Information and tips, focusing on publishing, publicity, promotional ideas, author profiles, design resources and more.
To view many and varied samples of our cover and book design work, try some of the links below:
Print folio by category: http://workingtype.com.au/index
Book Folio: http://workingtype.myportfolio.com
Full design archive: https://goo.gl/photos/6dzV55fEW6GgGVE59
Reedsy: https://reedsy.com/luke-harris
Recent Design Work and Blog Posts: http://www.workingtype.com.au/blog
Twitter: workingtype
A few recent cover designs, from high fantasy to Australian railway trips…
A sinister mushroom cloud, the White House gently glowing in the radioactive light, a menacing submarine — what more could a reader want?
Another radioactive cloud, skippy, Sanuel Johnson and a medieval scholar — the first time they have all appeared on one cover…
Logos continue to evolve apace in the mainly digital design world. Some attractive trends, some pretty ugly, as showcased here.
“Modern culture continues to shift the ways we interpret symbols and how we visually prioritize in context, setting topsy-turvy the relationship between identity and application. Greater credence has been given the attending visual vocabulary as texture, pattern, typography, photography and illustrative elements have shifted seats in the visual brand hierarchy. It’s becoming more common to see a brand driven by the supporting visual aesthetics, occasionally leaving the logo to call shotgun if it’s invited along for the ride at all.”
A small selection of colourful cookbook covers completed over the past few years. Anything involving food is always fun!
James Pratt has written a cracking thriller novel set in the near future. A resurgent Russia invades an unprotected Europe, with only a small group of special services veterans standing in their way. If they are able to bring an extraordinary secret weapon to bear, they may be able to save Western civilisation. Our cover incorporates some of the elements of the story and uses dramatic colours and high contrast to attract reader attention. Typefaces used include National and Franchise. Published by Silverbird Publishing.
New Zealand type designer Kris Sowersby (National, Tiempos, Caliber) has some interesting things to say about type design and originality in this talk, given at TypeCon in 2018. He vigorously rejects any suggestion that type design is played out, and that new versions of old standards are a bad thing.
“And it made me realise this is what we are all doing. We’re taking the planks from masters, and building our own ships. We are making ships in our own image, in our own languages, in our own accents.”
Women Who Draw attempts to redress a perceived imbalance of female/male illustrators. According to their website:
“Since its launch, Women Who Draw has become the place to go to discover new talented illustrators from all over the world. It features over 2700 (and counting) professional artists, tools to help users curate their own stables of artists, interviews with industry pros, monthly member collaborations, and a resources page for artists and the people who hire them.”
Whatever the politics of the site, it showcases many excellent designers working in a wide range of styles.
Serial founder of interesting design-based companies (Swiss Miss, to-do app Teux Deux, and Tattly, Tina Roth Eisenberg is also behind the global design talks known as Creative Mornings.
Melbourne has its own series, so if you're interested in designers talking about designy things (there's a different theme every month), then consider going along. At the price of free, how could you miss it? In a section impishly titled "convince your boss", the organisers advance the following argument:
“From design legends to hometown heroes, CreativeMornings speakers are selected by each chapter based on a global theme. Past speakers include visionaries such as Seth Godin, Ben Chestnut, Jessica Hische, Debbie Millman, Simon Sinek and David Kelley, among many others. These accomplished individuals share their stories and lessons they’ve learned throughout their careers and in doing so, pass on invaluable knowledge to the audience. I will walk away from the event feeling motivated and inspired to apply those lessons to my own work. ”
When IBM commissioned a typeface family for their own internal use, they also released it for general use. Clean and practical, Plex also has some style and warmth. With sans, serif and monospaced subfamilies and many weights, one might wish that many businesses relying on dull typefaces such as Arial and Times New Roman might make the switch and use something much better for free.
“With four subfamilies, eight weights, two styles (roman & italic), and 100 Languages, IBM Plex™ can do just about anything you need it to. Just download, add to your font manager, activate and enjoy.”
Another free offering, Overpass is not quite a grand as Plex, but with eight weights and true italics, it is a fine and generous offering. Very smart and highly readable, and more space efficient than Plex.
“Working Type did a fantastic design job for my cookbook, “Enjoying Food Again”. Luke had good ideas particularly for the section pages and typography but he was also happy to listen to what I wanted the book to look like. He was easy to work with and it all came together fairly quickly in spite of its size. I would be happy to use him again. ”
Reground is a grassroots initiative to divert the tonnes of coffee grounds generated in Melbourne each week from landfill into people's gardens. I've booked in a consignment, and also pledged their Pozible campaign to help them purchase a van to facilitate collections and delivery. Check out the nicely designed minimalist website and spread the love (and caffeinated compost).
The CIA has recently released a large number of formerly classified maps. According to accompanying notes, "The mission of the Cartography Center is to provide a full range of maps, geographic analysis, and research in support of the Agency, the White House, senior policymakers, and the IC at large." In an era of digital online maps and very detaile satellite photography, it is interesting to view these hand-compiled attempts to summarise all known information about a particular area. Many of the maps are rather well designed and aesthetically pleasing.
Ray Scott writes hard-bitten thrillers with plenty of action and skulduggery. His latest effort gets going in the sunny Wimmera, with a salesman facing hitmen from his murky past. With a touch of North by Northwest, we depicted a rather worried man against a field of wheat and a merciless blue sky. Typeface used: Tablet Gothic Compressed.
It would be difficult to top this website for lovers of street typography — a survey of 13 miles of one of the world's best known avenues. A great showcase of the glorious variety of public taste when it comes to type.
Type guidance for web neophytes.
Read more
Victims of the Rope, by Trevor Poultney
A cover design for a book discussing judicial executions in Victoria, Australia.
Read more
As usual, our recent book design projects have featured a wide range of subject matter — a book of sonnets, a novel dealing with a huge telco and a guide for beginning singers. Projects currently in the works include a handbook for stroke sufferers, a novel about cultural contact between China and the West and a history of judicial executions in Victoria.
A great catastrophe is afoot in this sweeping saga set in Ancient Egypt. We used a beautiful 19th century illustration with vivid saturated colours and combined it with a hint of the Egyptian desert and a meteorite trail (essential to the plot). Title type set in Yana.
