Cover Conundrum [benlehman]

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I was thinking about using an American Flag as the cover for Drifter's Escape. But the flag code is pretty strict against using the flag to brand your products and, while it's not criminal, it's one of these things that I try to take seriously.

Any other cover ideas?

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There are 24 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

the first thing that came to mind was the Gadsden Flag

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_flag

That's a good idea. I'm not sure about it, thematically. Drifters are pretty tread on, as a rule.

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well, yeah
so were the revolutionaries, at first
they didn't really want to be tread on, hence the statement
and I imagine drifters don't really want to be tread on, either
so it's a plea, more than a battlecry
in my head

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https://www.dynamicforces.com/images/C108974.jpg

Too bad you can't hire Alex Ross...

:D

Any cover ideas that don't involve copyright vio?

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Maybe an old timey railroad ticket?

I'll let you know if anything comes across my mind.

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ugh. log in, then reply...

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Indeed :D

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I'm thinking about using this image: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-2966634-railway-tracks-hi-res.php

a slice from the middle so that the rail-road is cutting from the top-left to the bottom right.

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That's pretty cool, though the telephone lines might make it a bit misleading in era (granted, I remember it's not locked in to a specific time period, right?)

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It's modern, by default. You can play it in another time if you like.

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Ah. Perfect then.

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That's all right. Especially for black and white. The colors are too pretty.

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Hmm... Maybe I'll try a sepia or something. It is too pretty, and looks a little too much like inspirational lit.

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Why a flag?

Can you talk about the Drifter's Escape a bit?

The game is pretty much about America, in the frame of stories about poor wandering people trying to figure out how to make their way in the world.

yrs--
--Ben

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A bindle, made of an american flag.

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In that case, I'd just use a flag. The flag code considers anything recognizable as an American flag to be an American flag, and bans it in advertising (this is, uh, widely ignored by most people. But I'm not most people.)

yrs--
--Ben

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Wait, just advertising? Because if it is, then you could use the flag on the cover of the actual book, but use a modified image on websites and in ads. For example, you could have artwork of someone using the flag as a bindle on the cover, but have the bindle just be standard red-and-white checkered cloth on the image you advertise with.

Which is probably too much trouble, but I thought the idea was worth mentioning. After all, the book itself isn't advertising; it's art.

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That's an interesting argument. I'm pretty sure that book covers are product packaging, though. I have something else I'm tooling around with now (see above) with a railroad and some red, white and blue lettering.

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Have you considered some sort of map theme, or perhaps railroad graffiti?

Or, if you want to go the photo route, there's a bunch of neat stock photography out there of the run-down remnants of blue highway America.

Hmm. America The Book uses an american flag in its packaging/advertising and I never heard any controversy about it.

It's non-controversial.

The use of the flag in advertising is protected by the 1st amendment. The flag code is a non-binding group of suggestions for citizens who wish to treat the flag with due respect. As a citizen, I wish to treat the flag with due respect, so I'm sticking to the flag code.

yrs--
--Ben

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Oh okay. More power to you.

I think the dark illustration of someone's back might work well - It says 'mysterious' and 'stranger', so it communicates the drifter part, but it also says 'put yourself here'.

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May