choue]

On 9/1/2023 at 11:12 PM, thomaso said:

So you also could just place two vertical guide lines to indicate the spine area during the layout – regardless of your design decisions where what element should appear finally.

It seems using guide lines well is essential. This is something new that I learned by starting to learn Affinity, that graphic design is like paintings, and other visual arts. Compositions (and perspectives, etc.) can be crucial. But guide lines can feel overwhelming for someone new to this. I am still in this "overwhelmed" state. Like everything else, learning from best examples and practicing a lot would be the proven way to go, I guess. 

[dominik]

1 hour ago, Amy Choue said:

Designer on my PC says it cannot open the file attached because it contains later elements, but it also says it is the latest version. Is this a common problem? 

Hello @Amy Choue,

this is my fault. I accidentially created the file in the beta version of Designer. Attached is a file created in version 2.1.1.

Learning to work with a design application is a long process and furthermore doing book cover design is so, too. Looking at samples is certainly a good way to start and I'd even advice to rebuild a design that you like. You can learn a lot just from replicating something. Sometimes very simple looking things can turn out to be quite tricky to accomplish. In my opinion it is also important to have an understanding of some design principles (symmetry, golden cut, colour harmony). I do not want to discourage you, quite the opposite. There are so many resources on the internet where you can learn from.

Good luck with your first cover!

d.

simple-book-cover.afdesign