Book Cover Designs

I started designing book covers in 2011 - being the book lover that I am, it was a new experience that made me appreciate more on the simplicity of a cover, which at the same time conveys depth of meaning - and shows how the form and function is taken into careful consideration. The projects were always to show the content and tone of the book in a way that could generate a thought in a reader's mind - be it a simple single image, or a complex collage of images; with a careful choice for typography.

The books I helped to design are mostly literature consisting of poem collection, anthologies, short stories and novels. The creative genre of writing gives me more freedom to create.

In 2013 I had the opportunity to jump into book cover design professionally as freelancer for Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia (ITBM), one of the leading publishing companies in Malaysia. Until now I have finished designing six books for them, and for each book I need to propose at least two working covers for them to choose.

Here are covers that I made, and I included some of the process involved.

1. Ikan dalam Jiwa (2013)
Ikan dalam Jiwa is an anthology of poems by Fahd Razy. Loosely translated as The Fish in My Heart, it is a poem of faith (chosen as the title of the book) in which the poet metaphorically transformed himself into a fish and journeyed through God's vast ocean to fulfill his mission as His servant. I used the overall theme and tone of the poem to create the working covers.

Minimalist concept: Disguising 'jiwa' or heart in fish scales

[Chosen cover] Watercolour splashes uses the tone and setting inspired from the poem. The fish with a heart represents the poet

Similar concept to the second working cover, but uses a more realistic image as background

2. Kota Tulip (2013)
Kota Tulip (or Town of Tulips) is a poem chosen to entitle this anthology of poems, where it expressed the poet's hope for the historical city of Istanbul. I tried to play with the image of hope, so I chose the image of  hands raised in prayer for hope for God, with its silhouette playfully giving the image of two tulips blooming.

Simple representation of Tulips merging with Turkey flag, showing the setting of the poem

[Chosen cover] The hands' silhouette resembles two tulips blooming, with Istanbul inside it

3. Izrail Sibuk di Gaza (2013)
(Or, loosely translated as The Angel of Death is Busy in Gaza) I wanted to capture the situation described in the short story, which include death and war as its main theme.

One of the Gazan child in the story wanted to be the Angel of Death, and this is a representation of him doodling as the Angel, crossing out names that is affiliated to the war

The three main characters in the story going through the situation in Gaza

Each bullet for a person, and counting - arranged in rows to also look like dead bodies.

4. Cakerawati Teluki (2014)
The novel discussed the pros and cons of education via homeschooling and traditional method in school (where most of the students are like robots and puppets to the system). It is presented the clash between science education and arts.The novel title can be loosely translated as Teluki's Kingdom (or literally The Kingdom of Carnations) - Teluki being the side character's name, which means Carnation in Malay.

Experimental cover using bold colours for carnation. The carnation embraces the broken puppet, saving it from the system that broke it - similar to Teluki (carnation) who 'saves' the students with her own charm

Sketch cover showing a carnation seeing the King (which is a Teratai, or waterlily - the name of the college) - a rebellion of some sort

[chosen cover] Emblem of two kingdoms, science and art, clashing. The college is in the background

The book climaxes using a play, in which Teluki is one of the actors - so I made the playhouse analogous to the college itself, where the events of the real-life drama unfolds

5. Mimpi Kotaku (2014)
The idea was to convey the idea of a dream, in this case, as the title suggests - The Dream of My City. It tells about the longing of a city to return back to its past where beautiful natural scenery takes place.

Where the moon reflects the dream of the city to return to nature like in the past

A building, dreaming to be surrounded by trees again

Trees are no longer in the city, except in their dreams, or in the heavens as stars and constellations

A young sprout burst out form the dense city represented by a map

The apartment, upside down like in a dream, with trees painted on its facade

6. Cerita Lima Bulan (2014)
Or loosely translated as The Five Months' Tale, is an collection of poems for teenagers, in which the poem chronicles about the feelings of the poet and what she sees of her surroundings, and her reflections regarding life.

Five moons, representing five months, have passed in an hourglass 

Calendar, counting days, to the fifth month, where spring is on the air

[chosen cover] I imagined the poet, a girl, as she reflects her feeling, plucked out the flower nervously, one petal every month. The sunflower is the representation of the poet herself, maturing, blooming big as the sun

Inset typography, with long shadows, conveying the setting of the poem, which starts during sunset

Experimental cover showing the teenager side of the poet

7. Lebuh Kehidupan (2013)
Lebuh Kehidupan can be translated as The Boulevard of Life, and it is an anthology for Grup Karyawan Luar Negara, an Malaysian overseas students' group consisting of aspiring writers. The book title itself refers to a poem by the same name, explaining about how the poet sees life as a car ride through roads and boulevards.

8. Other works (2011)
These are the first book covers I have made for the same author group mentioned above. They are a collection of poems and short stories respectively. Dandelion is a poem that I wrote, chosen to be the title of the book, which is allegorical to coming-of-age of people, and to tell people to immediately grab opportunities as they might not come back - which results in disappointment.

Trem ke Pintu Syurga, or, The Tram to Heaven, is a short story about a Muslim man in Dublin who met a woman who misunderstood about Islam in a tram, and they begin an intellectual discussion as the man explained to her about the misconceptions.

First sketch idea

2nd stage