Please let me know what you think! Especially vs. the concept of a silhouette of a girl smooking a hookah against a background of deepening twilight.
Concept 1 (ignore the strange title fonts, that can be changed):
Concept 2:
Thanks for your feedback!
Fast Times in Palestine is in bookstores worldwide! 
12 comments
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April 4, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Carmel
I’m a big fan of the second design. I feel like it’s more in keeping with the tone of your book.
April 4, 2011 at 1:28 pm
charles fairbanks
don’t you need Stanford’s permission to use their seal?
i prefer the second one anyway.
April 4, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Meaghan
I like the second one…but wish that there was a a woman on the front like the first one…to humanize it.
April 4, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Jeff Brown
Lose the J. initial. Seems too masculine and academic. Besides, it violates Associated Press Stylebook guidlines. Any media-types will pick right up on that.
April 4, 2011 at 10:59 pm
fasttimesinpalestine
I thought it lended my name a little gravitas. Otherwise it’s kind of a girly name, no? Maybe that’s just because I see every letter as a color, and Pamela is a very pink word, and Olson is white. J is seafoam green, so it makes it more balanced.
J. K. Rowling put her middle initial, and that turned out all right…
On the down side, it will make it easier for the Israelis to sniff me out. I’ll be 25/26 less likely to be able to lie about who I am at the border.
April 5, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Tino
Definitely the second one. It’s much more professionally-looking and memorable, which I think is crucial for online sales (think tiny thumbnails). In that respect, the ‘J’ would probably also help (and it sounds better, despite the seafoam). Though, I agree on the ‘human’ aspect part of the first one, and the main selling point of the first is that it’s got a more dynamic look to it, while the second could be mistaken for a historical/academic book. Maybe you could invigorate the second one by using a more modern fontset for the title?
April 5, 2011 at 1:24 pm
adell
Don’t like the first at all – way to messy-looking, too many fonts, too many images. J is not seafoam green, it is brick red. Pamela is, however, pink.
The second design is better, but I think I liked some of the previous designs better.
April 7, 2011 at 11:34 am
kerri
the second one is better, but you could shrink that image of yourself (with the camera) and place it in the middle where the white part of the palstinian flag is, like right above your name. then you would look like you were walking towards palestine.
I don’t really like the first one but its OK. I like that image of you. I really do not like the siluette of the girl with the huka…at all
April 7, 2011 at 11:35 am
kerri
PS…I like the J.
April 7, 2011 at 11:39 am
kerri
me again…I like Pamela J. Olson but I don’t like the font, or the dark box around the name.
April 7, 2011 at 11:43 am
kerri
Pamela, the reason I don’t like the huka smoking girl is because even though the book is not necessarrily (or at all) marketed toward palestinians, I truly believe palistinian americans, or palestinian candians, or even in the UK…will actually buy this book. The image of the girl with the huka would instantly turn many of them off from buying it…But its totally up to you.
April 7, 2011 at 1:34 pm
fasttimesinpalestine
Thanks for your feedback, Kerri. What do you think of the current design concept? It still has a hookah girl, but she doesn’t look like a trucker’s mud flap! I’m going for a little edgy, very unexpected, and both familiar and strange at the same time. Hopefully it will make it past most Palestinian-Americans’ haraam-filters.