Cover Art: The Contest

Creativity Magazine & Penguin have launched a contest to find the next great book cover. They asked designers, photographers, and other artistic types to design a cover for Sam Taylor's new book The Island at the End of the World, about a near-future where much of the world is covered in water as the result of catastrophic flooding. The 25 finalists have been posted here. It's a pretty fascinating grouping, and it shows the many different directions that one concept can push people. There are covers that are quite literal (one has a tiny island atop big blue globe) while others make prominent use of text. There's one that - for whatever reason - reminds me of the paperback cover of Arthur Bradford's story collection Dogwalker.

My favorite is #17, which was designed by Matt Taylor.


He chose to go in a very different direction, and I enjoyed reading his explanation of how he got to this design. The cover seems to me to have the effect of funneling the browser's attention down to the title, providing a sense of chaos, energy, and movement, as well as suggesting the internal tensions of the book. Which is your favorite? (Via Galleycat, who always turns up great stuff.)