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Judging books by their covers,
Orphans Preferred: For the most part, I really like this cover: the subject matter earns the designer the right to indulge in an ornate Old West style; the balance is nice, highlighting the provocative title as well as a terrific old-fashioned illustration; the colors are great; and the level of intricacy (for example, in the shadows) is just plain fun to look at. As with the Lemony Snicket books, given the overall attractiveness and attention to detail, it pains me to have to say anything negative, but the typography on “Orphans” and the author’s name looks to me like it wasn’t thought out that well. For the most part, the letters don’t conform to the arc: on “Orphans,” the legs of the letters remain straight on the horizontal; they just step up or down where appropriate. Same thing for the tops of the author’s name, particularly the first H. This approach would be OK by me (especially for the “Orphans” part), except the the tops of the Ts curve along the arc. It seems to me that the designer should do one or the other, bend the letters along the arc or don’t, but not both. Also, two minor nits: “Orphans” and “Preferred” are on two slightly different arcs, and treating the C in “Corbett” as a capital letter is inconsistent with the rest of the cover. Judgment: Criticism aside, this really is a lovely cover, even nicer in person, if you have a chance to check it out the next time you’re in a bookstore.
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