Desaware Publishing needed a new print or packaging design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 82 designs submitted by 10 freelance designers.
Desaware Publishing
We're a new micro-publishing company founded by a best-selling author and publisher. Each book will have its own style and approach, so don't worry about corporate culture or style in your design.
We're looking for a cover for a new mass-market paperback book about how technology is going to impact education.
Full title: "School’s Out! How technology will disrupt today’s school system and revolutionize education"
We're looking for a front book cover, with a simple compatible spine/back cover as well. Front cover should include the title, subtitle, and space for the author name.
Back cover should include a place for a description of the book, for the author’s bio and picture, and for the book website address. Note the attached template for the location reserved for the ISBN bar code.
You can submit the front cover only at first to see how well it does.
We are looking for a design that is simple, clean and professional. It should be attractive in the sense that it would not look out of place on any bookshelf. It must not look amateurish.
The design should ideally be made up of graphic elements – We would prefer no pictures of people or clip-art on this one. Covers that do not use stock photography will be given greater consideration.
The cover is not required to convey any particular idea. Overall appeal of the cover will be the main criteria. The core idea of the book is that technology is going to make today’s schools obsolete and enable a new era of individualized education. If you can find a way to convey that idea while meeting the other requirements, your design will certainly have an advantage. Other ways of combining technology with education might be interesting, but I’m not interested in anything remotely like a picture of a student staring at a computer screen.
Avoid any vertical elements on the edge where the spine meets the front or back cover. Graphic elements at the edges near the spine must carry across the spine as the fold position is not guaranteed to be precise.
Front/back trim size is 5.25 x 8" (5.375 x 8.25 with bleed, 0.25" safe zone). Spine is 0.338". See attached template
The book is written for adults, in particular:
• Technologists, Business professionals
• Parents and teachers
This is a mass-market paperback, not an academic book. It is an easy read. A dry, serious and boring cover won’t do. A flippant goofy cover won’t do either. Think “friendly” and “professional” as the overall tone of the book that we’d like to see reflected on the cover.
In addition to payment you will, if you wish, be credited with creating the cover artwork and will receive a copy of the book on publication. If you wish, We will include a URL to your website with the credit. You must request the credit and specify a URL at time of copyright assignment.