Design styles for the cover of your dissertation

The cover of your dissertation is the first thing people will see when they receive your dissertation. It is therefore important that your cover looks inviting. How exactly you want your cover to look is of course entirely up to you, but from experience we know that sometimes it can help to have some more information about different design styles so you can see what appeals to you.

To make it more clear, we have divided the design styles into 4 categories: illustrative, typographic, abstract and combination. In the following text we will explain more about these categories. We will also show examples for every category.

Illustrative

The most frequently chosen cover is an illustrative cover. With this type of cover, the images, photos or illustrations on the cover are closely related to the subject matter of the dissertation. An illustrative cover can be created in many different ways. Icons can be used for a clean and simple look. An icon is a simplified representation of an image where little to no detail is visible. You come into contact with icons every day, think for example of the volume and internet icon.

In addition to icons, you can also use silhouettes to provide a simple visual explanation of the subject matter of the dissertation. To give silhouettes a more complex appearance, it is possible to use an image or paint to fill in the silhouettes, so to speak.

For a more detailed view, you can create a cartoon style cover or use photos or other detailed images. We can place photos that you supply yourself on the cover of your dissertation provided the quality is good enough. You can always send us the photo and we will check whether the photo is suitable. It is also possible to use photos that you find on stock websites. We have a subscription to a number of stock websites and are happy to help you find the right photo.

We have made designs of all the discussed types of illustrative covers. To give you a better impression of the different styles, we show some examples of different types of illustrative covers below.

Typographic

A typographic cover is usually a clean looking cover that does not use images. Instead, only the text is designed. But even though only the text is designed, this type of cover offers many possibilities. For example, we can work with different colors and effects. Alternatively, a typographic cover can also be designed in a minimalist manner, where the title of the dissertation and the author are placed on the cover in a single solid color. This can create a very luxurious look if you provide the text on your cover with a special printing finish such as spot-UV or embossing.

Below you can see two examples of a typographic cover.

Abstract

If you choose an abstract look, the cover will be designed in an expressive manner. This can be done, for example, by using different lines and/or shapes or by using (water)paint. An alternative way to design a unique abstract cover is to use your own research results. For example, zooming in or out on one of your own results can create an interesting effect on your cover. 

Below we show two examples of a dissertation cover with an abstract design.

Combination

It is also possible to combine different cover styles. For example, when combining typographic with illustrative, we can add additional design to the title of the dissertation and author's name and also use illustrations on the cover. Another interesting option is to combine abstract with illustrative, by doing this we can then create an illustrative cover for you in an abstract manner.

Are you curious about what such combinations could look like in practice? Below we show two examples in which multiple styles are combined.

Other tips

You may already know exactly what you want the cover of your dissertation to look like, which is of course very convenient. But if this is not the case, here are some tips to help you get started.

• Tip 1. Look at the covers of other people's dissertations to get an idea of ​​what kind of covers appeal to you. 
• Tip 2. Decide what design style you want for your cover (Illustrative, typographic, abstract, combination).
• Tip 3. Do you want a cover with clean lines or would you prefer a cover that uses, for example, paint or sketch-like techniques.
• Tip 4. Choose the colors you want to use for your cover. Do you like to use light colors or dark colors?
• Tip 5. Ask for help. We are always ready to consult with you and help you brainstorm ideas.
• Tip 6. Decide whether you want to use special finishing effects such as spot-UV or embossing. We can take this into account when designing your cover to make sure the effect will look nicely.