Seeking Feedback For My Book Cover

MatthewSteele

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It is definitely bold and attention grabbing. The impression is gives me of the book is that it will be light-hearted/humorous. If that is what you're going for then I think you're on the right track :)
 

Bufty

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The loud hailer conveys an image of prison guards to me, but maybe it has significance in relation to routine security guards in your part of the world.
 
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Woollybear

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This is the link to the image of my book cover:

https://guardsgonewild.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/what-do-you-think-of-my-book-cover/

I am very sorry but it's simply too huge to be squeezed in here using the code.

Anyway, this will most probably be used for my book cover. However, before I actually send it off to the printers, I would like some feedback.

Feel free to share your thoughts here.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried making the fonts of your tittle and name less different? They don't need to be identical or anything, but as they stand one looks like word art and the other looks like hand-drawn.
 

veinglory

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I don't know what a book with that cover would be about. Life guards? That is all I from red and yellow as it is the Aussie lifeguard colors.
 

Stephen Palmer

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For all its design strengths, I think it's too simple and too bare.
Needs a bit of sophistication. There's a lot of flat tones there which could have texture.
Also, I didn't much like the author name font.
Keep at it though. Book covers aren't easy to do, and you often have to go through a lengthy process. Design one is rarely the good one!
 

Rosanna Banana

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Yep, definitely agree that it gives the impression that this book is going to be humorous and light, so hopefully that's what you were going for. I personally like the simplicity of it but I am definitely no one-hundred percent sure what kid of "guard" you are taking about. I was thinking security guard at first but then I thought the loud speaker could represent a lifeguard too.
 

Teckmeister

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Thank you, everybody, for your feedback! :)

Yes, although this book contains stories of bullying in the industry, there are also plenty of stories that are light-hearted and humorous. So I am glad to know that the cover does indeed convey this.

As for the loudspeaker... Actually, originally, I considered using a whistle. Because my book is a whistle-blower's account of the security industry. Whistle-blower. Whistle.

But then, whistles are mainly used by lifeguards and P.E. coaches so I thought that would give a wrong impression right away.

In the end, we went with a loudspeaker because it gives me an opportunity to tell people that my book is a shout-out to the world about the bullying and injustice going on in the private security industry.

A shout-out, so it's done with a loudspeaker?
 

Bufty

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The loudspeaker doesn't convey a clear image at all.

Have you thought about maybe also changing the title and getting more clarity that way?

What about including the word 'whistle-blower'?
 
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veinglory

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If the stories are about security guards, show a security guard. Stock sites will have cartoons that would fit.
 

DarienW

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Guards Gone Wild makes me think of "Girls Gone Wild" which has a certain connotation for me, like a bachelorette party or something.

Maybe you could add a tag line for clarity.

If you want to post the image here, you can just do a screen grab off your post. It should be small enough, especially if you can shrink image to about half size.

Good luck!

:)
 

Metruis

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The author name with the drop shadow upsets me. Especially because plain black is high contrast on the yellow, it's so unnecessary. The rest of the design feels "clip art", like you haven't polished it yet. It's not bad, but it could do with crisper lines and a more cohesive author font.

The direction I would take would be to make something like this for the background: an example. Except using icons for security. Maybe slap a large dot halftone pattern in there to go with the cartoonish style of the shoutout box. I get why you went with the shoutout loudspeaker idea, and I think it's neat, it just needs something to pull it back to 'security'.
 

Jennie

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Since your book is about security guards, I would represent them or mention "security guards" on the cover. I wonder if using yellow + red + visuals of something loud is not a bit redundant - the color clash might be enough to express the notion of alert.