10 Magical Design Lessons from Harry Potter Book Covers

Table Of Content

• ‘It’s how it makes you feel rather than a kind of scientific logic’
• Your Local News
• The Hogwarts Express Quiz
• Discover your Hogwarts house with our reimagined Sorting Ceremony
• Inside MinaLima: the fantastic world of Harry Potter prop design
• Harry Potter Book Covers Free Printables
• Design Lessons to Be Learned From Harry Potter Book Covers

We ended up getting an assistant, Lauren, who’s absolutely brilliant, and now have three assistants on Fantastic Beasts. Brought to you by Wizarding World Digital, a partnership between Warner Bros. and Pottermore. Delivering the latest news and official products from the Wizarding World and our partners.

‘It’s how it makes you feel rather than a kind of scientific logic’

The Harry Potter audiobooks were first published in 1999 and have been unprecedented in their popularity since they launched on Audible in 2015, with 1.4 billion global listening hours now reached. Although designed to look and feel like an enduring institution, Hogwarts has evolved to match the needs of the story over the course of eight films. At THEBOOKDESIGNER.COM, our goal is to be your go-to resource for all things related to high-quality book design. Whether you are a first-time author or book designer by trade, we are committed to helping you navigate self-publishing by giving you the tools and resources you need to stand out in a competitive industry. The last three Harry Potter books see a major mood shift, and each Harry Potter book cover follows suit.

Your Local News

It’s funny looking back now that there’s the [Warner Bros.] Studio Tour and everything else, but they sort of said, 'Well, it’ll be around four to five months, and we’ll see where it goes.' Then there was another, and another. We really didn’t understand what we had walked in to, and it’s so rare to get that kind of work, that kind of stability, as a graphic designer. Their "work marriage," as they call it, went beyond the Harry Potter movies, and saw them form their own design studio in 2009, as well as their own design team. MinaLima have since created their Collective Nouns collection, and continue to publish elegant and interactive illustrated editions of classic stories in their Illustrated Classics collection of books, prints and merchandise with HarperCollins.

The Hogwarts Express Quiz

While there is no doubt that this cover is visually stunning, in my opinion, it also gives too much of the story away. The consistency of design, format, and style across a book series helps to build a strong brand identity. Continue with part two of our exclusive profile of the design duo as we go behind-the-scenes of Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts prequel series. Graphic designers Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima at the House of MinaLima in Soho London, at the...

Free Printable Harry Potter Banner Letters

In Soho, not far from the location of Diagon Alley, the magical world of Harry Potter has carved out an intriguing legacy. The House of MinaLima gallery holds the work of the graphic design studio which created most of the props from the Harry Potter films including spellbooks, the Daily Prophet newspaper, tickets and posters. The Marauders Map covers the floor in the gallery’s exquisitely designed rooms. The House started as a pop-up in 2017 but looks here to stay – a second gallery has now opened in Japan.

While we go off and do our own thing every once in a while, we work best together. In film, it usually goes that people will work freelance, and people won’t work with each other for very long, but before the Harry Potter films ended we had this discussion about our future..." Wizarding World is the new official home of Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts. We recently launched our new Wizarding World app in the UK, US and Ireland – along with previous countries Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Along with the ensemble cast, the wizarding story will be further enchanted by innovations in audio production, including a brand new score and real-world sound capture. Pottermore Publishing and Audible have announced all seven Harry Potter books will be magically retold with an all new cast and sound effects in a coup for Potterheads. The impact is being felt far beyond the studios as special effects firm Framestore, which created the spellbinding visuals in the Potter movies, said it expects margins "to be impacted" by the strikes in 2023. Some wands were immediately fixed upon first design, but others evolved during the course of the films, including Harry’s. While directing Prisoner of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuarón offered the young principal actors a selection of new wands to choose from. But this isn’t the only way you can consider culture when creating your book cover.

Estonian publisher picks Forester's design for Harry Potter book cover - Lake Forest College

Estonian publisher picks Forester's design for Harry Potter book cover.

Posted: Tue, 15 Jun 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Leavesden re-opened in 2012 after Warner invested more than $123.7 million (£100 million) in the site. Since then it has been home to well over 50 productions including all eight Potter films, the three Fantastic Beasts spin-offs and last year's highest-grossing movie, Barbie. The complete Harry Potter audiobook collection on Audible also includes The Tales of Beedle the Bard performed by Jude Law, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them performed by Eddie Redmayne, and Quidditch Through the Ages performed by Andrew Lincoln. In Diagon Alley, Harry discovers his wand with the help of Mr Ollivander. Now it's your turn - use this handy template to design your perfect wand. Click on Element, and add magic swirls wherever appropriate.

Mina graduated in Theatre Design from Central Saint Martins and entered the Potter universe in 2000, when the production designer she worked for was hired for the first big-screen adaptation of JK Rowling’s beloved books. When creating book covers, you want to strike a balance between mystery and familiarity. You want to create imagery that the reader can understand and relate to, but want to learn more about.

Inside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - Architectural Digest

Inside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Posted: Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:00:00 GMT [source]

For every giant newspaper headline or Ministry ‘wanted’ poster there’s an equally detailed piece of incidental packaging or signage. As a collective body of work they bring another level of realism and colour to J.K. The two designers met on set of Harry Potter in 2002, when Lima started as an intern on the second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The duo are responsible for designing iconic props from the Harry Potter movies, such as the Marauder’s Map, the Black Family Tapestry, all issues of The Daily Prophet, and even Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Letter.

Take a look at how the team got into that mindset and how it felt to be creating such an important movie artefact. The Wizarding World has expanded and, as such, Pottermore.com has a new, bigger home for all of the magic you love. From the team that brought you Pottermore, along with some new friends too, WizardingWorld.com is the new online home of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Despite the logjam in Hollywood, Leavesden too is expanding.

When designing your book covers, adapt your art to suit the target audience’s preferences. When designing your book covers, carefully consider the genre and tone of the book when deciding on illustrations vs. photos. This picture not only shows what the beast is (which is a mystery for most of the book), but also how Harry is saved in the end.

Some of that design work is crucial to visual storytelling (think the Daily Prophet newspapers), while much lives in the background — combinations of colour, texture and typography that help bring authenticity, realism and style to Harry’s fictional world. For the Quidditch World Cup sequence in Goblet of Fire (2005), the team designed hordes of programs, posters, tickets and memorabilia — it had to feel like a proper sporting event. ‘As graphic designers we have to think about that whole world,’ says Mira. At the end of the match, Voldemort’s followers set fire to the stadium campground, and the makeshift venue is obliterated.

The app (which is free, so no pennies required) holds many surprises, such as secret code unlocks and the new fanzine we’re calling Wizarding Weekly. We hope you like it – watch out for the app rolling out in more countries soon. All new audiobook releases will be made available exclusively to Audible. While author JK Rowling is inextricably tied to the book franchise, she will not be heavily involved in production but has given her blessing to its latest progression. Over the past few years soaring inflation and the cost of living crisis has caused consumers to cut streaming subscriptions leading to studios scaling back the number of shows in production. We are currently exploring chapters 4-6 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, where Harry begins to discover the magic of the wizarding world.

Join us for some Harry Potter Reading Magic, where we'll have more quizzes, articles and activities for you. First, we tweaked the warmth, brightness, and vignette to create the desired effect. Next, click on each layer of images and adjust according to what you think looks realistic and blends in. Color grading can add dimensions to your photo, establishing an atmosphere and creating the mood, and setting the witchy scene. Many kids dreamt of being greeted with an owl on the window sill, carrying a letter.

Miraphora and design partner Eduardo Lima are the suitably magical portmanteau MinaLima. The design duo met on the set of Chamber of Secrets — the second of eight ‘Potter’ films — in 2002. Together, they’re the artists responsible for every piece of graphic design in the ‘Potter’ cinematic universe (that’s the Harry Potter films and, to date, two Fantastic Beasts prequels). Their work encompasses everything from textbooks to tapestries and posters to packaging.