Opinions wanted on a cover art

[geoffnelder]

Honest opinions please. My upcoming science fiction novella is being edited by the publishers (LL-Publications) as we speak. Here is a draft of the coverart. We are experimenting with the font and like its boldness but is it readable for you? The story involves human astronauts on another planet. There is an alien butterfly involved. (you know me so it isn't really a butterfly). It's the font - what do you think please?
I don't know how to show photos here now that photobucket is a pain.

If you are on facebook the link is here http://bit.ly/2FUgesO


If you are on twitter the link is
https://twitter.com/geoffnelder/status/1068962237279363072

[geoffnelder]

I'd really appreciate comments. So far on facebook and twitter - 40 against and 20 for ie 40 say they have too much difficulty reading the title SUPPOSE WE and 20 say it came to them straight away and they liked it.

[hillwalker3000]

Great image but the title takes some deciphering.

H3K

[geoffnelder]

Thanks.
It's a risk isn't it, to be bold, experimental and yet not put potential readers off.

[Laura]

 I like the cover art, and I even like the font, but the placement of the letters makes it difficult to read for me. I think reading left to right would make it readable and more visually appealing.

[wanderer]

I'm color blind, so not an "average" reader of color designs. However, I found the text, title, and name, to be a tough read. Might be because of the broken text style.

[geoffnelder]

Thanks. Another draft is called for.

[DGSquared]

*After I made the post below, I realized I'm little late to this thread and too late to help. I misread this as originally posted, December 20 and was impressed at how many replies you had in such a short time.  Late night dyslexia.

Hi Geoff,

I like the cover art. It's bright and catches your eye. The astronaut with the butterfly (or is it a butterfly?) just out of reach, sparks my interest. I actually like the curved font and the design overall, but it was difficult for me to read. I had to read through this thread to find it's called, SUPPOSE WE.

Not being able to decipher the title would put me off a little.


I would keep the art and alter the font to make it read more clearly. Perhaps just slightly, bolder type, or outlined, maybe shadowed by one of the darker colors in the artwork. I'm not sure. If you can, play with those ideas a bit and see what you come up with.

I like it though. It sticks out and that's what you want, an attention grabber.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing the finished piece.

~Deb

[indar9]

I am more a visual artist than writer---worked for headliners/Identicolor and studied calligraphy and alphabet design. The book cover design had a few issues.

1 It is hard to read--assuming you chose a title intended to intrigue the prospective buyer why not present the title in a way that will grab the readers attention? People don't work hard when they are browsing a lot of choices---save the puzzle for a different venue.

2 Will this book be on bookseller's shelves? Sometimes there is a physical overlap in the way shelves are stocked. If they are face-out. keep what you want to be read toward the upper part of the cover.

3. When I took graphic arts (admittedly a long time ago) there was one hard and fast rule: NEVER, EVER stack the letters. We read from left to right in the English language.

The alphabet design looks a little alien with the doo-dads use it but don't get so cute.