One of the most beautiful covers in the world among all those published in 2020
The challenge was not easy: choose the most beautiful and interesting covers from among 696 arrivals from 36 different countries . All have been published in 2020, "a year marked by unprecedented changes", according to AIGA, the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
The contest has been held every year since 1923 , and values concept, innovation, and visual elements such as typography, illustration, and/or information design. "A notable trend in this year's entry pool included handwriting and hand-illustrated covers , which art directors turned to when pandemic restrictions affected book design workflows."
Within this trend are children's books such as I am! Affirmations for resilience (RisexPenguin Workshop, 2020), which the jury liked so much that... they ended up buying it. Also Be, my mindfulness journal (Clarkson Potter, 2020), a guide to achieve calm on a daily basis. O Kaws, he eats alone (Qatar Museums; Silvana Editoriale, 2020), a volume that celebrates the first exhibition in Qatar of the renowned contemporary artist. "Inset images, pop-ups and full color pages make this an impressive publication. From the outer cover to the inside of the book, there is an impressive range of experimentation with typography", say the experts who evaluated the work .
Among the winners we also find several books with photographs on the cover, such as the one that opens this article, Accidentally Wes Anderson (Orion Group, 2020). In this case, it is an image from the Instagram account @accidentallywesanderson, which was born as a compilation of places that could be taken from a film by the director and ended up becoming a true worldwide phenomenon, with 1.4 million views. followers.
The 50 winning covers, a lesson in beauty and design, can be seen in the gallery created by AIGA.