With books there are many measures of success—some artistic, some practical, some commercial. The aim of any book design, then, is to meet the challenges specific to the book.
The aesthetic of a flight of fancy will be different to that for a collection of hints and tips. Common to all, though, will be to make reading easy and pleasurable. Not all books have a direct commercial aim, but those that do need to compete strongly in a crowded market—they need to be both a recognisable part of their genre and also stand out within it.
Maddie, a young writer writing for teenagers, was about to self-publish her debut fantasy novel on the Amazon® CreateSpace™ platform, and wanted a professional and striking cover design that would attract potential readers to her work. A lovingly-crafted photo montage brought to life the mood she wanted to get across, coupled with custom title typography. Full book text typesetting completed the job, all provided in the correct format press-ready files for Maddie to upload for publication. To take a closer look at part of the book, download a PDF here. To read the whole book, you can buy a copy here.
A motivational business book, primarily aimed at the self-employed, and its sequel. With no publisher on board, Brad wanted to achieve a quality of presentation that a lot of self-published books don’t reach. The cover and text page design strikes a balance between edginess and professionalism, conveying the character of the author and the brass tacks stream-of-consciousness style of the writing. Don’t those covers just scream for attention? To take a closer look at part of book one, download a PDF here, and for book two press here. You’ll find more on the story of Get Off Your Arse from inception to publication in this short case study article. For more information about Brad and his books (plus links to buy them), go to his website here.
Brad needed a slew of materials to accompany his regular life-and-business bootcamps, and as part of this wanted a branded hardback notebook. The result was these smart, lively-looking books that help form part of the overall get-up-and-go look for BradCamp and provide not just an aide-mémoire but also a memento of the day that would be worth keeping.
As part of a new First Aid board game Kingsley was developing, he wanted to include an instructional book covering the topics covered in the game. Derived from an earlier stand-alone book, a strong, consistent and attractive style runs through the whole package. See also the board game design and general branding.
Barry had spent five years writing a book that was, in his words, “part memoir, part fantasy, part social document”. He wanted to create a professional-looking paperback version of it that would reflect his work and that he could give copies of to family and friends as a gift. The finished product reflects the love and care that has gone into writing it, with the text pages set out in a neat and subtle format that helps the reader through the narrative, and a cover that is at once evocative and wistful—if slightly unsettling—giving a sense of what is expressed in the book. On-demand printing, coupled with an accomplished finished look, meant he could confidently go ahead and publish, to share with a wider audience. There is an e-book version too. To take a closer look at part of the book, download a PDF of part of the print version here. To read the whole book, you can buy a copy here.
Steve, an expert insurance loss assessor, wanted to self-publish his helpful book, about avoiding the perils of insurance claims, and wanted a bold cover reminiscent of a certain leading player in self-help books without blatantly copying them. Not only that, but the cover had to accommodate one of the longest book titles ever and still be impactful! The book was completed with full text typesetting and press-ready files were supplied to Steve for him to upload to an on-demand book printing website for production. He was very pleased with the finished product, saying “My book arrived and it looks great. In fact when I posted it on Facebook I got more comments and likes than ever before.” To take a closer look at part of the book, download a PDF here. To read the whole book, you can buy a copy here.
Wendy needed a cover designing for her new book and she needed it fast—it was going to press in two days! She was delighted with the result: a simple, attractive, uplifting (no pun intended) and immediate design, with totally royalty-free imagery, presented press-ready on deadline.
An established force in consumer rights, Helen had written this direct book of tips on the subject of complaining. She had already had some work done on the cover, so the task here was to take that and hone it, and to complement that look in the text page design. The challenge with the page design was to arrive at a clear, attractive, consistent layout that would allow for adequate text sizes whilst accommodating the widely varying amounts of text on each page. The artwork was completed with the inclusion of suitable icon graphics sourced by Helen from Noun Project. The book was then also formatted for e-book for simultaneous publication. To take a closer look at part of the book, download a PDF here. To read the whole book, you can buy a copy here.
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