I have this tendency to make a final purchase decision between items based on which one is designed the best. When I’m grocery shopping, I gravitate to the items with the most attractive packaging, regardless if they actually might be the best tasting. The best example is when buying wine, as I am far from a connoisseur, so the label better awesome or I’m passing.

When I saw this cover design (crafted by Jez Burrows of Evening Tweed) for “On The Road” I was immediately reminded of this trait of mine. For almost 8 years now I have tried repeatedly to read through “On The Road” in it’s entirety and have always failed in my attempts. I don’t know why exactly because the story of Sal traveling across the US, hitching rides and interacting with various characters is intriguing, but inevitably I put it down and don’t pick it back up until much later which by then I have to start over because I’ve lost the context of where I left off in the story. Now I’m thinking that it has something to do with the cover design of the copy I have, which is far from compelling.

So seeing this cover has sparked my interest and has almost breathed new life into the story. Now “On The Road” looks mysterious and exciting. It’s a fantastic book cover, cleverly showing you that this is a “road-journey” story that ultimately gets tangled and messy (I’ve read far enough to make that deduction) and beckons you to learn more about it.

I wonder, had this been the cover design of the copy I first picked up several years ago, would I have been more encouraged to read through it in that first sitting? I think so. I think that’s the kind of power design has when executed well.