When I posted about my grand idea, I mentioned that we were hoping you would help us pay for it.
We’re nearly ready to get started, but we need your help with part of the fund raising: we are releasing our first 2 e-books ever! These have been in the works for a while, always on the back burner, but the prospect of our new BunkBeds has motivated me to finish them. There’s a third one as well, but it’s far from done. It was actually the first one I started. Maybe if y’all are excited enough about the first 2, I’ll find the time to finish the other one. 
Right now, we need your input on the cover for one, Big Family, Small House.
We have drafted several designs, And each of us thinks our favorite is the best. We want you to take sides help us choose. Just to keep it fair and prevent you from choosing mine just because you like me best, we’ll assign numbers instead of names to the choices.
So here’s the big question. Please leave a comment if You have suggestions, opinions or input!
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I like #2 the best. You might consider adding simple little stick figures of family members to it to ‘show’ the concept of big family. After all, these days some people think having three children makes for a big family. The simple lines of a stick figure would also work well next to the simple lines of the windows and door on the house. You might also consider taking the by line from #3 and using it on the botttom of #2, but I’m not sure about that – I would want to see how it balances out the color at the top of the cover. I like the font used in #3 as well, and would probably add the words ‘in a’ to #2.
All that said, I like all of them and if I were to pick them up off the shelf, I wouldn’t have any complaints about the cover art.
I really enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work.
I like #2 the best because of the simpler writing. I don’t think you should add the by line and I don’t like the words “in a” on the cover. It’s just not quite as catchy. However, the stick figure idea might work out well.
#2 is the only one that looks interesting. #1 and #3 — the picture of the woman really detracts (sorry) and the house on #4 does NOT look small.
I like the idea of putting stick figures near the “Big Family” part and making the house smaller.
I agree that “in a” takes away from the catchy title. Also the picture of one person is odd because you’re really trying to emphasize that it’s a family of 11. But from a purely aesthetic perspective, I kind of prefer #4.
#1 looks like the U is a tongue coming out of the front door! Scary. If you combine the text of two and the pic of one I think it would be better.
You can’t go wrong… all the covers look great! Good work! Great book idea!
Bethany W in mid- MO
I like the one with just a centered house.
(momentarily puts on dusty graphic designer hat)
From a design perspective, #2 is better. The contrast between the top with the bars and the very simple bottom is what makes this cover pop.
Adding stick figures to the left of the house could easily clutter the page, ruining the effect the shadow of the house has, and make the word “small” disappear visually. If you really want stick figures, I would suggest going back to the drawing board for some creative placement. The white space next to the small house is what emphasizes the small size of the house, something #4 lacks (#4 lacks life because it is completely centered). I am sure scanning a few pages inside the book would eliminate any confusion on what is meant by “big family”.
The vast majority of the time in graphic design, less is more.
Oh, and a last comment, whichever cover you choose, having the word “family” the same width as “big” is a good touch.
(tosses designer hat back in corner, retrieves treasured mommy hat)
Girls, you all did a good job!
Keep up the good work, and keep learning more design principles!
I would take option #1 take out “in a” and the girl. I would then add stick figures to represent a big family.
I like #2 best – the others look quite “cluttered”. I would also add a comma after the word “family” to make it read “Big Family, Small House”.
I would also like to see some cover options featuring figures (stick or otherwise!
) to represent the concept of the large family. The photo of the woman by herself doesn’t show that clearly enough.
Hope this helps and good luck with the book – how exciting!
I’m not gonna vote because – while they are all great & would work beautifully — since you asked – I gotta say that, (imho) none of them are PERFECT. I was thinking that it would do good to have a somewhat large # of people on the cover – representing BIG. The stick figure idea would be cute. Maybe it could be kinda small & backgroundy or something?? But then, I don’t know, it might make it too crowded. The house on #4 does not seem very small. I like the lettering on #1. I think the words “in a” are fine. I don’t think it needs “a mother’s guide”.. What if a wife wants her hubby to read it?
) Whatever you guys decide will, of course, be super!!
Thanks for involving us in the process & Thanks so much for all your awesome posts..keep ‘em comin’!
I’m going to agree with several others. Leaving off the wording, “in a small” is part of the attraction of the second cover. But, I rather like the simple, clean design of the second one as well.
Sorry, didn’t mean to put small in there when I suggested what to leave out. It should have just been leave out the “in a”.
I like #4 because it doesn’t have the face on it, and the house and words are centered. But I also like the idea of taking out “in a” and just scootching “small” so it’s centered under the house.
Love,
Hannah L.
What Deanna said.
I like #2 but maybe with a pic of a large family behind the house.
I like number 2 the best. I don’t think that the picture of the woman in the background looks good. It is too cluttered and fuzzy.
Lulu
I LOVE number 2! I also like the stick figure idea suggested by other commenters
I chose #2…like someone else said, I prefer the “Big Family, Small House” title to “Big Family IN A Small House”.
Really, if the title was changed to the simpler version on all of them, I’d have had a harder time choosing.
I like the horizontal beige lines, BIG FAMILY in same size font w/big the same size as family, small house in smaller font, the font colors all red, the house centered, LOVE the idea of stick figures.
I don’t like the vertical beige lines, it looks “circusy”, the words “in a”, or having a face on there.
Bravo to you for putting it all in 1 spot!
I love number 2, and think the stick figure family is a great idea. I’ve picked up some books for ‘large families’ only to be disappointed because they turned out to be ‘more than two kids’ large. By the by, I could just be unobservant, but did your blog title used to say family of 11, and now it says 12? It still seems to have nine kids in the picture…any fun news I’m missing??
I’m glad to have found your site – you have a lovely family!
I like number 3 but I like seeing people on the cover. I do agree that having pictures of lots of children or something would help. Maybe a small wallet size photo of a large family.
I have six children and I don’t even consider us a large family, so like one poster mentioned about some thinking 3 is large. I remember this lady with 4dc and she kept saying how huge her family was. So what is a large family. LOL.
Also I have been trying to find a book about a large family living in a small house. Like I mentioned we have six dc and live in 700sq.ft. of living space. We have two bedrooms. One for dh and I and one for the children. It’s cramped. Our laundry machines don’t even fit inside the house (we have no garage) so they are outside. When it rains I can’t do laundry because it’s too muddy.
Anyway, the only other suggestion is to make it in E-book format and paper. I can’t stand e-books for some reason. I do like having charts/schedule available to for downloads though.
Over at SimplyCharlotteMason one thing she did was offer it as both. If you bought the paper book then she would email schedules and such, so you didn’t have to make copies from your books.
I know, WAY more than you asked for but thought I would mention selling both versions.
Ethier way I’ll purchase your book. I am desparate for some tips.
Oh, please have some pictures of your dc’s rooms.
Blessings,
Linda<
If you put a picture behind the house in #2, make sure that the family is larger than the house
i think #3 is the best design. there is home for the author line that provides emphasis without obscuring the name, like in example 4.
if you like #2 the best, I would add some emphasis to the author like, maybe use a different font, like Times or Times italic. I would also add a shadow or some emphasis to the author line. That would help balance the empty space at the bottom with the many design elements at the top of the page.
#1 is well balanced according to color, shape, and proportion. #2 is top heavy without the face and is too white. I don’t think the bars (top and bottom, #3) add anything to the design, it actually makes it less interesting or eye-catching. I think #4 is just O.K. but again… a little borring. I really like #1 out of all the options, and the face brings the warmth of humanity to mind.
Now, I wonder what’s inside?
I think you should get a picture taken of your family wearing red or yellow and looking at a wooden dollhouse (the big realistic ones) like they were trying to figure out how to get inside. Anyhow it’s just an image that passed before my eyes.
Congrats on #12! I saw your blog header image has been changed from 11 to 12.
I predict a boy!
Number two is my choice, but I agree that you should add something to represent what you mean by a “big family”. Many people think if you have more than two children, you have a large family.
Have you seen this?
http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Guide-Raising-Large-Family/dp/1423604512?&camp=212361&creative=383837&linkCode=wss&tag=owlhaven-20
Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large family She’s evidently got a blog as well.
I like #2 the best, but I also wonder what it would look like with the yellow stripes where your name is in #4 added to #2 for aesthetics. I like the idea of the stick people, maybe small stick people scattered about around the house. Or even tiny faces squished into the facade of the house…. I get curious to play with different looks;)
I like the simplicity of the title and of the design of number two. It does need some “grounding” on the bottom where the author’s name is, though, I think. Maybe the solid line like on number three? I’m afraid I do not agree with adding stick figures or what not. Adds clutter. The large size of the word BIG gets the meaning across without any extras. Lookin’ good.
I like 2 and 4, both of these look really good.
I don’t really like any,, I think they need more work.
I like number two because of its unclutteredness. The only thing I dislike about all of the covers is the fact that the word house spans the width of the book. I think it should be small like the word small to greater emphasize the BIG/small thing. Also, I don’t like the picture of the one person, when its about a large family. Rather to leave the people out altogether. (And I’m not a fan of the stick figures. Too cluttery. With a big family in a small house, you don’t want to give people the idea there will be clutter. They might think it, but you don’t want to help them with that idea.)
Also, congrats on baby number 10, Mr. and Mrs. C!
Family of 12?? You are so sneaky. Congratulations!!
Congrats Kim!
I cannot wait to get my hands on several copies….
When do you predict it will be out??
Jeanie,
We’re hoping to launch it as soon as we decide on a cover. It will be an e-book at first, though we’re wondering if we should offer a hard copy option as well.
Kim I really hope you make a hard copy : )
I will buy several copies…
If you want to offer a hard copy, you could use Lulu.com…