The one thing seemingly overlooked in book design is the spine
. What many people do not know is that the spine is an important element in cover design, just like a book's front cover. The spine is the vertical edge of a book as it stands on a bookshelf. When books are placed vertically or stacked up horizontally in a shelf, the spine is the only visible surface that contains relevant information about the book, such as the title, author and publisher. Indeed, it is a very crucial part of book design.