Lolita cover redesigned
March 8, 2012 5:06 PM   Subscribe

 
Some of those were interesting. The fly; the gun.
posted by Pants! at 5:17 PM on March 8, 2012


Every post is a repost repost.
posted by clarknova at 5:37 PM on March 8, 2012


Some of these don't seem to have much more in mind than "suggestion of titillating underage girl," which isn't really the oiint of the book. A few of them are droll. I can't imagine a resurrected Nabokov looking at any of them with much excitement.
posted by argybarg at 5:37 PM on March 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


quite a few unsuccessful attempts to be subtle about panties.
posted by SharkParty at 5:48 PM on March 8, 2012 [11 favorites]


The bedroom wall and the line drawing of the girl's hairstyles were the best by far to my mind. Too much pink and peach altogether, though. Pink and black is as played as brown and robin's egg blue.
posted by Diablevert at 5:54 PM on March 8, 2012 [4 favorites]


The gun with butterfly was horribly shitty, and also unoriginal.

(Actually, is the "butterfly perched on the barel of a gun" a common motif? I seem to remember having seen it before somewhere else, too.)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:00 PM on March 8, 2012


quite a few unsuccessful attempts to be subtle about panties.

To be blatantly subtle about panties. Plausibly deniable pany -focused design, I am thinking. Sheesh.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:00 PM on March 8, 2012


Some of them also fail as book covers. The first for example. My understanding is that nothing kills a books sales worse than having a cover with nothing but text on it. This is likely less of an issue for a novel like Lolita, of course, since most people buying Lolita are undoubtedly seeking it out rather than stumbling upon it. But it's still going to have an effect.

You can't separate "good design" from "effective for the purpose of the object being designed" and a book cover which does not act to sell books is not good book cover design. So a lot of these are nothing but design wanking.

But what do I know, I still believe that designing a mouse with only one button is shitty mouse design.
posted by Justinian at 6:00 PM on March 8, 2012 [6 favorites]


I made it through three clicks before I realized the payoff wasn't worth fighting shitty navigation. flavorwire.com is a site that doesn't care about their readers.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:18 PM on March 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


I made it through three clicks before I realized the payoff wasn't worth fighting shitty navigation. flavorwire.com is a site that doesn't care about their readers.

It was much more readable earlier, including an option to view every image at once, but the site seems to now be defaulting to the Mobile version. How odd.
posted by EmGeeJay at 6:27 PM on March 8, 2012


Ehhhhhh. More fake, missing-the-point entirely "minimalism"

Minimalism isn't about you barely trying, shitty designers of the webzone.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 6:28 PM on March 8, 2012 [3 favorites]


Apart from the underscore-as-space, I liked this one. Just unsettling enough.

There is a semi-hidden single-page link.
posted by kagredon at 6:59 PM on March 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


Way too much creepy close-up of flesh. I would have a really hard time buying a book that looks like it's literally bound in human skin.
posted by quincunx at 7:41 PM on March 8, 2012


Ehhhhhh. More fake, missing-the-point entirely "minimalism"

Indeed. And more reductionistic, missing-the-point entirely covers. Like most of the original crappy covers, nearly all of those designs don't look like the artists read and understood the book. Sure, the book's named after Dolores, but it's really about Humbert Humbert being a pathetic bastard.
posted by smirkette at 7:56 PM on March 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


Sure, the book's named after Dolores, but it's really about Humbert Humbert being a pathetic bastard.

Yeah, but most actual covers for the book - or posters for the film versions - focus on Dolores, since the book is named after her. I doubt you'll find a published version of the book with Humbert Humbert featured.
posted by crossoverman at 8:25 PM on March 8, 2012


The pink wall was really the only one that made me thing the designer had really read the book. There's an undercurrent of Lo being trapped by Humbert, and that claustrophobic angle and the sickly shade of baby-girl pink coupled with the faux panty shot really evoked that for me as someone who has read and rather loves that book.

Course my copy has the heart eyeglasses from the film on it, so really with Lolita I reallly don't know that it matters. The films have kind of done her in a bit, poor Lo.
posted by Jilder at 9:30 PM on March 8, 2012 [6 favorites]


Actually yes I did want to mention that I liked the pink corner room one.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:32 PM on March 8, 2012


Looking at other entries, this one is quite chilling.
posted by MissySedai at 12:02 AM on March 9, 2012 [2 favorites]


Sometimes I wonder when people decided they were experts on everything and everything is therefore shit.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 12:55 AM on March 9, 2012 [3 favorites]


It was this one time, but you've probably never heard of it.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:01 AM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Mod note: I love the room cover. Also, I just made some for fun: 1, 2, 3, 4. all photos procured via thievery.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:47 AM on March 9, 2012 [2 favorites]


My understanding is that nothing kills a books sales worse than having a cover with nothing but text on it.

Yeah, those classic Penguin covers really didn't do much, did they?

Anyway, I once went on a date which basically consisted of us trying to redesign the cover of Lolita whilst attempting to flirt outrageously with the other person. Good times (even if we got a few odd looks).

We are still together.
posted by kariebookish at 7:16 AM on March 9, 2012


I would have a really hard time buying a book that looks like it's literally bound in human skin.

Seriously, the trade restrictions on human-flesh binding are a real kicker in the grimoire market. Most of the good pre-ban editions have to be exchanged as gifts or inheritance to skirt the anti-necromancy lobby's regulations. Freakin' liberals..
posted by FatherDagon at 7:31 AM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


Man, I'm tired of the Lolita worship on teh webz....

Sure, the book's named after Dolores, but it's really about Humbert Humbert being a pathetic bastard.

And Apocalypse Now is commonly passed-off as an anti-war film. That doesn't stop most people who watch it from getting off on it as a war film. Truffaut's maxim ('it's impossible to make an anti-war film because film inherently glamorizes the subject') applies to pedophilia, as well.
posted by lodurr at 8:36 AM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


There is also a really great series of posts (not yet finished) by one of the judges about book cover design.
posted by fireflies at 8:39 AM on March 9, 2012


The pink wall was really the only one that made me thing the designer had really read the book. There's an undercurrent of Lo being trapped by Humbert

And an undercurrent of Humbert being trapped by Lo, too, if you will. This is a good cover.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 3:23 PM on March 10, 2012



The pink wall was really the only one that made me thing the designer had really read the book. There's an undercurrent of Lo being trapped by Humbert

And an undercurrent of Humbert being trapped by Lo, too, if you will. This is a good cover.


There's also the pivotal scene in the novel which takes place in Lo's bedroom, where Humbert reads the letter Charlotte leaves for him as she drives Lo off to camp and he collapses on the bed, looking up at the wall where he catches sight of a photo of Quilty and decides to marry Charlotte.
posted by Diablevert at 4:55 PM on March 10, 2012


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