"The Twenty Irrefutable Theories of Book Cover Design"

At AIGA's Small Talk No. 7, UK-based book cover designers Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan shared honest insights from both their freelance and in-house experiences in the book publishing industry. The format of the lecture was filled with humor as the two hosts presented "XX: The Twenty Irrefutable Theories of Book Cover Design (Or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Kill Fee)." I was hoping to find a video of the talk online, but so far no such luck.

Jon Gray and Keenan will also be speaking among a great line-up at the upcoming Cover Design Conference held at The British Library on June 10th, 2010 (wish I had an excuse to be in London...).

Below are the twenty theories Jon Gray and Keenan discussed, simplified here to just the headlines. The abridged notes are so much less amusing sans the image slideshow and brilliantly talented and funny speakers. I was too busy trying to not miss the next slide or anecdote and took lousy notes.