Typography refers to the style and arrangement of text for visual appeal and legibility. A book cover’s typography is incredibly important to attract readers and emphasize the theme or the plot. Poor font choice and stylization can look messy or confusing, deterring readers from enjoying the story within. You’ll need a balance of outstanding visual elements for a stellar book cover, and effective typography is half the battle. There are many common typography mistakes new authors make when designing their cover, and you can learn from them while planning yours.
Too Many Fonts
Font styles are fun to play with, and many gorgeous options may fit your book cover well. You’re not going to want to choose all of them, though. Too many font styles can make a book cover look cluttered, busy, and difficult to read. Choose two font styles at most unless your book is specifically trying to evoke a busy look (like a ransom letter or mystery novel). You can always play around with many different fonts, but your final decision typically shouldn’t include too many. Most books choose a stylistic font for the title and another, simpler thematic font for the subtext.
Illegible Font
A fitting, topical font may be fun, but it may only be legible to some audiences. Overly cursive or playful fonts can not only prevent your target audience from reading the text properly, but you may find that readers with visual impairments or conditions like dyslexia will have additional trouble deciphering it. You can choose a stylized font, but don’t go overboard. Readability is the most important. You can work with cover designers to stylize a font legibly.
Ill-Fitting Themes
Tons of fonts evoke certain moods or themes. For example, a bold, capitalized serif font can easily represent a historical novel, while silly, fun fonts like Comic Sans are often displayed on children’s books. You wouldn’t want to use Comic Sans on a serious, graphic adult horror novel. Your font should be readable and also fit the genre and theme of your book. The typography doesn’t have to be overly stylized, but it should reflect the content within well.
Harsh Colors
While vibrant colors can be pretty, they usually don’t belong on the text itself. You want the text to be the easiest detail on the cover to read, and harsh, bright colors can easily make that difficult. Your background color will play a role in legibility as well. A yellow background with white text can be too similarly bright to read well. Graphic cover designers can help you choose a font color theme that will be readable, fitting, and attractive.
Too Much Text
Since many authors are passionate about writing, they may want to include a lot of text on the cover. Providing a decent balance of text and other visual elements on the cover is one of the many effective services for book cover design. At most, a book’s cover should have the title, author’s name, and a subtitle or tagline. Some simple covers can get away with a review quote or two, but usually these text features are reserved for the back cover. Less is more! Be careful with how much text you put on your cover; it’s inside the book that you should worry about.
Wrong Size
On a book cover, the largest text will draw the most attention. If all of your text is the same size, readers may not know where to look first. Most authors will make the book title the largest text so readers will focus on the title. Famous authors like William Shakespeare or Stephen King can feature their names as the largest text on the cover so readers know immediately what type of writing they’re getting into. If you’re a beginner or unknown author, your title should be the largest text, followed by the author title, and any other text should be relatively small.
Bad Formatting
Some text will look fantastic as physical books but won’t be readable as an ebook thumbnail. Format your book cover, including your typography, for all possible platforms. Remember, if you include your book in all formats, you’ll likely have ebooks, physical books, and even audiobooks. Ebooks and audiobooks have thumbnails or “album covers.” The text should be attractive and legible, even on screens or smaller sizes.
Overused
There are tons of attractive fonts that are overused. You want to stand out among the crowd, not mingle in. While fonts like Comic Sans, Courier, or Times New Roman have their place in professional settings, other authors will be choosing these classics as well. Try a new font style, as long as it is legible and thematic. You may be surprised how unique your cover will look with a new font!
Conclusion
A book cover is far more than just the photography or illustrations. You’ll want your readers to be able to read the title and your name clearly and easily. Typography allows your book cover’s text to be stylized and thematic to your novel without sacrificing aesthetics or legibility. You’re not just choosing an attractive font; you’re creating visual harmony.
