Assignments with AI: Create a Cover Brief for a Book

In this sample Publishing, Writing and Media assignment, students practice creating a cover brief for a book. Through this process, students generate various styles of images with AI, explore editorial feel and tone, draft a brief, and justify their choices and processes. 

AI Tool

Google Gemini - Nanobanana

Summary

Students use AI to draft potential cover art for a book, then submit a brief with their best images and an analysis of the quality and fit of the images and the use of AI for the task. 

Assignment Description & Instructions

Task: Create a Cover Brief with several examples of possible cover designs for a book of your choosing. Use Google Nanobanana to generate several versions of a book cover and provide a brief analysis of each. 

Step 1: Select a book

Select a book from this class, one you are currently working on or a well-known classic and use Google Nanobanana to experiment with drafting cover prototypes. Consider the following:

• Visual and design tropes of the genre

• Tone or “feeling” of the cover

• Keyword descriptors 

Try several different styles or directions and see which ones work best

Step 2: Explain your Choices

Submit your 3 best images along with a 1-2 page defense of why you chose these three as the most viable for your chosen book. In your defense, make sure you include the following: 

• How you developed your prompt and subsequent inquiry with the AI tool 

• Describe why you chose these 3 images. Make sure to discuss usability, genre, market fit, and anything else that feels relevant 

• Your opinions on the successes and limitations of AI generation for book covers 

Step 3: Review Briefs with Peers

Meet with a classmate and review each other’s briefs. Give feedback on the quality, interest level and appropriateness of the images and rationales for each. Select the best image from your classmate and post it on Brightspace with a brief explanation of why the one you selected stood out. 

Submission Requirements

• Your 3 images

• Written defense

• Brightspace peer review post

• A copy of your transcript with Google Gemini 

Options for Adaptations 

• Image and design inspiration: use AI to draft look and feel inspiration for design, architecture, urban planning or other image-centric fields.

• Play with genre: Have students run a similar activity where they create an image of the same book, but as different genres: horror, fiction, romance, biography, etc. 

Contact the Nexus team at nexus@nyu.edu for assistance setting up this assignment or adapting it for your course.