Welcome to our University Press Coverage — known as the Uni-Press Round-Up on the right side of the Pond — a ongoing feature in which we highlight, with commentary, a selection of university and academic cover designs published this month. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

Welcome to our University Press Coverage — known as the Uni-Press Round-Up on the right side of the Pond — a ongoing feature in which we highlight, with commentary, a selection of university and academic cover designs published this month. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

As readers, we emotionally experience a book cover before we consciously analyse it. Before we've read the blurb or discovered the plot, the cover has already begun shaping our expectations through atmosphere, tone and curiosity. That emotional first impression is what fascinates me most about book cover illustration.

When I redesigned the Lord Peter Wimsey collection, I wanted to create a series that felt timeless, elegant and quietly intriguing while honouring the atmosphere of Dorothy L. Sayers' classic mysteries. Rather than treating each title as a standalone cover, I approached the project as a connected visual journey.

Welcome to our University Press Coverage — known as the Uni-Press Round-Up on the right side of the Pond — a ongoing feature in which we highlight, with commentary, a selection of university and academic cover designs published this month. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

Welcome to our University Press Coverage — known as the Uni-Press Round-Up on the right side of the Pond — a ongoing feature in which we highlight, with commentary, a selection of university and academic cover designs published this month. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

Walk into any lit-fic dominant bookshop — or browse your aesthetics-driven bookish social media of choice — and you’ll quickly notice a growing trend: minimalist, serialized cover design.

This might come in the form of classic paintings across similar-looking covers. Or just a white serif font on the same block of royal blue. No real clues about the contents of the book, and yet the right reader will immediately know what they’re looking at.

Welcome to our University Press Coverage — known as the Uni-Press Round-Up on the right side of the Pond — a ongoing feature in which we highlight, with commentary, a selection of university and academic cover designs published this month. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

You’re about to publish a book of mixed media art and found poetry, but you’ve said you never intended to make a book at all. How did this project begin?

It started as an attempt to make more freely. I was feeling like I put a lot of judgement and constraints onto my making practice. I wanted to change that as well as experiment with breaking rules I had learned from the art world and art school.

The 13th Annual Academy of British Cover Design awards took place last night (March 5th) at Gigi‘s in Hoxton and was attended by the best and brightest in the design community. Jamie Keenan was there too.

As usual, it was loud, hot and chaotic but it was wonderful to see so many creatives gathered together in one place for a night dedicated to the art of book cover design.

Welcome to our University Press Coverage — known as the Uni-Press Round-Up on the right side of the Pond — a monthly feature in which we highlight a selection of just-published university and academic cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

The selections are in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions (often with links to the designers’ other work), and each cover includes a link to the university’s official page for that title.

For this dark, literary thriller about a K-pop idol who consumes the thoughts of four wildly different women, Stephen Brayda, an art director whose work I have long admired, asked me to lean into the hyper-tactile miscellany of fan culture, so I assembled K-pop trading cards in using photo sleeves, stickers, and letter beads (some raided from my daughter’s stash).

Book cover design and its changing form over the years is always a great reflection of the ever-evolving tastes of readers, the technological innovations shaping visual arts, and cultural shifts in society at large. Today, book covers aren’t just about looking good — they’re designed to stop the scroll, signal identity, and make a statement both in print and on digital screens.

So what worked in 2025 that may be on the way out as we storm ahead into 2026? What other trends seem to be here to stay? In this post, we’ll break down the standout book cover design trends of 2025 and make some predictions about what lies in our near future.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

October 2025 turned out to be a transformative month for me in the best possible way when I participated in the annual Lettering Style Challenge on Instagram, hosted by lettering artist, Aurelie Maron.

Each year, Aurelie releases a list of 31 lettering style prompts for October, encouraging artists to explore a new style every day. It’s meant to push your lettering skills further—but I decided to take it in a slightly different direction.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.

The Modern Library Torchbearers Series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity and a spirit of resistance.

Modern Library AD Rachel Ake and the editorial team were interested in refreshing the existing Torchbearers series look by utilizing modern photography, while still having a system of design rules that any designer, from seasoned professional to a first-timer in publishing, could step in and put their own spin on. Rachel, along with Anna Kochman and Caroline Teagle Johnson, developed the system in the hopes that “by freeing up the brain from some of the design decisions, people could truly play and therefore experiment more.”

The Uni Press round-up is back! We welcome you to our ongoing feature, now penned by designer and photographer Giles Hoover, in which we periodically highlight a selection of recent university press cover designs, with commentary. Please enjoy this celebration of amazing work.

This list is in alphabetical order by press. Where possible, credits are listed in the captions.