Do you know that romantic stories are among the most popular among readers? If you write books of this genre, you have a high chance of having a large following and increased sales. However, first, you should make sure that readers immediately recognize rom-com stories by their covers.
When we speak about this book genre, we subconsciously expect to see specific images, colors, and even fonts that match the mood and ideas of the stories. And today, we will tell you in detail how to create a rom-com book cover design that catches readers’ eyes.
What are genre peculiarities?
Rom-com books combine the romance and comedy genres, focusing on a couple trying to deal with their love or attraction to each other. Such stories usually tell about the sexual tension and social interaction between the characters at odds with their inner feelings that inspire the conflict and humor.
What are the rom-com book cover types?
Since romance comedies are light and fun stories, the cover should also be: Bright, attractive, and simple. Two types of cover design are prevalent in this genre.
Illustrated book cover
Usually, these are simple vector illustrations made in bright colors. Designers do not draw characters or settings in detail but rather give hints about them. As a result, we see attractive and cute pictures as if from cartoons.
Book cover design by Miblart
Photorealistic book cover
This type of design involves realistic images of people, landscapes, and other things, if necessary, from stock photos. It can also be a collage of several images. Designers adapt and customize pictures depending on the plot of the book.
Book cover design by Miblart
What colors to use in rom-com book cover design?
Color can create the desired mood and evoke a specific emotion. In the case of romantic comedy, we need joy, love, fun, happiness, and cheerfulness. That is why designers use the following hues:
- Red is a color of love and passion, energy and confidence. It also immediately attracts readers’ attention.
- Orange is about joy and pleasure. It may call to mind feelings of enthusiasm and excitement.
- Pink is associated with youth, playfulness, emotion, dreams, and desires. It also means tenderness and love.
- Yellow evokes feelings of warmth, coziness, and joy.
- Blue hints at peace, relaxation, delicacy, and miracles.
What about typography in rom-com book cover design?
Heavy and bold fonts are not suitable for a romance comedy. The typography should be light, as the mood of the genre. The common traits of ideal fonts are gentleness, grace, playfulness, and simplicity. We can also find titles written in italics and with many elegant curls.
We recommend paying attention to the following fonts:
- Mondia
- Playfair Display
- Cormorant Garamond
- Helvetica
- Cupid Love.
Book cover design by Miblart
What’s on the rom-com book cover?
Regardless of the type of design, rom-com book covers often feature specific images. They can be realistic or drawn. What kind of pictures are these?
- A couple in love laughing, hugging, or kissing
- Only the main character
- Love attributes include hearts, flowers, sun, doves, etc.
- Cute illustrations, for example, drawn couples and landscapes
- Settings in the background.
Book cover design by Miblart
Do you want to see some examples?
That’s enough theory. Let’s see how rom-com book cover design works in practice.
Illustrated protagonist
In the center of the book cover, we see the main character in an area of ghostly glow: She confidently looks at the reader and smiles. Her hair is harmoniously combined with the color scheme of the entire composition: Red and turquoise. In the background, we see a cemetery, a ghost, and even a dead man’s hand. These images reinforce the title of the book. The designer chose a simple metal serif font for the title and the author’s name.
Book cover design by Miblart
2. Purple night
Purple and pink dominate the design of this book cover. These are the colors of tenderness and magic, as well as adventure. In the center, we see a couple of superheroes in love, who are clearly up to something. The night city in the background hints at the place of events. For the title, we used an elegant font with lots of curls. The author’s name is highlighted using a stricter font.
Book cover design by Miblart
3. Colorful book cover
This illustrated cover combines many bright colors: Blue, yellow, and pink. This palette immediately creates a mood of joy, fun, and love. In the center of the composition are the main characters, who stand with their backs to the readers. The reader becomes a participant in the events, looking in the same direction as the characters for future adventures. The designer used a cute yellow cursive font contrasting beautifully with the blue background.
Book cover design by Miblart
4. Vector illustration
It’s another cute and bright book cover that catches readers’ attention. In the center – is a pair of main characters. The designer has depicted their main features, leaving room for readers’ imaginations. The blue hue dominates the color scheme. For the typography, we used a stylish, simple comic book-like font.
Book cover design by Miblart
5. Realistic photo cover
The main character, standing in the sunlight, attracts the readers’ eyes. Behind his shoulders is a backpack, and mountains are visible in the background. So we want to figure out what love adventure awaits him quickly. The color palette consists of natural colors: Blue, yellow, and green. These are shades of tenderness, relaxation, and joy. For the title, the designer used translucent italics.
Book cover design by Miblart
6. Provocation
This cover stands out from the rest because it is pretty provocative: A short skirt, a corset, torn stockings, and black nails. The image of the main heroine draws attention to her. It’s not surprising because romantic comedies often involve awkwardness and sexual tension. The guitar underlines the title of the book. The designer used an unusual font: It consists of many strokes.
Book cover design by Miblart
7. Unambiguity
This book cover is clear: Passion, tension, provocation, sexual adventures, and awkward moments. It’s the perfect cocktail for a rom-com book. To create it, the designer used realistic photos and adapted them. The book cover contains many details: How do you like the surprised cat in the background? Warm pinks, reds, and browns dominate the color scheme. We combined two fonts in the title: A cute italic and a strict sans-serif.
Book cover design by Miblart
Conclusion
Romantic comedy book covers can look cute and lovely or provocative and awkward depending on the plot. But despite this, it is still one genre that attracts the fans’ attention.
Vector and simple illustrations are a popular type of cover design for this genre. Also, they often consist of realistic photos. As for the color range, red, orange, pink, yellow, and blue hues dominate. Typography is usually something simple and elegant, although sometimes there are cartoon fonts. What about central images of the composition? A protagonist or couple of lovers catches the readers’ eyes.
What rom-com book cover do you like the most? Share in the comments.
