Trends in Captivating Book Cover Design for 2022

1. Cover sleeves that are conceptual

New trends and technologies have always shaped book cover design, from jewel-embossed medieval times to the rise of the dust jacket. Tactile and conceptual covers are rising in 2022 as designers and publishers create immersive books that function as artefacts and distinguish themselves from phone-screen digital copies. Some resemble psychedelic spell books, while others use 3D or transparent sleeves to attract buyers’ attention while also providing a glimpse of the concepts hidden between the covers.

2. Geometric patterns

Designers aren’t just using clever concepts to add physical depth to book covers. To create designs, metric art employs mathematical rules and ratios. The resulting shifting contours and grids can appear both organic and hypermodern. It’s a combination that lends itself to cosmic, futuristic, or contemplative objects, but it’s also one of the reasons the technique is becoming more popular. Parametric art’s twisted and surreal lines can add a calming sense of possibility to a day planner or speak of ruptures and madness on the cover of an avant-garde thriller.

3. Landscape orientation

What about horizontal covers? How 2021! One of the 2022 best book cover design trends is to turn some or all of a book’s artwork on its side. The result may cause you to look twice or turn the work in your hands to align it. When an image or word is turned on its side, it can appear to be a strange pattern or a foreign language when it is horizontally arranged.

It’s an excellent strategy for books that play with perspective, twist reality, or force readers out of their comfort zone.

4. Grids frame

Metrics are one of many patterned book design trends for 2022. This book explains how to lay out elements on a grid template. It’s a trend that embraces repetition and creates a nice visual rhythm in the resulting designs, but the results are surprisingly varied. Some have floating letters on tactile covers, while others feel more like stained glass. In a year when many people have sought refuge at home, there’s a sense of hypnotic routine here, but flashes of the colour pulse through many of these grids, hinting at transcendence and release.

5. Extreme minimalism

You’ve come to the apt place if you find some of 2022’s best product design books trends too dark and experimental for your tastes. Instead, this trend spreads happiness through bright, flashy colours and intricate compositions. In a trend that combines intensity and playfulness, rich hues predominate. These stunning designs practically jump off the shelves—you can’t help but notice them out of the side of your eye.

6. Illustration of escapism

Nature in 2022 isn’t just dystopian. This year, it is also seen as a place of possibility and escape. Lush plants and coral bloom on vibrant covers, with tendrils climbing up hair and wrapping around the edge of the book itself. But, while these supercharged plants appear to be hugging the story’s characters, it’s not a completely comforting hug—look at the compelling yet ominous mushrooms on the cover of Earthly Bodies. Instead, they provide adventure and the opportunity to reimagine our precious world.

7. Present-day contrasts

It is high of an attitude than a style, influenced by modern and postmodern art’s bold, playful approaches. In 2022, expect to see jarring combinations of styles and techniques and contrasts between white space and primary colors. Out-of-focus photos and unusual font combinations may even prompt viewers to ask the age-old question: is it art? Of course, these intriguing covers are intended to make readers question the books within, preparing them for the shock of new ideas or to immerse themselves in a forgotten classic.