Free PSD Template to Design a Stunning Book Cover Jacket

Download this layout guide detailing the key elements to tell a visual story and create a captivating dust jacket in Photoshop

In the age of e-readers, online marketplaces, and packed real-world bookshops, a cover designer has mere seconds to capture a potential reader’s eye. The front cover needs to bridge the gap between our world and the story world, instantly communicating the emotions and journey—while also giving essential information like the title and blurb!

Owen Gent (@gentowen) is an artist and illustrator who creates subtle, intimate, human imagery using watercolors and Photoshop. He's worked with publishers including Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, and Vintage. He strives to capture the tone of a story, making a cover that will stay in the reader’s mind as much as the narrative.

Here, Owen shares the definitive PSD template for a dust jacket, to help you reinvent your favorite book’s cover, or create one for your own original writing.

What’s a dust jacket?

The most important thing that separates a dust jacket from a regular book cover is that it is removable. This outermost layer wraps around the book and folds around its original cover pages, using a flap on each side (a wraparound). This keeps the actual book cover safe from dust and damage, hence its name. You may find a dust jacket on paperbacks in some cases, but most commonly jackets are used for hardbacks.

The great thing about a jacket is that you can add an extra layer of visual storytelling to a book. Many designers choose to create artwork that spans across the entire front and back. That said, you can still design separate front and back covers with the template below. It’s all about what works for the book itself.

In his course, Owen explains the process of selecting important information from a book, such as descriptions, places, atmosphere, and of course important events in the plot. He also goes in-depth into the elements of good composition and how to expand on an idea using thumbnails. But once you have your artwork prepared, it’s time to head into Photoshop and lay out the essential information that readers need to know.

The elements a good book cover needs

You’ll need several elements at the ready to assemble your final design. Of course, you’ll start with the most obvious: the artwork, the book title, and the author’s name. However, you’ll also need the following:

- For the spine, a publisher’s logo and the book details in a vertical format
- For the back, reviewer quotes (if available), the barcode, and information about the publisher
- For the front wraparound, a blurb and the price of the book
- For the back wraparound, an author photo and bio, and your credits as the cover designer!

Download the free Photoshop template

In this download, Owen shares a PSD template for a full jacket (front and back covers, wraparounds, and spine). Drop your artwork onto the template and add essential text and typography. You'll finish with a print-ready file, complete with bleed to ensure the design runs right to the edges.

After clicking on the button below, you'll find a file in .zip format in your Downloads folder titled Free Book Cover Jacket Template, by Owen Gent. You may need extraction software like Winzip to open it.

If you want to learn more, you can sign up for Owen Gent’s course Book Cover Design: Illustrate Stories with Evocative Images.

To learn more about the process of making a book, check out our courses on bookbinding, or take your design skills to the next level with our graphic design courses.

You may also like:

- A Brief History of Book Covers
- Book Cover Illustration: Unraveling the Essence of a Story, course by Silja Goetz
- 5 Interesting Facts About Books
- How to Get a Book Published: 4 Tips for Aspiring Authors
- 4 Crowdfunding Platforms for Self-Publishing Your Work