or ‘Letter from a book designer to a writer’ (particularly to those writing non-fiction that integrates text, tables, graphics, & other elements).
We believe that a book’s design should reflect the author’s voice as well as the concept that the author wants to transmit. Cover art & page layout are all parts of the message that the book is attempting to communicate. A book’s design presents the way through which the reader interacts with the text. Done wrong, a book’s design (or lack of design) can turn an engaging text into a boring and monotonous read. Of course, on the other extreme, poorly conceived page layout composition results in a book design that intrudes on the reader’s enjoyment.
As a boutique book design studio we craft each book carefully, dedicating the time that each book needs without rushing into random ideas.
We usually design the cover first since that’s the first contact the potential reader has with the book. Once we have designed the style for the cover, then we start on the interior page layout. In the page composition we purposefully incorporate some elements from the cover design so that the overall result is a book with cover and interior that presents a unified style, making the book a stronger and unique presentation.
When working on page layout, we seek to find a harmonious relationship between the fonts in the different parts of the text. Also, an integral part of book layout is balancing the text with the surrounding white space. We actually think of the white space as containing the text. Certainly, a simpler approach is just to dump the text into a template. But that method doesn’t work well for a non-fiction book that utilizes many elements, e.g., images, tables.
Most importantly we strive to work with the publisher (or author in case of self-publishers) to transmit the spirit of that particular book as a one & only piece that will provide an engaging experience for the reader.
This doesn’t mean that the process is long, sometimes is only a few weeks. We just think this is a good direction and it works for us and our clients.
Having survived the hacking that brought down my site and blog, I’m just now reestablshing my blog reading habits. I’m glad you’re still here.
Good point you make above about white space containing the text. It’s so much more than “negative space,” as it was referred to by an art director I spoke to many years ago.
This was a wonderful entry on a very important topic. I’ve posted your blog entry to our website, The Open Publishing Guide, a resource website for authors looking to self-publish, a project based out of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Design is often where self-publishers become weary. This entry is very insightful and I believe it will be useful to many people. Thank you!
@Stephen: Nice to hear from you! Glad to hear you’re back blogging, too!
@Rachael: Thanks for your nice words about my post. I’m familiar with your site. It’s a great resource. Thanks for re-posting there. Yes, there’s no reason that self-publishing cannot have great design.
We usually do the complete opposite – for us the internal design is the most important, the readability, font choice, use of white space etc. Inside the book is where the reader is spending most time.
In the end we have elements from the design, e.g. typography choices, to bring to the cover.
Hi Thomas, thanks for your comment.
For most of our customers, the audience wouldn’t get to spend time in the interior if there wasn’t a cover that pulled them to the book. So for us, the cover is a very important marketing tool.
That said, I’d definitely start from typesetting if I was designing a Bible.
Very interesting to see how different designers work different ways. And how process can be adapted to be functional to each project.