Why are US book cover designs so poor?

[VTChEwbecca]

You can't lay all the blame at the doorstep of the graphic designer. You've got the illustrators and photographers too. There are art directors, creative directors, executive creative directors, etc. Then you've got the publishing house themselves and any number of persons on that end.

I don't work in the publishing industry so I can't say for certain, but too many design agencies fall into the trap of design-by-committee. EVERYONE has an opinion, and some (though they would never admit to it) will push for assinine changes simply for the little ego boost they get from having put their personal touch on it. So few care that the designer is more knowledgeable about color theory, composition, typography, and design trends..

I agree that it is probably too many hands in the pot - the US covers often look over-done compared to their UK counterparts. My husband works in advertising and often sees clients muck up the designs of the graphic designers ("Can you make my logo bigger?") because they just don't get it. The big-wigs up in the main office and the sales reps can be almost as bad as the clients some days. Perhaps the UK book publishers allow the designer to do his/her job without allowing 20 other people to mess about with the design.

 

[blurricus]

It's interesting that a lot of people have expressed the opinion that the UK covers are more simplistic. It seems as though the examples presented (save the last one), the UK covers are filled with clutter. Also, have you ever considered the Harry Potter series? I think the US covers are much better than the UK covers.

Also, I haven't found that most US graphic designers are worse than UK graphic designers. In fact, I think there's a lot of useless bitterness about it on here. The difference between the two covers has to do with marketing and publishers. I don't think that one cover is worse than the other. I prefer the covers for J.D. Salinger novels the most. Pure white, with the title and the author. Let's face it, how often do you really look at the cover anyway?

 

[Occlith]

UK to the left, US to the right.

1. Oracle Night, Paul Auster
2. Dreamcatcher, Stephen King
3. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami
4. The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth

But some, like The Amber Spyglass above, just lack of any sort of imagination.

I like the US version of 2.

Although the UK 4. is nice, the US version is more interesting as it depicts the action in the book; the UK spyglass illustration is rather gaudy and is not how the spyglass is described in the book.

5. is a poor design for both UK and US (both paperbacks, I think) but it's not very good for the hardcover version either. Not sure is it is UK or US.

 

[Occlith]

Also, have you ever considered the Harry Potter series? I think the US covers are much better than the UK covers.

I agree. ...

 

[-Carlos-]

I agree that the US designs stink to high heaven.