Further Arrangements Cover Poll: ROUND ONE. Fight!

[rowyn]

I am working on the cover for Further Arrangements! That means it's time for a poll!

I originally had three different layout ideas for this cover, each of them a triptych: vertical, horizontal, and triangular. The horizontal layout was the least popular on my Twitter poll, and would require totally different illustrations for each section. But I could do the triangular & vertical layouts using the same illos for two sections, though I had to redraw the third. So I did the vertical layout on Sunday, and then yesterday & Tuesday I pushed things about to make the triangular one. It was more annoying than I'd expected.

I don't like the separators for the triangular layout at all. and I miss having the twee cat-tail-heart-shape. Even though it is very very twee. I think the triangular layout is a better use of space, but I'm still not sure. Maybe I just need to re-do the cats? Maybe there's not enough whitespace in the triangular version? I DON'T KNOW I HAVE NO MEASURABLE GRAPHIC DESIGNS SKILLS HELP.

The title/author text is a placeholder because I don't have the typeface alinsa used on RA. Final one will match RA's.

So. POLL!

Triangular layout:


Vertical layout:



[Poll #2033561]

You can click on the images to enlarge. They're displayed at approximately Amazon-preview-size, because that is the size they will be most often viewed at prior to purchase. This is the size I want them to look best at.

Edit: At Micah's suggestion: the two potential covers bracketing RA's cover:

Comments

[elbren]

vertical! with slightly thinner columns! yay twee!

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Do me a favor? Put both trial covers side by side with the first novel's?

[rowyn]

*does so!*

I need to put some frills into the whitespace, I think. Whichever version I use.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

*squints* *covers first one side than the other* Okay, seeing them next to one another I like the triangular one, because when you place the vertical one next to the original they look too similar. I'd want something on the product page that looks like it belongs to the same series, but that you don't have to double-check to make sure is the same book.

[rowyn]

Ah! I see your point.

When I look at them side-by-side, I like the vertical one more because the white space around the cats feels more elegant and understated to me. The poll thus far is not very helpful towards a decision. @_@

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

*squints more* I think as a standalone the vertical is very attractive to me.

I find I feel more strongly about being able to tell the difference between them more, though, separate from their prettiness. :)

Of course, you could always switch them out for each other if one of them doesn't perform well!

[rowyn]

Hrm. I could move the illos up and put the title at the bottom: that'd be an obvious visual "this one DIFFERENT" cue.

I will have to poke at it some more, probably. But not too much more, because I am kicking this chick out of the nest in a couple of weeks. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.

[archangelbeth]

Definitely need some corner-frills in that whitespace, yeah.

I like the triangular one, upon consideration, because it feels more "dynamic" -- I love the heart-tails, but the verticals are more static.

[waterdragon.livejournal.com]

The vertical seems a bit disconnected like it's a trilogy cover.

[whitefangedwolf.livejournal.com]

The triangular one is better at an Amazon-preview-size perspective since the preview size muddies the appearance of the vertical layout. However, at full-size, the vertical one is better. Using my naive knows-minimal-about-publishing brain here, is there a reason why the e-book version cover shouldn't be different from the print version cover? This is assuming that people are generally looking at and buying the e-book version rather than the print version, then buying the print version after they decide they have to get a paper copy for their shelves. (That's generally how my book purchasing goes unless I'm very familiar with an author's work or have a very strong recommendation from a trusted source.)

If you were going to tinker with the triangular layout's separators, maybe some sort of keystonesque decoration to make it look more like a column resting on an arch? (Totally just tossing things around here.)