It is a truth universally agreed upon that wandering the stacks of a bookstore is one of life’s small pleasures. I was partaking in this little bit of joy this week when I began to notice similarities in some of the books I was seeing.

Another of life’s small pleasures is the ability to pull out my phone and document visual oddities such as these.

The Ensemble is perhaps the most representative example. Note the bright background, the naturalistic spray of florals, and the color palette. Note also how the text overlaps and interplays with the illustration.

No florals on this one, but it has a similar interplay between the illustration and the text—which has softer edges. I would hope so, because sharp edges on top of that dynamic background would have been a LOT visually. Like, assault-level.

These two have deviated a bit from the multi-layered color palette, but still keep within the general theme even though they are more focused in color story. Again, we see the large-scale floral that interplays with the text.

Now we’ve introduced texture into the typeface, instead of the typeface interacting with the illustration. Still—say it with me now—bold, bright, naturalistic floral.

This cover doesn’t feel as integrated, as thought-through, as the other covers.

This one doesn’t fit the floral theme, and certainly introduces a new element of the dark background instead of a bright one, but it fits with the general rhythm of the text. The color palette stands, even with the black. The juxtaposition of all those different typefaces over each other echoes the interaction of the text with the floral illustrations, even if they aren’t exactly analogous.

Which brings us to this final offering, which is perhaps my favorite. Pink and yellow is so WEIRD and yet delicate, I’m intrigued by this book. Good job, book designer.

I have no conclusions, no grand narratives. Just a collection of books that caught my eye and the patterns that drew them together. Sometimes it’s just fun to look, and to draw lines between similar elements.

 

PS. Are all novels now branded “a novel”? Do we not trust that books in the fiction section are, in fact, novels?