Possible dilemma: You need to hire a book cover designer for your project, but have not been trained in graphic design, have never art directed before and/or are generally not too immersed in the field of graphic design, art or culture. So, how do you become informed in some of these areas?  Where do you go? A helpful first step is to simply jump into this arena and check out what’s going on. It may feel overwhelming and this awareness won’t necessarily make the process of working  with a designer go smoother, but it will give you some added perspective and appreciation for the range of style and solutions that come to bear on design related problems.  This awareness will enable you to ask more questions and enhance the communication with your designer.  The better the communication, the better chance your designer will find the right solution for your book. Here are a few blogs our studio frequents to stay on top of what’ happening. Of course, there are countless others.  Some of these are specific to book design and some are more general in nature. Enjoy!

• FFFFound
• Design Observer
• FWIS
• The Book Design Review
• FaceOut Books
• By Henry Sene Yee Design
• David Drummond | Covers
• Books Covered
• Notcot
• Jacket Mechanical
• Ace Jet 170
• Grain Edit
• The DieLine
• Cool Hunting
• David Gee Works on Paper
• Core77
• The Font Feed
• Design You Trust
• Arthur Cherry
• Ideas on Ideas
• Publication Design
• Alltop
• Dwell
• The Daily Discussion
• Visual Culture
• Ellen Lupton Design Writing Research
• Putting People First
• Graphicology
• Netdiver
• Good Is
• Designers Who Blog
• Speak Up