fleamarkets:

Douglas Fairbanks: The Making of a Screen Character by Alistair Cooke

cover design by E. McKnight Kauffer, c. 1940

redesignrelated:

book cover redesigns for Kurt Vonnegut backlist

There have of course been numerous other designs for the Vonnegut classics, but most of us specifically remember Carin Goldberg’s iconic series design from the late 1980s. Our beat-up copies of Bluebeard, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions were all in this packaging. Last week, while browsing around Spoonbill & Sugartown bookstore in Williamsburg, a new series design caught our eye on the table. We didn’t see reissues of many titles, including our personal favorites Bluebeard, and Breakfast of Champions. But we anticipate they are on their way.

The newly released and repackaged Vonnegut backlist nicely coincides with the hardcover release of Look at the Birdie (a previously unpublished short fiction story which was recently reviewed by Dave Eggers for the NYT Sunday Book Review). For the jacket design of Look at the Birdie, designer Lynn Buckley incorporates an original illustration by Vonnegut himself. This kind of collaboration is seen on all of the reissued Dial Press paperbacks.

We recognize the cover illustration on Mother Night from the interior pages of Breakfast of Champions. Please leave a note if you recognize the initial origins of any other cover illustrations. After spending a bit of time online, we didn’t uncover much background information on the new series design. Maybe we have to be patient and hope Faceout Books will get the behind-the-scenes story on this?

And, because we couldn’t help but include it, below are a couple first edition jacket designs. (original jacket design for Slaughterhouse-Five by Paul Bacon, jacket design for Breakfast of Champions by Robert Giusti)

dust jacket design by Alvin Lustig, c. 1943 (more via Scott Lindberg—
I’m jealous of this collection, mine is much smaller)

vintage Vogue magazine cover c. 1946, photography by Irving Penn
(discovered via actualidea)

Fortune Magazine cover designed by Erik Nitsche, c. 1954 (via wardomatic)

A Book of Scripts book cover (via telephonostereo)

Penguin Great Stars series design by Stefanie Posavec

(discovered via The Book Design Review)

jacket design by Carin Goldberg caught my attention.

GQ Italia 10th Anniversary issue: 10 designers, 10 covers
(above cover designed by Ken Barber, House Industries)

redesignrelated:

CMYK magazine redesign, cover to cover, hits shelves in November 2009:

From following CMYK’s twitter, we learned of the unveiling for the magazine’s new front cover. The freshly redesigned cover is just a preview of the full design overhaul we’ll get to read all about in upcoming issue #45. Designer Ronald J. Scala II played a heavy role in the publication’s visual refresh. The redesign isn’t all about aesthetics and numerous editorial changes have been made, resulting in “more fluidity and cohesion.” CMYK is swapping out their old tagline of “inspiring visual communication,” with “create, showcase, inspire,” and we can anticipate more international content.

“CMYK has been working extra hard to put the finishing touches on its 45th issue. To date CMYK has published more than 4,000 pieces of creative from over 3,500 aspiring professionals across the globe, handpicked for publication by 180 of the most celebrated creative professionals in communication art. So what better way to celebrate this major milestone than with a cover-to-cover redesign…”

As students, CMYK was one of our favorite, must-read magazines. While in college we always associated the publication with student portfolio work and career advice. After graduating it was a great mag to occasionally pick up when looking for illustrators to hire. We think the magazine’s new approach will be more appealing to creative professionals, without neglecting CMYK’s strong student audience. The visual squares on the cover instantly engage the viewer, and give an enticing glimpse of the diversity to be found within the pages.

On a side note: We’re also really looking forward to reading “Remembering Shigeo Fukuda” and “Inside the Mind of Christoph Niemann.” (Maybe it’s time to reconsider a subscription)

The cover of issue #44 features a cut paper illustration by Jared Schorr, titled Paper Cuts. Jared Schorr is a recent graduate of Art Center College of Design. Is this the last student or recent grad given the honor to have their work showcased full-bleed on the cover of CMYK?

spotted John Gall’s new book cover design for The Book of Fathers (published by Other Press on October 13, 2009). From a distance browsing in Posman books, it instantly caught my attention. Up close the subtle special effects help to make this design truly unique amongst those books placed next door on the shelf. The collage art (which is embossed) is by Nicole Natri (cover image via n a k n)

Reply Paid by H. F. Heard c. 1944,
cover art by Gerald Gregg
(discovered via PopKulture on flickr)

Polish Book Covers
(via grain edit via Journey Round My Skull