[AbbyDavis]

Update.......

I took into account some of the things you guys shared, bought the actual files and did a real mock-up in PS. Am I getting closer? I'm kind of not sure about center justifying the text now....

Thoughts? Not sure on the color of the author's name too.....

*********** original post ************
I'm at school during what SHOULD be a snow day. What better time to bust out the cover making. Disclaimers, I have yet to buy the art, I wanted to play first. I was using GIMP which is all my school laptop has (the real one will be done in PS). The shirt picked up the background color when I did a color fill, it's actually purple.

I like the idea of typewriter font since the story is about me writing the story and the confessions I have. But is it too plain? Should I have some sort of color block behind it to make it stand out more?

The idea cloud will be much better. It will have a heart w/ BFF in it, the word "SEX" (in hopes of adding a disclaimer about sex in the book), a jeep/suv, a tree, a cellphone, and a glass of wine.

The +7 I'm debating on. I was thinking of doing a chain, leading up to 7, with the other numbers struck out. Also I want the font to look handwritten (I might use my actual handwriting as I have a wacom for my photography biz). Does red work?

Does teal work for the background? And finally where do I put my name....since well, it's in the title.

 

[Anotherdreamer]

The graphic is really cute, but something isn't working for me. I feel like quarter life  should be seperated by font or size from the other text. My recent cover exploits are a wreck, so not sure how much stock you should put into my opinion.

 

[momilp]

I like the teal background and the +7 in red. Not sure about the objects inside the cloud, at a reduced size they probably disappear. Regarding your name, maybe on the right side, under the cloud and next to the girl's shoulder?

 

[AbbyDavis]

I've wondered about the cloud too.  Maybe just a few bigger items would be better since shrinked down it won't have the impact if they are too tiny to see.

I wondered too about having a stand-out font/color. 

Thanks for the name suggestion, I may try that.

 

[Lexi Revellian]

I think it's a mistake to mix cartoons and photographs. It does look rather bitty. I think a more chicklit font would work better.

Can you post it thumbnail size?

 

[AbbyDavis]

Nothing is actually a photo. But I agree I need better graphics for those items.

here's it at 72x115

 

[AbbyDavis]

Wow, shrunk down you can't see a darn thing!  Dang......

 

[Ian Marks]

You're onto something there, but there's too much "negative" (blank) space. Make the figure of the girl more prominent, and enlarge the type too, so that we see less of the background.

All that stuff your girl is thinking about is too much of a mish-mash for my tastes. I wouldn't include a photographic image - the SUV - when primary image is a stylized illustration... it's jarring.

Keep working on it and I think you'll have something good.

 

[ruecole]

It's a really good start. Love the colours.

Couple thoughts:

The thought bubble isn't working that well, though. I'd either move the girl over to the left so the thought bubble isn't so squished up against the right side. Plus, then you'd have more space to create a slightly larger bubble (I think the size you have is too close to the size of the girl--so they're competing with each other for attention.) Or I'd keep the girl centred and create three small thought bubbles around here, each with its own graphic. (I would try both ideas and see which looks better.)

Also, try to find images that complement each other. Some of the graphics are too realistic when the girl is quite cartoon-y.

One thing I would definitely do, whichever way you go, is make the background of the thought bubble a pale blue (the same colour as the papers on the desk). It's too white and commands too much attention. Ideally, your eye should move around the cover in a circle, to take in the entire composition. But with this cover, the eye keeps getting pulled back to the thought bubble.

I don't mind the font, but the typography doesn't work as is. For one, I think "Quarter-Life" needs to be a different font, larger size, and possibly colour (purple to match her shirt?). Also the "of" is just kind of hanging out there by itself. I'd move "Abby Davis" up so it's right under "Confessions," then make the "of" smaller and put it after "Confessions" but a little lower so it's sort of half way between the two lines. (If that makes sense.)

I like where you've put your author name. But I'd probably choose a different colour. Maybe purple?

Hope that helps!

Rue

 

[daphne dangerlove]

While I agree that the graphic is cute, it's giving me that mommy-blogger feeling. I've seen a lot of cute covers like these with the woman and laptop. I am wondering who your target audience is?

 

[Lynn McNamee]

I love the concept. 

Is the plus-seven part of the title? I was confused by that placement.

 

[AbbyDavis]

Rue-  Thank you for all the suggestions!  I will take all of them into consideration as I revise it. 

Lynn - yes the title is Quarter-Life +7 ....... because the character is 32.  LOL

Daphane - The book is chick lit.  I wanted whimsy.....another thought was to only do the thought bubble.

 

[daphne dangerlove]

What if you got rid of the desk? That is the part that makes me think there are going to be blogging tips.

 

[CarolCassada]

I love the teal color and the graphic you used, however I agree with some people that the bubble could be bigger that way it can make more of an impact to readers. Another thing that's a problem for me is the +7, I think you should probably use another font for that part.

 

[Patty Jansen]

I think the graphic is OK, but my biggest issue is with the title/author name. I don't get the title, and I don't know where it stops and the author name starts.

As a result, I have some very big genre questions.

Is this chick-lit or autobiography?

Genre confusion usually leads to poor sales. People like to know what they're buying.

I read the title and go "huh"? I suggest making it "quarter life". If this doesn't suit the character because she's 32, either make the character 25 or change the title completely.

I suggest a re-title and removing the "by". Put your name in a different colour separate from the title.

 

[quiet chick writes]

Ah, okay. I didn't get the +7 at all, lol! Maybe something else to refer to the age... thirty-something, third-life (do people say that?). Why is "quarter-life" relevant if she's not in fact 25?

Also, like Patty said, I was totally thinking humorous memoir or non-fiction humor, because you know, your author name 'n stuff.

On the plus side though, the illustration is cute, and I really love the colors! Both the red and the dark gray/blue really pop off the light blue.

 

[AbbyDavis]

Thank you all for your suggestions, I updated at the top

 

[nico]

I think you need to seek some more professional help with the typography. It's hard to get it right.

 

[Debbie Bennett]

Hmm. To me it reads "Quarter - Life + 7" as in a dash and not a hyphenated word. So I'm thinking Life plus seven what? and I'm confused.

 

[YoclaDesigns]

Here's my input.

In my opinion the font is not working. It's just this instinct that kind of built in me. I'd reccommend something like Century Gotchic or Impact. Make the font white, then add shadow by double-clicking the layer to bring up blending options. You can play with the font by adding patterns and glows but a block color should be fine.

Or since you're using gimp, you can duplicate the text and darken one to gray, then lower the opacity to your liking.

Another thing about this is the background. It's boring. I think a simple texture will be much better to give dimension yet not distract too much from the title.

You can try this texture:
http://www.cgtextures.com/login.php?&texid=24027&destination=texview.php?id=24027&PHPSESSID=i0u76tm6nuimtfvm4a8k4pglc7
It's completely royalty free. You just have to make an account. There are some free ones on deviantart too if you want to check it out.
If you're using this texture I'd reccomend a darker color for the font.

The +7 seems fine to me, but if you want to make it better, you can increase its size, lower the opacity, and put it behind quarter-life. It associates +7 to quarter-life, so as to prevent confusion as DebBennett stated.

As for the thinking clouds, I think the first one worked better but you can scale them smaller.