Book design: Judging a book by its cover

Designers of book covers go to great lengths to deliver eye-catching looks, from throwing food on the ground to stripping for the camera

Malaysian Yong Wen Yeu (above) won the Singapore Book Publishers Association's Best Book Cover Design prize twice - in 2016 for the special edition cover of Sonny Liew's graphic novel The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and last year for The Gatekeeper
Malaysian Yong Wen Yeu won the Singapore Book Publishers Association's Best Book Cover Design prize twice - in 2016 for the special edition cover of Sonny Liew's graphic novel The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and last year for The Gatekeeper (both in the background), Nuraliah Norasid's debut novel about a medusa. ST PHOTO: MATTHIAS CHONG
Malaysian Yong Wen Yeu (above) won the Singapore Book Publishers Association's Best Book Cover Design prize twice - in 2016 for the special edition cover of Sonny Liew's graphic novel The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and last year for The Gatekeeper
Graphic design studio Sarah and Schooling's Sarah Tang and Alison Schooling have designed more than 400 book covers, including those for Krishna Udayasankar's Objects Of Affection and Joshua Ip's Making Love With Scrabble Tiles. PHOTOS: DESMOND WEE, MATH PAPER PRESS
Krishna Udayasankar’s Objects Of Affection (left) and Joshua Ip’s Making Love With Scrabble Tiles (right).
Krishna Udayasankar’s Objects Of Affection (left) and Joshua Ip’s Making Love With Scrabble Tiles (right).
Olivia Ho
Assistant Life Editor
Updated
Feb 19, 2019, 10:36 AM
Published
Feb 19, 2019, 05:00 AM
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"Don't judge a book by its cover," the saying may go, but a cover can make or break a book's chances of flying off the shelf.

Yet, book cover design in Singapore is an unsung art.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 19, 2019, with the headline Book design: Judging a book by its cover. Subscribe

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