Book cover feedback needed (badly)

Remember when we had a survey/book-giveaway and helped choose photos for Sustainable Gardening for Florida by frequent commenter Ginny Stibolt?  Well, it's in the design phase now and this is the cover design proposed by the publisher.  Ginny sent it along to see what we think.  So, what DO we think?  Me, I really, really don't like that graphic.

Comments

[LauraBee]

Not that I'm an expert ...

But the cover is supremely disinteresting. Frankly the 3R's arrows have been overdone & here they are way too big ( but I like the graphics inside of them ). Maybe if the flowers could be integrated with the sketch-graphics .... Or a more eye-catching photo ?

[susan morrison]

It looks a bit like a green swastika, which I'm sure is not the intension. The photo underneath seems pretty and appealing. Does the publisher think just is not enough to convey what's in the book, hence the working drawings? If s/he feels those need to be on the front rather than the back cover, I would consider a more straight forward photo montage. It may seem boring, but I think it would be prettier and easier to understand.

Congratulations on the book! I love gardening books that are region specific.

[Valerie]

I think there's too much going on.

My suggestions are go with *either* the flower photo or the line drawings inside the arrows (the two together compete) and make the recycle arrows smaller and in the form of a more subtle watermark over the main graphic. And I'd use another font for the title like Verdana or Times New Roman. The comic font doesn't really convey authority.

[Dan Eskelson]

Line drawings are too detailed for a book cover...simplify.

[John at JWLW]

Look's to me like its to busy. Should attract you to the NAME. Maybe a little brighter color
would also help. " I know Green is in but"

John

[Billy Goodnick]

If I picked it up off a bookstore shelf, I'd put it right back. Doesn't work. Too busy, too green. Don't use the cover of a book to teach, use it to make people want the book. I'd be scared of this one.

[kris at Blithewold]

Plus the font doesn't work. Screams textbook or worse - "remaindered". I hope she's able to get them to try something else because I agree - region specific gardening books can be soooo helpful.

[VP]

It's too busy and not at all enticing.

The diagram belongs in the body of the book, not on the cover.

It's needs more of a feel good cover which the photo may go some way towards doing so, but it needs to be more 'sunshiny' to convey a good, successful way of doing things.

[becca]

It would be hard to come up with a design that was more un-fun AND un-Florida. Couldn't the cover have a picture of something beautiful, sustainable and distinctly Floridian, and the title (in a much nicer font or combination of fonts, if you want to get racy) and leave it at that? The graphic leaves you confused as to whether you should be focusing on the positive space in it or the negative space.

[Amy]

I like the IDEA of the graphic, but I think the edges should be rounded out a bit, except for the points of the arrows. And I know it needs to be green, but getting some blue in there would be good. Green is actually a color the brain "doesn't take seriously" while blue is recognized by the brain to be "trustworthy." Also, a tad more yellow, which is the color the brain recognizes/acknowledges first.

[Rosella]

The "recycle" arrows look way too technical to be enticing or interesting; the author's name is (a) hard to read against the background of flowers and leaves, and (b) is too small and (c) the typeface is boring.

More flowers, more colour, more "Florida!"! If I saw this book with this cover I probably would think "boring diagrams book".

[mr_subjunctive]

It looks so earnest (but -- in the preachy way, not the sincere way). More than anything, I think it's hurt (as far as my consumer dollar goes) by the use of Comic Sans (or whatever that font is: it looks a lot like Comic Sans). Like Valerie said.

Most of the books I've seen or bought lately have been going with a fairly simple image on front, or no image with the title and author names in a large, "modern" sans-serif font. Certainly there's nothing wrong with a garden image on a garden book, but an image that's less intricate and more quickly absorbed seems like it'd be better.

[greg draiss]

SUCKS!!
The Troll
I am sure the actual content is superior to the amateurish cover design.

[johanna_lea]

i am guest blogging on ilona's garden journal, and am sort of new to the friending and following thing...i like reading your stuff, anyway. i am a collage artist, and photographer...would like to offer help with book cover design. have spent much time in fla.panhandle since 1978- apalachicola and the paradise that was st george island. have many many photos, and am obsessive enough to make collage, both "real" pix,and imaginary constructs. i love the north fla. pineywoods so much. i would be glad to help without any financial consideration at all. just get with me if you want,
i am pretty good at album (cd-duh) cover design, its fun to play with garden images,

[frank@nycgarden]

How bout one of those Jehovah Witness pamphlet covers:

http://www.unc.edu/%7Eelliott/images/icon.h2.jpg

[ChristyACB]

Big no from me too. All the people make valid points but the fact that it looks too militant and reminiscent of swastikas is going to be a big subconcious turn off to a lot of browsers.

I'd got with something extremely simple in tune with the way things are now in ideas. Or the flowers top and bottom with a simple green panel with the title.

Can you get them to re-do it? It really does look awful.

[Matthew Dorchester]

It looks like a book about composting at first glance. Suggest to get someone else to do the cover other than the publisher...

[Kathy Becklin]

It is ugly and not very appealing. Gardeners are drawn to pictures of gardens. The graphic is about reusing and recycling -- NOT sustainability. You might get away with it making sense if the book was entirely on composting. The flowchart/sketch is ??? --supposed to indicate planning?
Good luck but tell your publisher NO!

[Presto]

I'll add my no vote to the rest. Looks amateurish, IMHO.

I'd suggest a photo of the author doing some of that sustainable gardening for the cover.

[Christina]

UGH. This cover complete turns me off.

On the other hand, if I saw a close-up of a lovely flower or fruit ith a beneficial bug crawling on it, I'd pick it right up.

[Lzyjo]

Yep, it's terrible. Can't believe a publisher actually put that forth (?!) Won't go into that. The photo is cut off. The solid green looks terrible and sustainable does not equal the recycling symbol. So binary. I think they should go with something clean and fresh. Simple text and a nice fresh photo of a garden that gardeners can appreciate by visually exploring. More of a "scene" patio, grass, and garden, that the eye can move over rather than the "field" effect that is less visually interesting.

[Anne (in Reno)]

What draws my eye is the big patch of dark green that looks like a mutant triangle, then the recycle arrows, then the flowers, then the line drawings. I feel like a good book cover should have about three less attention getters than that. One big one should be it. And the arrows are overused and I can't even tell what the line drawings are of.

The Planthropology book is my idea of a good cover - ONE thing. One very graphically simple and eye-catching thing.

[countrypeapie]

Oh, my. That's just bad.

[vicki]

This thumb down, also.
The cover image doesn't communicate "Florida" or "Sustainable"...or even "Gardening" for that matter.

[Michelle D.]

This book cover is in dire need of a good graphic artist.
As it stands, it is heinous.
Absolutely no aesthetic or interest value.