Melania Trump has unveiled the cover for her upcoming memoir and despite its painfully minimalist design, some critics claim it’s a blatant act of plagiarism. Set to be a tale chronicling the former first lady’s “powerful and inspiring story”, the book cover gives us little context and even less substance with its plain design.
Engaging book cover art comes in a variety of styles but should typically be evocative of its subject. While presumably, Melania’s monochromatic minimalist design was an attempt at being nuanced and powerful, it reads as bland and uninspired regardless of its plagiaristic convictions.
Melania’s memoir book cover is an all-black hardback with simple white text reading ‘MELANIA’ in all caps sans serif font. The bold look was quickly compared to the iconic Chanel Catwalk book, which features similar typography and understated aesthetics, but while the stripped-back design works for a fashion archive coffee table book, it doesn’t carry quite the same luxe appeal when applied to Melania’s memoir.
Critics took to X to share their opinions on the book, with one user writing “Melania Trump copied the Chanel book cover for her memoir. Again, her behaviour is similar to when she plagiarized portions of Michele Obama’s speech.” Another scathingly added “Melania’s new memoir looks like a matchbook from a funeral home”.
So evidently, Melania ripped someone off again. But my real question is…how much of her memoir story is true and how much is made up? Her college degree? Her working legally as a model? Her love for her husband? Her work as FLOTUS? #bebest pic.twitter.com/KzHYMOJzoAAugust 29, 2024
It’s not just that the cover of Melania’s new memoir looks like a matchbook from a funeral home – she doesn’t use her last name pic.twitter.com/orNVCqFmUWAugust 27, 2024
While I’d like to say I’ve made a full recovery from my days of being a book cover design snob, Melania’s flat and allegedly derivative memoir cover suffers from its own minimalist flavourlessness. With no real purpose behind the basic design, it lacks the sense of personality essential in memoir marketing. For some book cover design that’s a little more inspirational, check out the winners of Penguin’s 2024 Cover Design Award.
