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Typesetting, non-fiction book design and page layout
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By Erika Schanzenbach 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

Typesetting and interior page layout for a non-fiction print book.

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.

Typesetting, book design, page layout

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.

Typesetting, book design, page layout

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 Design: book cover design, typesetting and page layout
Erika Schanzenbach / About Author
Erika is owner of GoBizGo.pro and lives and works in hills of southwest Virginia. She leaves her mark on the world by helping the instigators and the doers, the creators and builders and makers of things, do their work better. An intentional optimist, a personal perfectionist (Lord help her), and shamelessly particular when it comes to coffee and craft brews.
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