Picture design:
The picture on the cover has become an important part of design elements because of its intuition, clarity, strong visual impact and easy resonance with readers. The content of pictures is rich and colorful, and the most common ones are people, animals, plants, natural scenery and the products of all human activities.
Picture is an important part of book cover design, which often occupies a large area in the picture and becomes the visual center, so picture design is particularly important. Generally, youth magazines and women's magazines are leisure books and periodicals, and their standard is mass aesthetics. Usually, photos of popular movie stars and models are chosen as the cover. The standard of selecting pictures for popular science publications is knowledge, and pictures related to nature and advanced scientific and technological achievements are often selected; Sports magazines choose pictures of sports stars and competitive scenes; News magazines choose news figures and related scenes, and their criteria are not young and beautiful, nor scientific knowledge, but news value; The cover of photographic art publications should choose excellent photographic art works, and its standard is artistic value.
Color design:
The color treatment of the cover is the key to design. Proper color expression and artistic treatment can produce striking effects in readers' vision. The use of color should consider the needs of content, and express different content and ideas with the effect of different color contrast. In contrast, it is advisable to seek unity and coordination, and to configure intermediate colors with each other to make the contrast colors harmonious and unified. The color of the book title should have a certain weight on the cover, and if the purity is not enough, it will not have a significant effect. In addition, in addition to the painting color used for the cover, decorative colors can also be used. The cover color of literature books is not necessarily suitable for textbooks, and the cover color of textbooks and theoretical works is not suitable for children's books. We should treat the meaning of color dialectically, not use it metaphysically.
Generally speaking, the color of children's publications should be designed according to the characteristics of children's tenderness, simplicity, innocence and loveliness. Tones are often treated as high-key, weakening the intensity of various contrasts and emphasizing softness; The color tone of women's books and periodicals can be chosen according to the characteristics of women, which is gentle, charming and elegant. The color of sports magazines emphasizes stimulation and contrast, and pursues color impact; The color requirements of art magazines are rich in connotation and depth, and cannot be frivolous or kitsch; The color of popular science books and periodicals can emphasize mystery; The colors of fashion magazines should be trendy and full of personality; The colors of professional academic magazines should be dignified, serious and elegant, reflecting the sense of authority, and it is not appropriate to emphasize high-purity hue contrast.
In addition to coordination, we should also pay attention to color contrast, including hue, purity and lightness. If there is no contrast between cold and warm colors on the cover, you will feel lifeless; If there is no contrast between lightness and depth on the cover, it will feel dull and breathless; If there is no pure contrast on the cover, you will feel archaic and vulgar. Cover color design should grasp the relationship between lightness, purity and hue, and at the same time use the relationship between the three to understand and find out the reasons for the disadvantages on the cover, so as to improve color cultivation.
The design rules of pictures and colors are mentioned above. Only by using the basic methods flexibly for different books can we design an excellent cover, which will make readers fall in love at first sight and put it down.