I think that one of the reasons Apple product boxes, and even their stores, are all white, is to make sure the devices are the focal point. In your book’s case, the words and pictures telling the story contained within shine even brighter due to your design choice. And the arrows were not lost on me either. It’s the perfect cover.
It’s a MadMen-esque carousel. That’s what Apple is to many of us, a timeline of our lives that allows us to go forward and back. Like I knew where and when I was when I first saw a Macintosh. I knew where and when I was when I saw a Newton. I knew where and when I was when I bought my first iPhone.
The story is beautiful, and I am so grateful to you for posting the concepts from my coleagues designers. I must say, minimalism is super difficult, designer often make mistake by thinking that less-is-more is the super formula that anybody can apply. Oh, no! As a book cover designer, you have to hit 3 spots:
1. Message clear at first glance
2. Hidden Message also present
4. Geometric laws of beauty for human eye achieved
Your final work has all hese three elements! This is a prove that just being able to use Adobe bundle doesn’t make us designers. Your design is fantastic, because you have been following Apple’s rise-fall-rise-triumph with passion for years. Passion always shows!
Your account reminded me of something I read about 40 years ago. Steve Jobs was looking for a logo for his Next company, and the designer made his presentation by describing and showing the false starts he made in developing the logo, until, at the end, what he came up with seemed completely inevitable.
I’m loving the audiobook so far, and think the cover is great. I listen with a sleep timer, and when I go back to it later, the file is frozen; it comes back after quitting the app and reopening it. After a few calls to Audible, I learned that their engineers know it is an issue and are working on it, but your publisher might want to light a fire under them.
That was quite the journey! I'm partial to the tighter typesetting in your mockup, but the look of the final publisher version will stand out more on shelves and in digital thumbnails, which is a good thing.
Your cover was great from the get go. One popular author who sold a million books got 90% positive reviews and 10% negative reviews. He said he writes for the 900,000 who will buy his next book.
Lovely
I think that one of the reasons Apple product boxes, and even their stores, are all white, is to make sure the devices are the focal point. In your book’s case, the words and pictures telling the story contained within shine even brighter due to your design choice. And the arrows were not lost on me either. It’s the perfect cover.
The cover is wonderful, but I don't get it why the top of the iPad circle is basically disappearing into nothingness.
It’s a MadMen-esque carousel. That’s what Apple is to many of us, a timeline of our lives that allows us to go forward and back. Like I knew where and when I was when I first saw a Macintosh. I knew where and when I was when I saw a Newton. I knew where and when I was when I bought my first iPhone.
The story is beautiful, and I am so grateful to you for posting the concepts from my coleagues designers. I must say, minimalism is super difficult, designer often make mistake by thinking that less-is-more is the super formula that anybody can apply. Oh, no! As a book cover designer, you have to hit 3 spots:
1. Message clear at first glance
2. Hidden Message also present
4. Geometric laws of beauty for human eye achieved
Your final work has all hese three elements! This is a prove that just being able to use Adobe bundle doesn’t make us designers. Your design is fantastic, because you have been following Apple’s rise-fall-rise-triumph with passion for years. Passion always shows!
Your account reminded me of something I read about 40 years ago. Steve Jobs was looking for a logo for his Next company, and the designer made his presentation by describing and showing the false starts he made in developing the logo, until, at the end, what he came up with seemed completely inevitable.
As the author of the essential “Missing Manuals,” you were the ideal person to write this great book. Congratulations on a masterpiece!
It’s my favorite book cover of all time, ranking even higher than any editions of ‘A Wrinkle In Time’.
You can ask Heather how serious I am about that. She’ll for sure nod her head in nerdy agreement.
I’m getting your comment bronzed!
The hilarious part is that the Cooper Union event used the partial Apple logo anyway!
OMG you’re right!!
I got it. My wife started us off with the iPod. So sure. And then there is that little extra depth (raise). Now I got it.
It's a terrible cover, sir.
Even those of us who eagerly bought the thing on macrumors are completely in agreement that the cover of the book is notably less than ideal.
I think the hardcover could/should have been aluminum.
Enjoyed this
I’m loving the audiobook so far, and think the cover is great. I listen with a sleep timer, and when I go back to it later, the file is frozen; it comes back after quitting the app and reopening it. After a few calls to Audible, I learned that their engineers know it is an issue and are working on it, but your publisher might want to light a fire under them.
What!? Weird!! I shall pass this along!
That was quite the journey! I'm partial to the tighter typesetting in your mockup, but the look of the final publisher version will stand out more on shelves and in digital thumbnails, which is a good thing.
Cool cover David. Ignore the chattering. BTW, where are you in the top photo in the email? NORAD!?
Three Mile Island nuclear-plant control room! Did a story about how Microsoft is paying to start it up again, in order to power their AI initiatives…!
Nakashima green!
Your cover was great from the get go. One popular author who sold a million books got 90% positive reviews and 10% negative reviews. He said he writes for the 900,000 who will buy his next book.
That’s a really smart attitude…