This month, Michelle Argyle at Melissa Williams Design reimagines the cover of Untraceable by S.R. Johannes.

To submit a book for a free cover redesign, email us at booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

Design Note 1: The author wanted a sinister feel to the cover. Choosing a darker image with a touch of unnatural color helps achieve that feel.

Design Note 2: Long words in a title can be problematic because they often have to be sized smaller. I chose a bolder, narrower font in order to make the title larger.

Design Note 3: While not always the best choice, it can be fun to experiment with making the author’s name larger than the title. Here, the size fills up a good amount of space and also pushes the cover into the suspense category.

Design Note 4: Since the cover is dark, adding some color effects to the text helps give a sense of moving light, while also drawing the reader’s eye to the title.

Original cover