Mailbag: Book design for multiple volumes
Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 11:39AM
Q: I've started production on my second print collection of comics and was hoping I could get you to talk a bit about your book covers.
I like the layout of my first one, and I'm thinking of going with the same theme, but new title and new character illustrations, different colours, much the way you did the first four Evil Inc Annual Reports. You've started switching up five and six a bit, was this a business decision or personal design preferences? Are you finding the variety helpful or harmful to sales in any way? Do you have any recommendations, keep a theme, change the theme? And how important is it that the two books compliment each other side by side or on the shelf? For example, in terms of colours should I be worried if the two covers clash? Should I make a point to choose complimentary ones? (I don't know if that's over thinking on my part.)
This is a topic that's very much at the top of my thoughts right now, as I finish preparations on my seventh collection.
First of all, I think the idea of keeping your book design consistent is a wonderful idea. I like how a series of books looks on my bookshelf when the consistent design among the individual volumes make the group look like a unit. And that's going to mean choosing colors that harmonize and keeping certain design elements consistent from book to book. It's also convenient if/when you decide to produce a slipcase and sell a boxed set of your volumes.
And if you can pull that off, it's one of those unspoken extras that rewards your longtime fans.