Starry's idea vault

Beyond the rules of contrast and the principles of visibility, regardless of subject area or target group, irrespective of in-house designer, even stretching the borders of reason, there is a remarkable trend emerging in book cover fonts.

The trend is called “white.”

From crime through memoirs & romance to young adult fiction, designers seem to have a penchant for white font color. Sure, we do note the legibility requirements this unmissable color so aptly fulfills… but… honestly, guys?!

The above selection was picked from amazon.com’s latest for new releases, blockbusters, fall books, the books of the month, fiction, non-fiction, and young adult categories. I didn’t keep numerical track of the tendencies, but I’d say about 40% of new releases feature white as an emphatic font design element. And I was overly careful with that estimate.

Yes, why? What does it have to do with school books? Why is the apple an indispensable design element of “back to school” campaigns, welcome signs, blog posts, and iTunes rebates? (Okay, the latter has a logical explanation.)

Can anyone enlighten me? I’m trying to think outside the lunchbox.