Alternate Book Covers
Reductionist style
Designer:  Brian Gartside
Workbook vol. 33 pg. 218

I found this image in an issue of Workbook.  These pieces are some alternate book cover ideas for the Harry Potter series done by Brian Gartside.
This image caught my interest.  I loved the Harry Potter books and was always so interested in looking through the illustrations on the book covers.  The front and the back were normally jam packed with pictures from scenes and characters from the story.  Here, the artist has chosen a fairly simple design for his version of the book covers.  He keeps the same style of typography for the Harry Potter title, but changes the typography for the title of the story (bold for Sorcerer's Stone, scrolly for Deathly Hollows)
On the back and the on the spines on the book covers, Gartside has included the number each book is in the series.  I thought that this was interesting to do.  There are no numbers used on the original book covers.
This design reminds me of the reductionist/minimalist style.  While the original Harry Potter book covers are filled with scenes and figures, these covers are simplified down to using the title and number of the book, and just one element from the story.  It gives you the information you are looking for (what book this is, what order of book this is, who wrote it)  without presenting you with too much artwork.

I also liked that Gartside included small images of things from the story (flying keys).  These were used to create a nice little pattern around the type.

The designer has also done the same with the back of the books.  He has used a simple design while tying in things from the story.