Of Design and Decimals

I’ve learned something about myself in the last week or so.  I really, really enjoy designing book covers.  I didn’t think I’d be very good at it, especially since my earliest attempts ended up looking something like this:

You get the idea. Not good, right?  I’m really thankful for my friend and cover designer, Ben.  I have to admit, these looks a lot better:

Designing the cover to Boy Band started out the same way as those early copies of Cemetery Tours.

In other words, not good.  Thanks to the advice of my friend and editor, however, I decided to go back and see if I couldn’t come up with something a little better.  I have to say, I’m pretty happy with the end result, and I hope it looks as good printed on an actual cover as it does on my computer screen.

Like I said, I ended up really, really enjoying the design process and I’m hoping it’s something I can learn more about and maybe help others with in the future.

There was one downside to the whole thing, however, and that was… Math.  In order to successfully upload the image to the designer’s website, you have to add in and extra .25 inches, then in order to create a spine you had to add and multiply all these other decimals and as you can probably tell, I barely even figured out how to get it done.  There is no way I’d actually be able to explain it.  My notebook ended up looking like this:

Don’t even bother to check my math, because I can tell you right now it’s wrong.  I’d happily lived my post-high-school life secure in my faith that I would never, ever use math in my everyday life.  Well, I guess the joke is on me.  Not only did I have to use math, I was also cruelly reminded of how much I suck at it.  Grrrrr.

On a happier note, however, my proof copies of Boy Band were approved and are on their way to me now.  I’m super excited to see them!  I just hope the cover looks okay.  If not, it might be back to the drawing board.

Before I sign off, I also wanted to show you my new, improved, and redesigned website, http://www.windtrailpublishing.com.  It looks a lot more cheerful now.

Enjoy your day, everyone!  I pray that you don’t have to do any math.