Personal Development for Smart People Book Cover

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by RobinMessage

Erin and I both like the original version better. This one seems like a more muted, toned down version of it.

I opted to use "Personal Growth" in the subtitle for search reasons. This way the book can match well on "personal development" and "personal growth." I also wanted to make it clear that the book is about personal growth not economic growth, social growth, etc.

[Steve Pavlina]

It seems like some people object to the cover based on pre-conceived but inaccurate notions of what the book's content is like or what audience I'm trying to target.

One of the main reasons I wrote this book was to reach out to more people -- the kinds of people who aren't already visiting here. Regular visitors who already know me will most likely make their decision to buy or not buy with little concern for the cover.

I think it's good that some people say the cover is corporate-looking because corporate America needs to raise its consciousness rather badly, and I'd love to see what effect this book will have on such people. This book should appeal to intelligent corporate types as well as to their opposites because, again, the concepts are universal. It would make an ideal gift for an corporate CEO. Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to have a cover with universal appeal.

This is actually a very hardcore, cerebral book. It wouldn't make sense for it to portray a soft image.

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Tuumble

Just picked out the 4 designs and placed them on a book store shelf to see what they looked like.

That was a really cool experiment Tuumble! I think the original stands out the most on the shelf.

[RobinMessage]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Erin and I both like the original version better. This one seems like a more muted, toned down version of it.

I opted to use "Personal Growth" in the subtitle for search reasons. This way the book can match well on "personal development" and "personal growth." I also wanted to make it clear that the book is about personal growth not economic growth, social growth, etc.

That's fair enough -- I agree I went too far away from your original design. I still think the outlines on the bold white text should go as they look horrible up close, and I'm not sure about the font of your name (I think it should be smaller) but that may be subjective since I personally hate authors' names being large on books.

Also, I wanted to create a visually similar design that had a little more negative space in it, but perhaps you want a bold book, so negative space is bad. The comparison is much clearer between the other two cover designs suggested -- the one on the left on the shelf is much bolder than the one on the right, and not just because the fonts are bigger, but also because the space is virtually non-existent on the left, whereas the one on the right has lots of space. One thing I would note on the bookshelf is every crappy novel has little negative space and the author's name big or even the most important thing on the page, whereas the more cerebral or classic books have smaller author names and more negative space.

Tuumble -- nice shelf, thanks!

Thanks for your comments and explanations - you are probably right about growth also. So overall, I suggest just removing the garish elements and focus on being bold.

Cheers,
Robin

[Permafrost]

I too like the colors of the blog.

I'm not a huge fan of red and blue together.
I'd give the original cover 5/10 and say keep trying. Overall from reading the comments the response is lukewarm at best from both right and left brains.

I'm sure there is an optimized design there somewhere. It's not like Steve to not come up with the perfect cover for the book that took so much time and effort to write.

[bdc]

Originally Posted by Tuumble

Just picked out the 4 designs and placed them on a book store shelf to see what they looked like.

Tuumble's experiment is rather compelling. The contrasting and colorful text on a white background really grabs your attention; at least it does among that collection of books. It's also worth considering how it might look if only the book's spine were visible on the shelf.

[andyoyo]

I'm confused is this an E-Book as well as a paper book. The cover looks great, stands out, and is relevent to the content. You should consider hardback as well

[bdc]

I think it's good that some people say the cover is corporate-looking

When people describe the original design as corporate-looking, do they mean that it looks like it was produced by a large impersonal corporation?

Or do they mean that they would expect to see the book in a corporate setting, and feel comfortable recommending it to their CEO / VP?

The main reason I was turned off by the original cover is because I would feel distinctly uncomfortable bringing it into a corporate setting, or even walking to the check out counter with it. Although it does a good job of grabbing your attention on the shelf, which is probably 80% of the battle. So the original cover is not so bad.

I don't want to obsess too much over this, so I think I will recuse myself from the conversation at this point. A lot of good points have already been brought to light. I find merit with many of the viewpoints, even those that oppose my own suggestions.

[Angela]

It looks very much like many of the books that are written by the guys we're booking for high-level corporate speaking engagements -- lots of big company CEO's in the audience.

These are people who already know how to grow their business, but after dedicating their years since college to traditional Wharton entrepreneurial-type values, many of them are ready to think about their lives in terms of relationship, win-win, what really gives them joy and fulfillment, making a difference.

I think my boss and his pals would feel no compunction about reading a book with a cover like this, but they would get a little ooogy at a cover that has clouds and angels on it.

For me, I think I'm right in the middle -- I'd be likely to pick up the left- or right-brain covered books (blechh! ). I think the far-right-brain people I know, the ones who are attracted to books that look like "Ask and It is Given", who would pass this one by.

[Lauxa]

It's all right, I like the font for SMART PEOPLE, like the texturing on the blue segment.

I don't like the way the "p" in "Development" overlaps "SMART PEOPLE" and am not crazy about the fuzzy people on the bottom. Maybe a different texture would be better on bottom, maybe the blue could come down slightly farther.

Red and Blue are just all right for colors. I almost want to say that you should restrict the cover to colors you can see...

[Erin Pavlina]

The publisher is in charge of creating the cover, not Steve. Of course, they run it past him, but he didn't tell them how to design the cover at all. If he did it would probably look different and have different colors.

At first I was not a fan of the cover. I didn't like the red. The top part is blue (not sure if that's coming across on everyone's monitors), not purple.

I was originally imaginging a blue and gold color scheme. Not sure why they went with red. I think the book will appeal to more to the left-brain but I think it conveys authority and that's good.

When I went online to Amazon and took a look at the current top personal development books I actually thought this cover looked best among the rest. I wasn't expecting that. But that's what I determined.

I might pick up a book with this cover but I might not. Depends on my mood. If I was looking for spiritual self help it wouldn't appeal to me but if I was looking for real world solutions to real world problems then this book would stand out to me.

I don't love the cover, but I do think it's a good cover for the position they're trying to put him in.

[SunnKali]

I think gold on the bottom would look great, perhaps with the lettering in the same blue that's up above. That would appeal to me personally much, much more than the red. But maybe it wouldn't stand out as much on the bookshelf.

[A.K.Light]

The only thing that strikes me as odd is the people in the background, but that would never be enough to make me not buy the book or second guess myself about it. I'm going to buy the book no matter what the cover looks like. (But, of course, I'm not just randomly spotting it in a bookstore.) None of them are terrible. We're just critiquing something that we usually wouldn't. I hope you find one that you like and I'm sure once it's decided everybody will be happy with it.

I am partially colorblind as well, and the first one is the one that I like the best so far.

[Dave Kaminski]

What's the significance of the eight people?

The eightfold path? The eight beatitudes? Wheel of the Year? 2^3? Anything to do with Caduceus? Tim Leary? I think we gleaned from you that there are SEVEN pillars of personal development (or whatever you're calling them.)

Eight is a powerful number.

Am I reading too much into the book already?

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

The publisher is in charge of creating the cover, not Steve. Of course, they run it past him, but he didn't tell them how to design the cover at all. If he did it would probably look different and have different colors.

Presumably he could tell them though - even if they reserved the right not to listen.

You make Steve sound a bit passive when we know he isn't.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

It seems like some people object to the cover based on pre-conceived but inaccurate notions of what the book's content is like or what audience I'm trying to target.

Personally I object to it because it wouldn't leap out at me at the bookstore.

It actually doesn't look very corporate to me. The font (+outline) used for the Author's name in particular looks a bit amateurish to me.

But like you say, I'm gonna buy a copy, regardless of what it looks like, so you don't have to convince me.

If you want a corporate look have you tried running it past some of your more corporate friends and associates to see if they like it?

[Jonathan Mead]

I don't like the cover at all. To me it screams, Bold, Strong, Tough, In Your Face. Intelligence however is sophisticated, subtle and bold without being completely obvious. That to me portrays true intelligence, letting you know it's intelligent without having to scream "hey look at me".

I didn't know the publisher was in charge of picking the book cover though. That's a good thing to know if I ever write a book, that would be part of my deal, I design or choose the designer for the cover. I hate to say this, but many people do choose books by their cover, I certainly have and would never buy a book with that ugly of a design. I make the immediate judgment that it is a flat, narrow thinking inside the book, which is what the cover conveys.

I however, fortunately know differently because I've read all of Steve's articles and know he is design handicapped (sorry Steve). I wouldn't buy it if I had never heard of Steve's writing before though.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Tuumble

If we went the text route for the cover I think the words would stand out really well on a white background.

Tumble, of the covers seen in this thread including the one from the publisher, I like yours best!

[beel]

as a designer, i think it looks great. all of the other suggested mock-ups look unprofessional in some aspect or another, this looks professional and attention grabbing. i'm really glad it doesn't look new agey or have angels and what not. the only suggestions i would make are:

1. increasing the contrast on the silhouettes on the red part, perhaps adding a bit more texture (for example, being able to see in between more of their arms, etc). the huge red block is a bit much but adding slightly more contrast would easily solve this. it may also be the monitor causing this.

2. moving "steve pavlina" up maybe 10 pixels

3. the red band could have a higher contrast or be a different color (ie, reversed to be yellow)

as for the red, i don't love that color, but can understand how it will be good for marketing the book and making it jump off the shelf. red is generally frowned upon in web design (blue is favored), but i imagine it is not the same for traditional media.

[Tuumble]

Originally Posted by beel

as a designer, i think it looks great. all of the other suggested mock-ups look unprofessional in some aspect or another, this looks professional and attention grabbing. i'm really glad it doesn't look new agey or have angels and what not. the only suggestions i would make are:

1. increasing the contrast on the silhouettes on the red part, perhaps adding a bit more texture (for example, being able to see in between more of their arms, etc). the huge red block is a bit much but adding slightly more contrast would easily solve this. it may also be the monitor causing this.

2. moving "steve pavlina" up maybe 10 pixels

3. the red band could have a higher contrast or be a different color (ie, reversed to be yellow)

as for the red, i don't love that color, but can understand how it will be good for marketing the book and making it jump off the shelf. red is generally frowned upon in web design (blue is favored), but i imagine it is not the same for traditional media.

You could be right regarding the publisher's design beel.

I should point out that my version was completed in only 15 min. I would certainly hope that the designer took longer than I did!

[seeker5]

Ok, since Steve asked what we think, here's my opinion.

First, I'm gonna buy the book no matter what, even if the book cover has a picture of a dung on it. I'm already way pre-sold on this book.

Second, my first reaction was "I don't like it". It seems cheap. Some books are kind of cheap - with cheap covers to reduce expenses. That's not the way I'd want Steve's book to be sold as. Maybe it's just the way the image is portrayed on the computer screen, but it just looks cheap.

Third, I don't get the biggest letters being on "Smart People". At first glance, it would seem to be a book of "How to become Smart" as in raising your I.Q, which isn't what the theme of the book is (if I understand it correct).

Fourth, the book cover may not make that much of a difference in the kind of sales Steve has anyhow.

Fifth, I kind of prefer Tuumble's version of the book. It's an improvement, but I feel it could still be improved. At least, it looks less cheap.

Six, what do we know about designing books covers anyway? I would think the experts at Hay House would know more about designing book covers to meet their targeted audience then us lay people. But then again, experts can and are often wrong.

In an unrelated, but related topic, I'm curious to know if Steve will get written endorsements on the book by other authors/well-known people in the personal development field.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Fifth, I kind of prefer Tuumble's version of the book. It's an improvement, but I feel it could still be improved. At least, it looks less cheap.

That's my favourite now, too. It certainly stands out best on the shelf, and looks most crisp and clean. I'm not 100% convinced by the script-style font, though and I would probably make the author's name a bit smaller.

Steve, do you know how they're planning to market it?