So you’re a design student or novice, and you’ve become totally obsessed with book covers. We know the feeling! And we’re here to help.
Knowing your way around Adobe products isn’t enough. If you want to learn the tools of the trade, you’re in luck! Nine masters of the craft have put together various classes in which they will walk you through the intricacies of book cover design. Take your pick!
*Updated with new content August 2025
1. Steven Attardo via Workshop
Steven Attardo is the design director for W. W. Norton and Company’s trade book division.
2. Catherine Casolino via Domestika
Catherine is the creative director of her design studio in NYC.
3. John Gall via Domestika
John Gall is currently the creative director of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
4. Owen Gent via Domestika
Owen Gent is an artist & illustrator based in Bristol, England with a specialty in book publishing.
5. Chip Kidd via Domestika
Chip Kidd is one of the most well-known book cover designers of our day.
6. Peter Mendelsund via Skillshare
Peter Mendelsund was previously the art director of Pantheon Books. Today, he is the Creative Director of The Atlantic.
7. Faride Mereb via Domestika
Faride Mereb is a book designer and the founder of publishing house Letra Muerta. She experiments with handcrafted and digital processes to create striking, eclectic book covers and art books. She’s a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York City and has won multiple awards in Latin America, Europe, and the US.
8. Kevin Barrett Kane and Emma Hall via Type Electives
Kevin is an award-winning designer and educator. He cofounded The Frontispiece in 2015 with Emma Christine Hall and currently serves as senior book designer at University of California Press. Emma currently serves as senior book designer at Zeitgeist, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
The class advertised below is offered as a LIVE, 10-week course and is therefore only available at certain times of the year. If you’re interested in this course, contact Type Electives directly to enquire when the class will be offered again in the future.
No time for class? Here’s a 2016 Format article titled How to Design A Best Selling Book Cover.
This article was last updated August 2025. We will always add new classes here as they become available.
