Georgie Girl (cover versions)

Sometimes a book cover evolves through several versions, keeping some elements and losing others. Clients can change their minds or come up with new ideas. Whilst sometimes time consuming, design iteration has the virtue of being unpredictable and therefore interesting.

Sacred Space

Our task was to convey the contemplative mindset of prayer without resorting to overt displays of religious symbolism. Sacred Space is a book of prayer published each year by the Irish Jesuits. After a long search through uninspiring imagery, we finally found a beautiful, tonally balanced photograph ready for the addition of type. We used Museo Slab at a variety of weights for both impact and delicacy.

Face Book

For departing Year Twelve students, their yearbook has sentimental significance — the last memento of thirteen long K-12 years of education. We tried for an unusual effect — the face of every single student in the entire school (the back cover had another few hundred faces), some converted into black and white and others still in colour. The layout took quite a while, but our clients were happy with the result.

The World's Best Pop-up Books

One area of print will linger longer than any other — children's books. More than any other books, texture, colour and real interactivity matter. And within children's books, pop-ups are the most resolutely three dimensional of all. Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda are preeminent in this field. Together and individually, they have created some of the most amazing (and reasonably priced) books I have ever seen. They marry really high quality illustrations with bogglingly complex pop-ups. One can't even begin to figure out how each trick is achieved -- a man turning into a wolf, a Chinese dragon composed of intricately folded crépe paper, a massive T-Rex head with jaws that open, and so on. Although incredibly complex, their books are also quite durable. That said, it is probably a good idea to keep them out of the hands of smaller/destructive toddlers.

Book Trilogy

Our client had written three books that followed a largely linear narrative, and were strongly tied to a single location in Africa (the Rift Valley in Kenya). Our cover designs used that landscape as a reference, bringing in additional images specific to the particular volume in the trilogy. The title typeface is Fairfield and supplies a framework for all three covers.

Vaudeville in Australia

Harry Rickards was a nineteenth century show business entrepreneur and performer who made a risky move from Britain to Australia. His business doings were colourful to the point of criminality and he died a rich man. We wanted to convey something of the swagger of the man and the constant chatter of the material produced to promote his shows. We used typefaces appropriate to the time.

Taking Care of Business

Our client wanted a bold, typography based cover. We used Trade Gothic, a pinstripe background and a tie standing in for a red arrow and achieve a high impact result.

Self-Publishing Author hints: Part 1

Self publishing or small press publishing does not have to be a royal road to obscurity and crates of unsold books. Active, savvy authors can drive healthy book sales. Here are a couple of tips from a multi-thousand selling Australian author:

Jacqueline Dinan, author of "A Woman's War", a work of fiction dealing with World War One, has focussed on giving talks about her book to interested groups. She says that:

• The book came about because I married a history buff and realised that other than watching ‘The Sullivans’, my knowledge of Australia’s war history, was very limited. So, we set out to write a book for women like me.
• Writing the book was the history lesson that I never received at either girls’ school that I attended.
• I present to groups – Rotary, Probus, View, U3A, Legacy, War Widows, Educational, Shrine, RACV Club (they are all keen for speakers)
• The power point presentation is about the research I did into Women on the Home Front & Men on The Western Front

In addition, Jacqueline was very active in soliciting reviews for her book prior to print publication. Reviewers included the Herald Sun, the Weekly Times and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch.

Stay tuned for further practical tips for authors.

Full Colour Cover

When "Beyond Indigo" was published twenty years ago, the author was unhappy with the book's cover, feeling it was conventional and stodgy. With a new publisher, he finally had the chance to remedy the errors of the past.

The book deals with an elderly opal miner and an extraordinary opal strike. We took full advantage of the dramatic colours of that gem. With a gem specimen overlaid against a close-up opal pattern, the composition might also be a wing, a sunset or a landscape — almost abstract, but concrete enough to tie the book to its subject matter.

Lonely for My Land sells well

Tish Lees grew up on a remote and beautiful cattle station called Karratha. An accident of geology put her parents' station at the heart of Australia's iron export industry. Tish chronicles in her book a vanishing way of life. She wanted us to capture the feel of the WA outback, the dust and blue skies, and to integrate the best of her family snapshots. The result has sold extremely well and is into its third printing.