Mastering Minimalism in Book Cover Design with Oliver Munday|Humayun Sajjad

Oliver Munday’s book covers are wonderfully simple. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but take one look at Munday’s cover designs and you’ll see what I mean. He has an incredible talent for minimalist design; with playful and unconventional use of typography, bold colors, and imagery, Munday creates covers that can’t help but catch your attention on a shelf. He does it all with the good old adage of, “Do more, with less.”

We recently caught up with Munday to talk about his minimalist style, how he uses typography and colors, and even a little bit about how you, too, can break into designing book covers. Here are the design tips that emerged in our chat.

1. To Break into Book Design, Create Something Similar First

Oliver Munday’s first love was poster design. When he realized that would be a difficult way to make a full-time living, he set his sights on books. That didn’t prove easy at first. “Trying to break into that world ostensibly from the outside was a little bit of a process,” he says. “It’s one of those things where no one’s going to give you a job if you haven’t done a cover before. It’s tough to break in.” The key: “You have to show things that have the same sort of graphic quality or something similar to a book cover,” explains Munday.