Yesterday, the Kansas City Star had an article about the book Just Let ‘Em Play, which I had the pleasure of designing the book cover for. It’s a really good article but, sadly, my cover didn’t make it into the print edition of the paper (it is in the online version, thankfully.)

I thought it might be interesting to show off my process and how I designed the book cover. I’ve done quite a bit of book cover design but don’t mention it near enough here.

I was given the project before the manuscript was complete and going by the working title of  Let ‘Em Play.  I discussed the book with the publisher, Ascend Books, and got a handle on what they wanted to the cover to accomplish. The book is about a philosophy for youth sports (covering all sports and ages) with an emphasis on having fun rather than winning at all costs. With that in mind, I worked up a few cover mock-ups. I usually do 3 or 4 cover mockups at a time for the publisher to choose from. This particular cover was unusual in that none of my initial drafts were quite right and I went back to the drawing board a few times. Here’s a look at some of the cover drafts and a little commentary on each one. (Please remember that these are unfinished mock-ups and there would certainly have been elements changed or adjusted had any of these covers been used. The photos are mostly unpurchased stock photos and some are watermarked by the owners)

 

This one has promise, but I think I went overboard with the font colors.  Ultimately, the publisher wanted more than one sport represented.

 

This was one of my early favorites. I love this photo. But, again, they wanted more than one sport depicted on the cover. They did like the type treatement, though, so I used it again on later drafts.

 

This is a nice cover but totally wrong in every way. The book discourages the use of trophies and an emphaisis on winning. And then I put a trophy on the cover– proof that I hadn’t quite understood the book’s concept at this stage.

 

Here’s a more graphic option. I don’t remember if I was given any specific feedback on this one.

 

This option, showing kids walking away from sports equipment was probably too somber for the subject matter.

 

Frustrated with the stock photos I had at my disposal, I suggested an illustrated cover with stylized images and a muted color scheme. The publisher loved the idea and asked me to refine and finish the illustration.

 

This was going to be the cover for a while and was even used in some of the advance advertising for the book. But ultimately, they decided that they wanted to go back to a photographic cover to better appeal to the target market– adults who either coach youth sports or parent child athletes.

 

So I tried this approach– using multiple photos of different kids playing different sports. Since the previous cover was nearly used, I retained some of the other graphic elements and type treatment. This was along the right track, but not quite there yet. And, looking back on it now, I regret the pink color behind the title. It was meant to mirror the colors in the kid’s uniforms at the bottom, but was far too light.

 

Finally, I hit on the right approach. Sporting equipment front and center with photos of multiple sports across the top. I muted the colors on the sports photos to unify them and ensure that one photo didn’t dominate the others (a flaw in my last cover.) Everyone loved this cover and we finally had a winner!

 

So here’s the final cover. I replaced a photo or two at the top and adjusted the sizing some. The title was changed the Just Let ‘Em Play and the subtitle was adjusted as well.

I’m quite pleased with how it turned out and I want to thank everyone at Ascend Books for sticking with me through the design process.

If you want to buy  the book and have my lovely cover in your hands, you can get it at Amazon or your local bookstore.