A Poet’s Brief Guide to Book Design

Why do some books look great and make you want to cuddle them?
Why do others look like poop?

As you move forward with your new book, consider this: A book isn’t just about the words inside, it’s an entire visual and tactile experience from beginning to end.

A sculpture of an up arrow and down arrow set in a forest.

Two basic elements.

When laying out a book cover or a poem on the page, graphic designers pay attention to two basic elements—typography and visual hierarchy.

Open page of book showing typography example

Typography.

Typography is the style and arrangement of type on a page. This includes the typeface (aka font) family itself, use of different styles and weights in a typeface family (such as condensed, light, regular, bold), and how the different words and letters are arranged.

Serif

Typefaces that have small, decorative strokes attached to the ends of vertical and horizontal lines. They tend to look traditional, professional, and authoritative, and be used for body copy or titles. Example: Times New Roman.

Sans Serif

Typefaces that don’t have serifs. They tend to look modern, stylish, and cleaner, and be used for body copy or titles. Example: Helvetica.

Script

Typefaces that look like handwriting and can make text look personable. However they are less legible and definitely not for body copy.

Display Type

Typefaces that are best used only for large titles and decorative purposes, because they can sacrifice legibility for style.

Visual hierarchy.

Visual hierarchy is the arrangement of information to indicate order of importance, guiding the reader’s eye through the page. On a front cover, a reader usually needs to notice the title first, then the author’s name. Artwork typically enhances rather than hinders the textual information.

Poets can relate to visual hierarchy—we often use line breaks, spacing, and other methods to guide a reader through a poem.

Typewriter pieces laid out neatly on a table

Think of typefaces as the clothes your words wear. If you want to be taken seriously, don’t wear clown clothes. If you want to be light-hearted, don’t wear a stiff, traditional outfit.

Take some time to visualize your book as a whole. For modern poetry, a clean, modern, sans serif typeface is usually a good bet.

Dark turquoise book cover with a collaged photo of a woman with flowers on her face, title Seeds Planted in Concrete

Cover art.

You may think a piece of art is awesome but that doesn’t mean it’s right for your book cover. Think about whether it fits the mood of your book—do the colors, shapes, and content complement or reflect some theme or feeling contained in your poetry?

Is the composition of the artwork appropriate and skilled? You might love your homie’s artwork, but it might make for bad cover art. If you overestimate how great it is, it might make your book look amateur.

Ask your press about the person who will be designing your book and its cover. Request examples of other books they’ve done so you can judge their skills and aesthetics.

Making your book look good can be contingent on budget—do they have the money to buy art or pay an artist for cover art? Do they have money to pay a skilled designer? You may have to negotiate with your press about resources to make this happen.

Little puppy sleeping on top of an open book

Final thoughts.

In all, it’s really important that you get second, third, and fourth opinions from different people (including this puppy) about your cover—people who will be honest if it is genuinely ugly or a hot mess.

Finally, just as in writing poetry, you should also leave room for pleasant surprises. You might think your cover has to look a certain way, but a good designer might present you with some amazing, original options.

Do you have questions? Schedule a consultation.

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