Category: Portfolio

Book Cover design + Typesetting

Project: Cover design + typesetting and page design for interior of a non-fiction mini-book.

This was a comprehensive book design project including a complete cover design and interior typesetting and page layout.

Project Output: Print publishing via a traditional printer + PDF ebook version.

Tools/Skills Utilized: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat, full file preflight and file export for printer.

Completed cover design for the print version, including full front and back cover with spine. The inspiration for this design was vintage political posters.

Typesetting / Interior spreads

The first page of each chapter is consistently set on the right-hand page. I chose a simple layout including plenty of white space with attention given to title and chapter number at the beginning of each chapter. The wide margins and gutter, not only leave room for comfortable reading, but also help keep the word count per page down and push the page count up. Since this was a brief book keeping the page count up was important in order to have it finished perfect bound.

Interior pages included page numbers as well as chapter and book titles on facing pages. Quotations and lists within the text were set to give the reader appropriate visual cues for the type of text coming up. The reader should be enjoying the written text and never have to guess at what they are reading, or even notice the layout at all.

Book Design Details

• Cover Design
  • Front cover,  back cover,  spine
• Typesetting
  • selection of typefaces
  • selection of point size and linespacing for readability
  • crafted paragraph styles for body copy, headings, code blocks
• Page Design
  • Whitespace: margins and gutter
  • Page numbering
  • Book/Chapter titles on interior pages
• Front Matter
  • Table of Contents
  • Copyright page
  • Preface
• File Output
  • PDF file to printer’s specs for interior pages
  • Cover art file including back cover and spine for print edition
  • PDF ebook version with minor adjustments to page layout for onscreen reading

Book Cover design + Typesetting

Project: Cover design, typesetting and page design for interior of a collaborative technical manual with multiple authors.

This book design project started with the cover design first to set the tone for the entire book. Then I pulled the design from the cover design into the interior for a cohesive project.

Project Output: Print + Kindle: Print-on-demand publishing via Amazon KDP + Mobi/Kindle

Tools/Skills Utilized: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, stock photography selection/acquisition, full file preflight and file export for printer, MOBI export for digital version.

Completed full front and back cover design for the print-on-demand version, as well as cover images for the Kindle version.

Typesetting / Interior spreads

The first page of each chapter reflects the smoke from the cover design. Different typefaces are utilized for the chapter titles, code snippets, and body copy to give the reader visual indicators of what information they are looking at. I included dropcaps for first paragraphs for each chapter and set the first page of each chapter on a right-hand page for consistency.

This technical manual contained many screenshots to illustrate the content. I prepped the images for print production and inserted with attention to keeping facing pages typeset cleanly and evenly.

Book Design Details

• Cover Design
  • Front cover,  back cover,  spine
• Typesetting
  • selection of typefaces
  • selection of point size and linespacing for readability
  • crafted paragraph styles for body copy, headings, code blocks
• Page Design
  • Whitespace: margins and gutter
  • Page numbering
  • Book/Chapter titles on interior pages
• Front Matter
  • Table of Contents
  • Copyright page
  • Preface
  • Foreword
• File Output
  • PDF file to Amazon KDP specs for interior pages
  • Cover art file including back cover and spine for print edition
  • Cover art file for Kindle version
  • MOBI file to Amazon KDP specs for Kindle version
  • PDF ebook version

Every Thought Captive magazine

PROJECT GOAL: Redesign/rebrand the look and feel of a theological print magazine to better appeal to the layperson reader and sharpen the professionalism of the layout. The goal of the redesign was to create a visual style that appealed to the intended audience, was more friendly and inviting, and was compelling, recognizable, and consistent from issue to issue.

PROJECT OUTPUT: This magazine was published in print via a digital press publishing house and in PDF form.

TOOLS/SKILLS: Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, stock photography selection/acquisition, preflight and file export for printer, PDF export for digital version.

what did the magazine look like before?

mAGAZINE cOVERS BEFORE REDESIGN

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INTERIOR MAGAZINE SPREADS BEFORE REDESIGN

what did Magazine look like after Redesign?

mAGAZINE cOVERS AFTER rEDESIGN

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WHAT CHANGED on the cover?

• Increased human interest and movement in selection of cover images
• Cover images with a strong focal point and less background busyness
• Gave color a stronger role bringing more vibrancy and eye appeal
• Redesigned masthead maintaining a similar concept but utilizing a serif typeface with more visual interest in letter shape and editing to create some unique detail

iNTERIOR MAGAZINE SPREADS AFTER REDESIGN

WHAT CHANGED in the interior layout?

• Cleaned up ragged body copy and adjusted text for readability and to consistently fit columns (when possible)
• Adjusted margins, gutters, line spacing, and text placement to create additional white space
• Selected fresh typefaces for body copy, dropcaps, titles, headings, etc.
• Set up consistent styles for all text elements and page headers
• Adjusted placement and style of stock art throughout
• Reduced busyness of design elements throughout
• Highlighted authors more prominently and w/ consistent style