12 brilliant book cover ideas for design inspiration.

Ignite your imagination with some of our favourite book covers that feature artistry, style and eye-catching designs.

Design with your idea

1. Use colours as accents.

Accent colours create focal points in compositions and also highlight certain elements of your choosing. In the black and white photo seen in this example, using red as an accent colour draws our attention to the colour flare.

Red is a powerful colour and in this particular Adobe Express template, we feel the passion of this bright colour soaring across the page. Think about the meanings that different colours carry and how featuring one accent in your design can support your story.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Brush-stroke AND dance AND romance AND watercolor
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2. Grab your reader’s attention with contrast.

Contrast pins two contrasting colours against each other to make a statement. Black versus white, light versus dark etc. By doing so, contrasting designs emphasise the light, which naturally draws our eye to whatever it is. Here, we see contrast at play where the white area grabs our attention in the middle of a black page, indicating it’s the cover’s focal point.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Black AND chasm AND natural-disaster AND novel AND white
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3. Make bold choices with typography.

Typography is an eye-catching design tool and can be as artistic and impactful as strong imagery. You can play with the curves and shapes of letters to make interesting negative space or communicate emotions through a specific typeface. We like how this cover embodies the essence of typography by filling the cover with text. You can use a font to emphasise a point by changing the type, colour, shape, size or placement.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Bold AND young-adult AND ya AND art AND pattern
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(To pull in manually curated templates if needed)

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Vertical

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sixcols

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4. Showcase handwritten type.

Sometimes books are written from the first-person perspective, such as a diary. Provide a preview of this intimate relationship with the narrator by using handwriting on the cover. For example, you could feature nice, flowy calligraphy if your book is a period piece or slightly manic scribbles if your story is more of a thriller.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Handwritten AND grayscale AND biography AND versatile
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(To pull in manually curated templates if needed)

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Vertical

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sixcols

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5. Get creative with composition.

Allow yourself the opportunity to experiment with composition design meaning, getting creative with where you place things on the page. There is no standard way to design your book cover, so experiment with ways to make your design as unique as the content inside.

We appreciate the simple trick at play here: placing the title in a text box directly over the man’s eyes, maintaining his secrecy as a whistleblower. Of course, so does his gesture, as well as lighting only half his face. It doesn’t take much to make a compelling stylistic choice. The goal is to create something that stands out and speaks for your book.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Finger AND lips AND literature AND whistle blower
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Vertical

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sixcols

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6. Convey the mood of the book through the cover.

A book cover is one way of drawing a reader into your story. Like peeping through a keyhole, a reader can see a small clue to the bigger overall picture of the story inside. Here, the design is communicating a very specific theme to the book inside.

The binary code alludes to the title, Code Breaker and having the author and the title placed in the code, all typed out in a vintage computer typeface, really sticks to the theme. Think of how you can curate your design and imagery to make your readers feel the mood through the cover alone.

Tasks
Ebook-cover
Topics
Computer AND code AND number code
Q

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7. Feature compelling imagery.

Photography is an excellent tool for creating a cover that will catch a reader’s attention, pique their curiosity and inspire them to open up the book and dive in. This image of the tide not only resonates with the title’s typography, but it also transports us right to the ocean. When it comes to imagery, use the full cover to showcase stunning photography, illustrations or even Photoshopped compositions to create a fantastic cover.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Beach AND forest AND ocean AND sand AND villa
Q

Collection ID

(To pull in manually curated templates if needed)

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Vertical

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sixcols

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8. Use imagery as an accent.

You can go for a simpler approach while still using imagery. An image doesn’t need to take up the whole cover. It can serve quite well as a complement to the overall design. Here, we have the paper peeled back to reveal the book’s title. While the paper is graphically interesting, it merely leads us to read the book’s title as the focal point. Explore ways you can intertwine text and imagery together.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Author AND scrap AND paper AND vintage
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(To pull in manually curated templates if needed)

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9. Choose imagery that makes an impact on your audience.

As the old saying goes, a photo is worth 1,000 words. Images can communicate emotions or sentiments much more than words can, so explore the type of imagery that can speak up for you on your book cover. This example is impactful for an audience who cares about design and architecture, as this staircase is cropped in a way that represents the golden ratio, an important tool in art. Know your audience and choose an image that will catch their attention.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Architecture AND gray AND spiral staircase AND textbook
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Collection ID

(To pull in manually curated templates if needed)

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Vertical

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sixcols

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10. Showcase icons and graphics as imagery.

There are many forms of imagery. Photographs are one, as well as illustrations, paintings, graphics and even icons. Each medium has its own strengths in communicating certain messages, but let’s talk about icons and graphics.

These digital imagery options work well for creating modern, minimal designs and their size and colour can be easily adjusted for consistency. Take a look at the Robot Thinking book - all the cover has is four icons and a silhouette. When added together with the title and author, it makes for incredible composition and paints a clear picture of what the book offers.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Android AND brain AND robot AND mind
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11. Use graphics to allude to imagery.

A web of lies is a commonly used phrase and the title of the book we see here. If the designer had chosen to use spiderwebs, would the design work as well? More likely, spiderwebs would make us think about Halloween or something creepy.

Instead, using minimalist lines to represent a real web, we clearly understand that we’re talking about webs in the context of ideas.

Tasks
ebook-cover
Topics
Bright AND lie AND truth AND web
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12. Keep it simple and straightforward.

You don’t need to overwhelm your readers with a loud, jam-packed design. Putting everything that’s inside the book on the cover defeats the purpose. Just give your readers what they need to know on the cover that will intrigue them enough to open up and learn more. This cover keeps it simple with a plain, minimal composition. Having the title in the bottom corner is a stylistic choice appropriate for a design book. Remember that negative space is just as impactful as any other design element.

Tasks
Book-cover
Topics
Design AND sans serif AND tips AND uppercase
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(To pull in manually curated templates if needed)

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Vertical

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sixcols

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How to make a book cover with Adobe Express.

Start with inspiration.
We hook you up with thousands of professionally designed templates, so you’re never starting from a blank canvas. Search by platform, task, aesthetic, mood or colour to have fresh inspiration at your fingertips. Once you find a graphic to start from, just tap or click to open the document in the editor.
Remix to make it your own.
There are lots of ways to personalise the templates. Change up the copy and font. Sub out the imagery with your snapshots or short video clips. Or browse from thousands of free images right in Adobe Express. Spend as little or as much time as you want to the graphic your own. With a premium plan, you can even auto-apply your brand logo, colours and fonts, so you’re always #onbrand.
Amp up the flair.
It’s easy to add extra flair and personality to your projects with our exclusive design assets. For example, apply a text animation for short-form graphic videos in one tap. We’ve taken care of all the boring technical stuff so you can focus on your message and style.
Resize to make your content go further.
Once you’ve landed on a design you like, you can easily modify it for any social network by using our handy resize feature. Duplicate the project, hit resize and select the platform you want to adapt it for, and we take care of the rest.
Save and share your customised book cover.
Once your design is complete, hit that publish button and share your design with others. Adobe Express saves your designs, so you can always revisit your project if you need to update it in the future.