Welcome!

[Sven]

We want you to decide what The Smashing Book will look like. You can propose ideas for an unforgettable book cover design (any colors can be used), and you can also present your drafts in the Cover design forum. We’d love to see first drafts and invite forum members to discuss them, too! We haven’t decided anything about the appearance of the book yet, so free your imagination.

[rostek]

concept 1: minimalistic - white design, red "S" logo on the center, "the smashing book" title and some subtitle with that curly font (for ex. 'The way of true designer' or sth with design)

[Mango Juice]

I was thinking maybe a ""Smashingman" idea. ie. a Superman look-a-like. SLight change in colors, and the Smashing logo on his chest. Maybe I'll try qhip something up.

Lots to work with.

[dvness]

How about the idea of using an artist sketch fused with architectural blue-print concept (background would be a paper color - perhaps a yellowish tinge to look like an aged science journal). Sketched (faded) red smashing magazine with a tagline beneath it.

[mWalk]

Well when I think of Smashing Magazine two things come to mind. The color and the 'S'.
I can't really picture the book cover without those two thing, plus it would be silly to use any other color or logo.

When I think of Target, I think of red and the target logo. If Target made a book, they'd probably have two things for sure... The color red (and white) and the logo. I think the same can be said for any other established, well known company. Stick to what's familiar and what will be most recognized.

[ikarus]

I was thinking of a pure black cover... but maybe using a special material (like crocodile skin ).

It is very common to create a great graphic and neglect the medium (yeah, illustrations are great, but take it farther). Hard-cover or soft-cover is to simplistic.

If you're going for one of those nevertheless, try a "color blindness test" theme, the graphic having dots of close brightness (under white light) and different hue, but under colored light certain colors will look black (blue under orange light). This way multiple graphics can be incorporated, and it will always seem different (how often do you read books under black light?!).

[John]

First thing that springs to mind for me is a 'magazine style' cover - really bright and colourful, with snippets of text about what's inside. That way if it turns into an annual book (looking pretty far ahead here I know) then you could differentiate them from eachother.

[earthwormjim]

@rostek said it right. White bg and prominent logo. Also, this site is using a gradient, logo and colors charcoal and orange. A soft design with these elements must make the covers. This book is going to be about web sites and their development. It would make sense to make it look like a site's design. Perhaps the kind of site most often built in Flash.

[vladgidea]

I would prefer a white book. With the Smashing Magazine logo in the center and above a "The" and below a "book" . Keep it simple and nice. The coolest book of design do.

I can't say I really like the "Smashing Man" idea or the Magazine one.. Sorry gys, I hope this doesn't offend you

[denebeu]

- Smashing Red cover with "S" logo on the center, in a square with rounded corners and white borders; in the bottom of cover on right side "The Smashing Book".
I think the red color will make this book visible on bookstand; paper format ..I think A5, B5 or a classic A4 ... and the paper must be special; like photo paper without some special properties
have a nice day,
Mihai A.

[Annemieke]

but maybe using a special material (like crocodile skin ).

It is very common to create a great graphic and neglect the medium (yeah, illustrations are great, but take it farther). Hard-cover or soft-cover is to simplistic.

I don't know about the crocodile skin, but I think another than usual material for the cover would be great. Some fabric that is flexible but stable.

And then, as others said, keeping the design simple with a prominent S.

[pixel8tion]

Any way to get a hi-res of the Smashing logo for download so we can have something to play around with?

[Ben-]

i can agree. The color and the "S" are simple and very nice as well. In the background, a kind of tag-cloud with words like "AJAX", "Design", "Web 2.0", "CSS", "Business" etc. with a low opacity (if the background is white, the tag-cloud is just a little bit darker than white) would be nice.

[AravindJose]

Wouldn't it be better if we categorised our tags and assigned priorities ?
Like, first decide about the content, then the design and then the cover ?

Just put forward a suggestion. So many basic parallel conversations might not help !

[mWalk]

Wouldn't it be better if we categorised our tags and assigned priorities ?
Like, first decide about the content, then the design and then the cover ?

Just put forward a suggestion. So many basic parallel conversations might not help !

I agree, I said kind the same think in the Book Topics section.