Holy crap welcome back to Graphic Design 1. Today’s assignment: How You’re Never Going to be Able to Design a Nice Book Cover. Designer Elsa Chiao scoffed at this assignment, and indeed threw it to the ground, smiting it as she did so. For Elsa Chiao excels at just that, the covers of books. She is so good, SO good, that this post is basically a shot-for-shot re-creation of her portfolio. You must see these books!

From Locke to China you are going to be spoiled! For this sort of thing is not easy. Expressing in some way in a moment the contents of an entire book, or an idea of the contents of a book to the degree that a person would want to devour it, this is not a skill that everyone has. Some of the greatest graphic designers cannot do it, some of the worst random Joes off the street CAN do it. It’s a strange thing. But it requires a skillset that Chiao certainly has! Glance upon these and enjoi!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies books category.