Lots of different design tools have been used here to maximise their impact.

- The jarring bright colours…

- The background of sharp angles which stretch and push against the narrow sides of the spine

- The contrasting blocks of type which are used for the title and are spread down the length of the spine

It should be a mess: Too many things going on and too many of them clashing directly with each other.

And yet…these spines not only work. They are gorgeous

What we love about this cover is the fact that the title is allowed to do all the talking. Very few people are likely to know what it means at first glance, but its brashness forces you to pick up the book and find out more.

The use of a very understated font to spell out the meaning of DUFF is absolutely brilliant, too. It takes the reader from the big, confident statement of the title to a sudden anticlimax and a sense of something shameful, brilliantly mirroring the arc of the story.

The natural image is also really well considered. In a market swamped by Photoshopped partial faces, this makes a refreshing change. Its downbeat style actually gives the book far more shelf presence than many of its stylised — and generic — competitors.

Pink must have seemed like a good idea at the cover meeting for each of these books. “Let’s subvert the Barbie stereotypes…” — that sort of thing.

But put them all together and these covers do nothing new at all. In fact, they make each book look far less important than it actually is — just another title in a rather unimaginative genre.

When even the iconic cover of The Female Eunuch has been recoloured, you know you’re in trouble. No wonder Caitlin Moran has sold more than anyone else — grey is now the most subversive colour in this section.

By our new Fixabook blogger… Ampleforth

This could have turned out a right mess, but in fact it’s brilliant. It communicates one message — “fonts have stories to tell” — with total clarity, while a secondary message — “… and you care about them” — develops slyly in the background.

From a design point of view, setting each font’s name in … er, itself is both obvious and dangerous. The danger is that the reader’s eye is repelled by visual chaos, but that’s avoided in two ways. Firstly, with a bit of restraint: eight different fonts are used, and that’s plenty when they’re as different as Helvetica and Baskerville. Secondly there’s a really nice, and rare, example of the copy actually helping the design. Because the blurb starts with an unexpected and punchy claim — “Just My Type is a book of stories” — then develops its argument in short, rhythmical steps, you’re drawn to carry on reading. And because you’re reading it, rather than just looking at it, each of the fonts plays its part in the argument rather than just sitting there looking messy.

The blurb’s secondary message is beautifully judged. Your interest has been aroused by the font stories mentioned at the start (why did Obama choose Gotham?) now the blurb reminds you what that interest might mean about you: that you care about fonts. It even cutely allows you not to have quite realised that fact up till now, with “… typefaces became something we realised we all have an opinion about”. The subtext is  “it’s ok, we were surprised too.”

My only gripe with this blurb is with the two promises which close it — that you’ll discover the best and worst font in the world and “what your choice of font says about you”. They’re superfluous. The reader has just been cleverly reminded that they care about fonts, so there’s no need to bolt on more ‘benefits’, for them in such a Cosmo quiz way.

This is a blurb that assumes a bit of sophistication in its audience — it expects some of us to know that Helvetica is ubiquitous and Comic Sans is a joke — but it doesn’t take it for granted that we’ll shell out money for a book about them. It sidles up alongside our mild font-interest and nudges it into £9.99 (before discount) worth of curiosity. No wonder the book is selling.

Instead, this is a cover that treats its potential readers as intelligent beings with a sense of humour and an eye for good design. And by doing so, it gives itself enormous impact on a crowded shelf.

The designer has, quite rightly, let the title do the talking, as this is what resonates so cleverly with anyone with a family. This allows for a clean and bold approach.

We have two quibbles, though. The first is the girliness of the hand at the top, which suggests loss of nerve about doing something so different. It’s a shame, as to make it more neutral would have given this book One Day-style crossover appeal to both men and women.

We’d also question the need for the strapline here. It does nothing to explain the title and clutters up the design. Again, it feels as though someone at Hodder has had a panic about being too bold - as many publishers seem to do these days, judging by the recent proliferation of straplines on fiction. In this case, the title is absolutely strong enough to carry this book and attract readers on its own.

But overall, this is a big success both on the shelf and online. It’s perfect, too, for getting recognition on the daily commute as it looks so striking and original. Nice work.

Ah…so what was an original idea is now ‘The New Thing’

Why is it proving popular in these tough economic times when production costs are being kept to a minimum?

1) It catches the eye on the shelf — thus giving the books more presence and stand-out

2) It means retailers are likely to stock at least two copies of the book (side-by-side) giving it more prominence and maybe even making it look like a ‘bigger’ book than it is in reality.

Simple but effective.

We much prefer the impact of the “Pure’ version but now are we about to see a deluge of “Cover Twins” ?

This is a travel book — chronicling the adventures of a biker as he traverses the Americas.

It could so easily have been a splurge of prose about what happened and where: Kind of interesting but certainly nothing special.

Instead, Blue Footed (the publishers) have created a map of the journey and literally, ‘highlighted the highlights’.

It looks great and the bite sized chunks of copy suck you in far more effectively than a conventional blurb would have done.

The designers have also cleverly played with the title so that the ‘line’ it refers to is bought to life by being represented on the map.

While the bold use of black and yellow makes the whole thing especially striking.

All in all a very tight piece of thinking and a distinctive bit of design.

It is so good when the ‘little guys’ show the big boys how things can be done.

This is a really neat example of a publisher using a big fat spine to get as much value as possible out of a copyline. The horizontal positioning immediately breaks up the flow and catches the eye. It’s a simple question — “When you are alone, who will protect you?” — but it gives the book an extra hook in addition to the relatively unknown author. It also adds depth and intrigue to the title.

In a genre whose spines are dominated by spooky Shadow Men, this is a refreshing and intelligent approach.

Oh my God!! What has happened?

Suddenly Fiction covers have lurched en masse away from ‘Headless Women” and now there are faces on the front of books (!)

This is a significant moment in design history — We must take a moment to work out what is going on:

First off — let’s remember the context: Publishers everywhere are panicking about the Women’s Fiction market. Sales are crashing and everyone is desperate for a new formula.

So this must be it.  The big idea to reinvent the genre is to put a face on the cover.

Now that might sound like a simple thing to do — but clearly a lot of thought has gone into this.

And when the boundaries are being pushed so far, we must be sure that we all understand the new rules if we are to avoid to making hideous mistakes.

THE NEW RULES:

1) Find a very fresh faced girl in her early twenties

2) Make sure she has very full, red lips

3) Show all of her face but make sure you still crop the very top part of her head (This little nuance has caught out lots of designers who are new this new approach  - Beware!)

4) You can place the type over the hair and body but keep the face free

5) Most important of all retouch the eyes so that they are a uniform, piercing blue (Again, this detail has caught out lots of people so to avoid embarrassment, please use Pantone reference 293 c / CMYK (%) C 100 — M 60 — Y 0 — K 0)

Phew — that should keep everyone on track.

We look forward to the tsunami of copycats.

In truth, they aren’t that extraordinary but the simple colour palates are very attractive. They give the spines a block presence on the shelf without getting in the way of either the titles or the author name.

It is a very elegant way to stand out on the shelf.

The only thing that annoys us is the way the imprint jumps between 4th Estate and Harper Perennial.

Of course there are sound internal reasons for doing this but from a consumer point of view it is messy and confusing — destroying all the beautiful consistency of the rest of the design.

Shame.