• Self-Publishing
  • Author Blogging
  • Sitemap
  • Fonts/Typography

The Book Designer

Practical advice to help build better books

  • Home
  • About
  • Articles
  • Contact
  • Shop
Home » Series Design Presents Unique Book Design Challenges

Series Design Presents Unique Book Design Challenges

by Joel Friedlander on September 3, 2009 Leave a Comment

Some years ago I was asked to redesign the journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, Chrysalis. This journal presents essays, art, and spiritually-oriented material for their worldwide membership.

The new design was clean and organized, and in the process I began a series of cover designs that went on for numerous issues. We needed to create a vehicle that could transition from one issue to another and adapt to all of them while maintaining the identity of the journal.

Since a good deal of the content revolved around art, the editors loved to use art—big, bold art—on the covers. This made my job both challenging and fun.

The solution was the title box you see on the covers here. In the first instance, Going For It! the box floats over the artwork and is pared down to essentials. The only other mark is the “flag” at the bottom with the Chrysalis logo–a beautiful butterfly, representing transformation–which appears on each cover.

chrysalis1

The second cover shows just how far this basic concept could be stretchd and still remain true to the original design. The editors at Chrysalsi delighted in finding off-beat illustrations and materials and this artwork came to me painted on seveal pieces of very delicate, almost translucent rice paper. After scanning and assembling the art, we really got playful with the title box and I added a typographic border to contain the art and “even up” the hand-drawn border. The logo flag is still at the bottom but has moved in to accommodate the border, and it’s turned translucent. Here’s what it looks like:

chrysalis2

One of the great things about being in the publishing business is the variety of projects you get to work on, and the unique challenge each book presents to the book designer in terms of helping the publisher and the author achieve their goals for the book, while solving real design challenges within the parameters of the project.

In the case of series design, consistent formatting has to be balanced by enough flexibility and creativity that the series remains visually interesting and relevant while maintaining the brand the publisher has worked hard to establish.

Filed Under: Book Design, Cover Design, Samples

journal marketing

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join Me & Subscribe!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Topics

  • Audiobooks
  • Author Blogging 101
  • Book Construction Blueprint
  • Book Design
  • Book Printing
  • Book Production
  • Book Reviews
  • Contributing Writers
  • Cover Design
  • E-Books & Readers
  • Editorial
  • Guest Posts
  • Interior Design
  • Interviews
  • Journey of a Book
  • Legal Issues
  • Marketing
  • Podcasts
  • Project Focus
  • Reports
  • Reviews
  • Samples
  • Self Publishing Basics
  • Self-Publishing
  • Social Media
  • Training
  • Video
  • Webinars
  • Writing
  • Home
  • About
  • Articles
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Self-Publishing
  • Author Blogging
  • Sitemap
  • Fonts/Typography
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Comment Policy
Guest Author Guidelines
Why?
"Writers change the world one reader at a time. But you can't change the world with a book that's still on your hard drive or in a box under your bed. This blog exists to help you get that book into people's hands."
—Joel Friedlander

Copyright Marin Bookworks © 2021

For permission to reprint articles from this site, please contact [email protected]

Marin Bookworks 369-B Third Street #572 San Rafael, CA 94901