Wednesday 17 December 2014

Sparkle & Spin

This edition of "My Favourite Book Cover" is actually more of "my favourite book" this month. Designer of beautiful books, Kimberly Glyder has chosen the 20th century wonder that is "Sparkle and Spin" by Paul and Anne Rand. I'm so delighted that Kimberly picked this book as it is to my mind, one of the most playful and skilfully designed children's offerings that has ever been published. If you are stuck for a gift idea, I can't imagine this failing to put a smile on anyone's face. Over to you  Kimberly:



Over the years, I’ve been a big fan of Paul Rand (who hasn’t?), but it wasn’t until I had my daughter that I was introduced to the book he wrote with his wife Ann entitled, Sparkle and Spin. It has become one of my favorite designs, inside and out, and one in which I’ve drawn a ton of inspiration from. I love Rand’s genius use of graphic imagery, limited color palettes, and beautiful mix of typography. I blatantly try to use these design principles on my own covers whenever possible. The story itself is sweet and rhythmic and I have very fond memories reading this to my daughter and son (at this point I’ve memorized the entire book). Sparkle and Spin is a classic and a book that I’m happy to look at (and read) for a long, long time.





About me

I’m Kimberly Glyder, an award-winning book designer (and sometimes letterer & illustrator), living in the Philadelphia area. Most days, I’m working on book covers and book interiors which means I get to combine my two favorite pursuits, reading and design. My 13-year-old self would be pretty excited to know all that hard work illustrating covers for my book reports (sometimes at the expense of the reports) paid off...


To look at Kimberly's work visit her website http://www.kimberlyglyder.com


Sunday 7 December 2014

Three Brontē Book Covers

As a long standing devotee of the Brontë sisters, it was an honour to be asked to illustrate their book covers. I was commissioned by German publishes DTV to create patterns for a special cloth- bound edition featuring Wuthering Heights, Jane Eye and Agnes Grey. Unfortunately my German's not up to reading these versions but they shall be taking pride of place on my bookshelf nonetheless.