How do I maintain branding and yet sufficient differentiation in book covers in a series?

[Gregg Bell]

Hey, if it works for this guy, why not for you? You have your standard image, and your differentiated titles!
Person/non-person? Doesn't matter, it's your lawyer we've come to see/expect.

*If this is intended as a long series (which it seems to be) definitely number the books as well. Because once you're a dozen books in, it's going to be easier for new readers to follow the changes in the character's career if they know the original sequence.

Remember: the only time readers really notice the cover is when they're first choosing the book.
After that, unless you're doing something cutesy like spine images that make a long, narrow secondary image, the cover doesn't matter much.

Thanks frimble3. I didn't think to put the book number on the cover, but the Amazon product page will clearly have it, and I noticed most legal thriller series don't have the book number on it. (It was a relief actually!)

 

[Gregg Bell]

Just remember that if you're going to standardize the title typography, base the size on the longest word…which isn't "lawyer." Even if you apply some gnarly compression and overtrack the text, "prosecutor" takes up way more space. If you have to set the next title much smaller, there goes part of the series look.

Ugh. Hadn't thought of that. I looked for legal thriller series that used the same word in the titles and they seem to be pretty rare. The two I did find play around with the title font sizes.

I think it's a good idea to keep the name the same font size, though.

Thanks for pointing this out. I appreciate it.

 

[Gregg Bell]

<Mod hat>

As per the Guidelines for posting in Art & Design, please keep your images to not much bigger than the area of 400 x 400 pixels.

If you divide these into three images that should be just fine.

</Mod hat>

Sorry about that. I reduced the image in #18. Thank you for leaving the earlier image up there. I appreciate it.

 

[worrdz]

Ugh. Hadn't thought of that. I looked for legal thriller series that used the same word in the titles and they seem to be pretty rare. The two I did find play around with the title font sizes.

[IMAGES]


I think it's a good idea to keep the name the same font size, though.

Thanks for pointing this out. I appreciate it.

You can vary it slightly and still retain the "family" look, but the more it differs, the more the similarity wanes.
Ideally, you take the layout file for cover A, save a copy of it under another name, replace the background image, and alter the typographic content. That produces the greatest similarity. If you're self publishing, you can control that process.

 

[Gregg Bell]

You can vary it slightly and still retain the "family" look, but the more it differs, the more the similarity wanes.
Ideally, you take the layout file for cover A, save a copy of it under another name, replace the background image, and alter the typographic content. That produces the greatest similarity. If you're self publishing, you can control that process.

Thanks worrdz.

Ideally, you take the layout file for cover A, save a copy of it under another name, replace the background image, and alter the typographic content.

But in my case cover A (The Perfect Lawyer) has the wrong size type because The Perfect Prosecutor has smaller type, right? So change the font size on The Perfect Lawyer to match the font size on The Perfect Prosecutor, and then yeah, The Perfect Lawyer would be a template for future covers, right?

 

[TellMeAStory]

Only slightly related, but I've been reading about the murals in San Francisco's Coit Tower. Seems a lot of people think they were done by the same artist, but that's only because the same assistant artist prepared all the paints. So that's one way to get a "series" look.

 

[worrdz]

Thanks worrdz.



But in my case cover A (The Perfect Lawyer) has the wrong size type because The Perfect Prosecutor has smaller type, right? So change the font size on The Perfect Lawyer to match the font size on The Perfect Prosecutor, and then yeah, The Perfect Lawyer would be a template for future covers, right?

If you want full typographic cohesion, then yes, start with the longest title (even if it isn't the book you're going to publish first), and derive any shorter titles from versions of that original file.

This also is a great application for highly condensed typefaces. Pick your favorite. As a card-carrying member of "The one who dies with the most font licenses wins" club, I'm a big fan of rich, large families. Particularly Proxima Nova, which goes from super wide to super condensed. (And the lower-case a in the regular width/weight version is one of the most-beautiful typeface characters I've ever seen.)

Go to a typeface merchant site, plug in your title text, and audition typefaces to your heart's content. If you have access to the Adobe Creative Suite, you can activate and use many typeface families, including Proxima Nova. (You'll also find Alternate Gothic #2, another headline standby.)

And if you want to do a small-caps presentation like the Dark Justice example you presented above, make sure you use a typeface with real small caps. Otherwise, what you're getting is a capital letter that's the size you specify, followed by capitals in a smaller size (typically 2/3rds of the full size) to fake the small caps. The weight will not be consistent, and it can look really dorky. (ETA: The size of fake small caps actually is a user preference in page-layout software.)

 

[Gregg Bell]

If you want full typographic cohesion, then yes, start with the longest title (even if it isn't the book you're going to publish first), and derive any shorter titles from versions of that original file.

This also is a great application for highly condensed typefaces. Pick your favorite. As a card-carrying member of "The one who dies with the most font licenses wins" club, I'm a big fan of rich, large families. Particularly Proxima Nova, which goes from super wide to super condensed. (And the lower-case a in the regular width/weight version is one of the most-beautiful typeface characters I've ever seen.)

Go to a typeface merchant site, plug in your title text, and audition typefaces to your heart's content. If you have access to the Adobe Creative Suite, you can activate and use many typeface families, including Proxima Nova. (You'll also find Alternate Gothic #2, another headline standby.)

And if you want to do a small-caps presentation like the Dark Justice example you presented above, make sure you use a typeface with real small caps. Otherwise, what you're getting is a capital letter that's the size you specify, followed by capitals in a smaller size (typically 2/3rds of the full size) to fake the small caps. The weight will not be consistent, and it can look really dorky. (ETA: The size of fake small caps actually is a user preference in page-layout software.

Thanks, worrdz.

Checked out Proxima Nova and it is indeed very nice.

I'm still wondering (albeit much less than before) about the same font size for my titles. For sure, The Perfect Prosecutor is going to hold the longest word (Prosecutor) for future titles. The Perfect Lawyer will be fine with that font size. But perhaps, if there should be a book titled The Perfect Law, might not "Law" look a little lonely with all the space on both sides of it?

 

[worrdz]

Thanks, worrdz.

Checked out Proxima Nova and it is indeed very nice.

I'm still wondering (albeit much less than before) about the same font size for my titles. For sure, The Perfect Prosecutor is going to hold the longest word (Prosecutor) for future titles. The Perfect Lawyer will be fine with that font size. But perhaps, if there should be a book titled The Perfect Law, might not "Law" look a little lonely with all the space on both sides of it?

@Gregg Bell, the best way to answer that question is to try it out.
Simple enough if you have access to InDesign or Illustrator.
If not, you can go to a font merchant site that sells licenses for the typeface you want to audition, take advantage of the ability to preview specific text, screen cap the results, and play around with the type.

 

[Gregg Bell]

@Gregg Bell, the best way to answer that question is to try it out.
Simple enough if you have access to InDesign or Illustrator.
If not, you can go to a font merchant site that sells licenses for the typeface you want to audition, take advantage of the ability to preview specific text, screen cap the results, and play around with the type.

That's a great idea. Thanks. I will. But I was mostly thinking devil's advocate with the The Perfect Law idea. I am committed (thanks to you! thank you!) to sticking with the same size font from "Prosecutor." And I don't have the kind of titles that really need to say what the story is about. Well, lol, they sort of do. (Hopefully you know what i mean.)

 

[frimble3]

That's a great idea. Thanks. I will. But I was mostly thinking devil's advocate with the The Perfect Law idea. I am committed (thanks to you! thank you!) to sticking with the same size font from "Prosecutor." And I don't have the kind of titles that really need to say what the story is about. Well, lol, they sort of do. (Hopefully you know what i mean.)

If 'Law' looks lonely on it's line, perhaps a couple of 'dingbats'? Decorative devices, I believe most fonts have them.
Big asterisks, stars or similar on either side to kind of fill in the perceived emptiness?
The scales of justice, on either side? Crossed gavels?