I have stumbled upon 3 prompts to use for a thriller or mystery novel.
So, yesterday, I opened Canva and decided to make a cover for it. The thing is… I’m not quite happy about it, but I like the minimalism of the cover.
Specifically, I don’t like the font choice for the title. I worked with a serif font, which would probably work best. But, the choice I’ve made regarding the serif font kind of bothers me.
For this font cover, which is an edited template, I do like the font choice. It fits with the vibes of the overall cover. So why doesn’t it work on the one above?
Is there a better font I can use for the thriller book cover (the first image)? Or should I not use butterflies for a thriller novel? I know butterflies represent rebirth, but it somehow fit the whole minimal aesthetic vibes?
The second cover stood out to me much more for some reason. I think the title font style matches the wing; both gives off a romantic, mystical vibe. Personally, I don’t think it would match for a thriller story unless you make some changes to the colour theme or something. I’m also not too much of a fan of the font colour itself … probably because the background is light and the white font makes it harder to read / too bright. How does it look with something darker and less saturated?
The first cover is definitely more traditionally fitting of a thriller novel. The black with a scatter of coloured wings is much more mysterious. Not sure what kind of font would fit it better… thrillers usually go for more blocky texts, but I don’t know if that would complement well with the fragility and delicateness of butterfly wings.
So what I’m feeling is that the butterfly wings aren’t giving off enough creepiness for the cover to be thriller. You can still you butterfly wings, but just tweak them slightly to give off more a thriller aesthetic : maybe give them a glitch or make the coloration somewhat wrong…
specifically, in the first cover, if you could add in on single butterfly fallen on the ground or something like that, it would make it a little more ominous. For the second cover, a similar effect could be achieved by tilting the wing so that there is a sense of ‘wrongness’ that the viewer feels.
As for fonts, I can’t tell what exactly is wrong, so maybe play around with it a little more.
I agree. The original font for Lorelei, was black. But I thought it was too harsh. I can try looking at a blue to match the wings.
The second cover is definitely the thriller novel. I went with a serif font because I thought it would look good. I have tried a sans serif font but the whole vibe changed. Mainly because it was a more futuristic font. I can try looking at thriller novels on Google and see if they have a font that keeps coming back. Which I then might try using.
Of course, they’d have to be merged and toned down to not overwhelm the butterflies… just that they already looked like they were a touch on fire, to me.
Anyway, when font is an issue, I first make sure the color matches the background more. If I use white, I pull that shade straight from the bsckground. In this case, I’d choose the closest white to the bottom left butterfly, which would be more of an ice blue, not as stark.
Without changing font, the difference between the two book covers is that the background blends towards the lettering in the second, and it’s so stark against the black background in the first. There’s no softening to it–which just increases how harsh a contrast it is.
While butterflies represent rebirth…It also means the following
Resilience and Endurance
Rebirth
Transformation
Resurrection
Change
Hope
Life
So in a way, if I choose to use the prompts I have with this cover, it could go either way.
Prompt 01:You call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest — Taylor Swift Prompt 02:Can we go back to the start, when we were all strangers in the dark? Prompt 03:Three women. Three secrets. Three tangled lives.
These prompts I want to work with, I found them in the ONC 2023. But since I can’t participate anymore, but still want to use them, I’m planning on sending a DM to the page and hope they respond.
But yeah, this is what I’m working with.
I think butterflies can work for a thriller but you have to create some kind of sense of unease with them.
I googled thriller books to get a feel for the font. It’s a combination of tall sans serifs and simple serifs like cinzel, but tall sans serifs are definitely more popular.
Ooh, maybe you could add something simple for that “off” feeling? For example this one. Elongating a couple of letters creates a vibe.
You can use ONC prompts for whatever you want. No worries there.
