Book cover reviews

First book cover
Odyssey


Typography:
Is the text in a logical ordering?
The text is positioned logically however font sizes disrupt a logical hierarchy. Typographically the words lack any clear grouping; we have Odyssey, Homer, then an acknowledgment of who translated the book and who the introduction was done by grouped together. There is no clear hierarchy of information and too much emphasis is placed upon the details that don't really matter (translator and introduction). There is little contrast between the translators name and the colour of the moon which makes this text difficult to read.

Imagery:
When we are told of the roman philosopher and writer Homer immediate assumptions about roman history arrive. The topic of Odyssey may well be space, and the word odyssey evokes the feeling of space (illustrated by the movie title "2001 a space odyssey"), but in the realm of a persons assumptions the imagery is simply inappropriate. An image somehow depicting ancient Rome, the Italian country side or a more striking image of Homer's ideals would have been more appropriate. A photo of earth from the moon seems trivial for a book written around before 300bc, and is more suited to a topic such as the moon landing. The image on this book would not make me want to pick it up.

Image and Text:
It is not clear whether the imagery dominates over the text in this layout, instead of working harmoniously though they seem to compete against each other. If the ordering was to be improved on this book jacket less emphasis would be placed upon the translator and introductory author, and some form of grouping would be applied to the different sections of the page. There would be a clear distinction between the words "Homer" and "Odyssey".

Second Book.
Bush on the Couch.


Typography
There is no Title or Author on the front page of this book. Instead it relies on a question mark, with the head of George Bush as the dot. This achieves a very striking cover that immediately tells you the topic of the book as opposed to the name of the book. Presumably the title "Bush on the Couch" is written on the spine.

Image
Assuming that the book is asking a question about George Bush the image convey's perfectly the meaning of the book. The red colour on the cover would stand out on a book shelf full of political literature, which tends to stick to more conservative colours.

Image and Text
Perfectly suited to one another the image is inter-woven into the text on this books cover. There are no improvements that I could think of to go with the execution of this books cover.


Third Book
The Captive Mind


Typography
This books typography comes straight out of the school of Jan Tschicold. It is positioned in at the top of the page and as such is the first thing that is read. A clear Hierachy is established through the use of changing font sizes, which are weighted perfectly against the vertical and horizontal lines that make up this books cover.

Image
In this case the image was generated purely from the imagination of Paul Rand. Featuring vertical and horizontal lines that meet at 90 degree angles Paul rand outlines in an abstract manner the shape of a head. To reinforce the idea of a face he adds two purple splotches behind the bars to represent eyes.

Image and Text
Image dominates this page, grabbing the viewers attention. The strong narrow typeface Rand used synthesizes well with the lines that populate the rest of the page and in an abstract sense become part of the imagery. If anything could be better on the cover of this book (though I do believe it would be blasphemy to touch such a brilliant design) it would be the placement of the authors name. Two lines at the top and bottom of the x height in the words "the captive mind" are intesected by the authors name, possibly Rand could have placed the words along the same lines, to create more unity through the composition in the top box.