We’ve all said, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But when it comes to LITERAL books, we absolutely DO judge them by their cover. And that’s totally fair! Of course, that means when it comes to designing the cover of your book, you need to get it right. More specifically, you need to snare a potential reader’s attention and, in a glance, tell them what the book is about and what they can expect from reading it.
With that in mind, here are some key considerations to nail your children’s book cover design and skyrocket your chances of gaining eager readers!
Pick a font that matches the tone of the story.
There is a whole wide world of font options out there! What should you pick for your book? Well, if your story features woodland creatures, you probably want to opt for a whimsical font rather than, say, a slime font that would make more sense for a book about monsters. There shouldn’t be dissonance between the content of the story and the style of the font.
Sometimes, an illustrator will draw the title text themselves to match the illustrations. That’s when you can really feel confident that the font is ideal for your book!
Tip: Contrast is key when it comes to cover design! For instance, if you use a serif font for the title, you may want to use a sans serif font for the other text on the cover.
Tip: To prioritize legibility, try not to do all caps and avoid fonts that are too cursive or hard to read.
Pick the right sizes for the text across the cover.
When it comes to the front cover, one of the most important things to remember is that the title should be clearly and immediately legible. That’s what people are looking for since it’s arguably the most important piece of initial information about the story—don’t make readers have to search for it. As a general rule, the title should be largest. If you have a subtitle, that should be smaller. Finally, the byline, or the author’s name (along with the illustrator’s, if applicable) should be even smaller.
You also want to be mindful of font sizes for the back cover content. Typically, you should avoid going with anything less than sixteen- or eighteen-point font. You don’t want readers squinting their eyes, trying to make out the words on the back of the book!
Strategically select the colors.
When it comes to kids’ books, it’s generally a good idea to lean toward vivid rather than bleak colors, especially for board books targeting the youngest readers. Regarding the text across the cover, make sure the font colors are different enough from the background that the text stands out and is readable. Complementary colors tend to look the best together. However, be sure they don’t clash to where it almost hurts to look at the colors together.
Tip: Use the illustrations as your guide! Choose colors from the same color palette as the artwork to create a cohesive look and ensure the colors will go well together.
Keep it simple.
There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but it’s typically a good idea to live by the principle of less is more when designing a children’s book cover. Designs that are too busy can appear cluttered and overwhelming. And you don’t want the title and other textual content to get lost in the graphics. There should be clear space for the title, subtitle (if any), and byline so that they pop.
Tip: Don’t use too many colors or typefaces. That often looks messy and unprofessional!
Focus on your target audience.
Of course, you should also keep your reader in mind every step of the way. For example, be sure to use simpler fonts that are easy to read for younger audiences. You can use more embellishments and stylization as the target age range rises. Similarly, you should have fewer graphics and more straightforward visuals for the youngest readers, while more and more detailed imagery can be included for older readers.
Take into account marketability.
When it comes to your target audience, it’s likely a certain age range of children. But remember, it’s probably a parent, caregiver, teacher, etc., who is buying the book. You need to appeal to them too! So consider their perspective when deciding on things like the title. You want it to give the purchaser a clear idea of the book’s content. That may mean you need to include a subtitle to give more context to the main title if it’s more unique and only makes sense after the whole story has been read.
It’s also a good idea to consider the buyer when crafting the elements beyond just the front cover—the spine and the back cover. For the former, make sure to include the title, author name, and publisher logo (if applicable) so it can be easily identified when on a bookshelf. For the latter, craft a compelling synopsis—one that will resonate with the purchaser of the book—and artfully incorporate the author bio (if there’s room) and the barcode on the back cover.
All in all, the text, graphics, and overall look should appear attractive to adults who will undoubtably have to read the book aloud over and over again to little listeners. Whether that means the back cover is simply a solid color, it has a few spot illustrations filling out the open space, or it’s part of a continuous scene flowing from the front to the back, you want the entire cover file to be beautiful, dynamic, engaging, and cohesive.
At Blue Balloon Books, we know all the industry standards and market trends critical for creating the perfect children’s book cover design! Visit Blue Balloon Books to talk to an acquisitions editor about how to bring your dream book cover to life.