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Book Design
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Client: Mason Crest Publishers
Project: Education of the Presidents Books
These books tell the stories of each of the US presidents' educational background. They were produced in two different formats, black & white and a three volume color edition.
Client: Mason Crest Publishers
Project: Ethnic Americans Book Covers
Covers for a 16 book series for school libraries about ethnic groups in North America.
Client: Mason Crest Publishers
Project: Ethnic Americans Books
Text pages for a 16 book series for school libraries about ethnic groups in North America.
Client: Context Audio Guides
Project: Jane's Smart Art Guides
Audio guides on CD for travelers visiting historic art sites in Europe.
Client: Mason Crest Publishers
Project: Native Americans Book Series
Book covers for a series of 16 books for school libraries about various aspects of Native American life.
Client: Mason Crest Publishers
Project: Native Americans Book Series
Text pages for a 16 book series for school libraries about Native Americans.
About Book Design
Book design is old.
Archeology tells us that the first books, written on clay tablets, were made in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC. Egyptian media in papyrus have been dated to around 2400 BC. The Romans used wax-coated wooden tablets before parchment and paper came along. And now there are all manner of electronic media.
Design and layout tools have evolved as well. Beginning with sticks and chisels, and progressing through quill pens and brushes, to carved wood, stone or metal 'plates' coated with ink, moveable type, linotype, phototypesetting, to Adobe's invention of postscript, book design tools and techniques have come a long way.
Book design is traditional.
But in a way, book design is traditional, very much like it has been for a long time. Publishers and readers still expect to see the front matter with the title page, frontis, table of contents, foreword, a preface, etc. Of course the body comes next with chapters and maybe an epilogue. And there's the back matter usually housing appendices, the index, the bibliography and notes.
Today, one of the most important parts of the book, for marketing purposes, is the cover, including the front cover, spine and back cover. Some believe that the spine deserves top billing since the spine is often the hook off the book store shelf.
A well-designed book, inside and out, can enhance the reader's experience and improve the author's and publisher's credibilty as an expert. Just as a great photograph can make a great product look even better, a well-designed book can make great content even better. And what author or publisher wouldn't want that?