In a previous post 4 Reasons Why You Need to Hire a Book Designer I extolled the benefits of good book design. I noted that for professional personal historians, hiring a designer as part of the team was critical for long term success.
For those of you who have some good visual sense or can’t at the moment afford a book designer, this post is for you. Here’s a list of resources for the DIY book designer.
Sites
The Book Designer. “To help publishers and authors who decide to publish their own books get to market with a great looking, properly constructed book, on time and on budget.”
The Self-Publishing Review. “The Self-Publishing Review is an online magazine devoted to self-publishing: book reviews, publisher reviews, interviews, news, opinion, and how to’s.”
Articles
7 Keys to DIY Graphic Design on No Budget. “Take these notes into consideration next time you have to get a creative project done on no budget:”
Simple, Practical Color Theory. “The mastery of color theory, relations and harmonies is one of the primary steps to uncovering the full beauty and potential of your images (in the realms of art, design and/or photography). Find out more in this simple, practical, colorful guide.”
Book Design, Part I. “In the first of three columns about book design, John D. Berry begins his look at how the books we read end up looking the way they do.”
Book Design, Part II. “John D. Berry continues his treatise on book design. In this second of three articles, he focuses on text spacing and typeface selection.”
Book Design, part III. “Closing out his series on book design, John D. Berry takes on display type, front and back matter, and playing nice with others.”
Books
Non-Designer’s Design Book, The (3rd Edition) (Paperback) by Robin Williams. This book is a classic and my favorite. “There is an ever-growing number of people attempting to design pages with no formal training. This book is the one place they can turn to find quick, non-intimidating, excellent design help…”
Book Design and Production by Pete Masterson “…this book will help you understand the book production process and the principles of good cover and interior book design. It will allow you to look at a book design and immediately see the common errors and to see that a book is following the traditions of good book design that gives credibility to your message.”
The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type (Paperback) by Alexander W. White.”Unlike other graphic design books, The Elements of Graphic Design reveals the secrets of successful graphic design from the unique perspective of the page’s “white space.” With the help of carefully selected examples from art, design, and architecture, the role of white space as a connection between page elements is thoroughly explored.”
Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual (Paperback) by Timothy Samara. “This book is a fun and accessible handbook that presents the fundamentals of design in lists, tips, brief text, and examples. “
Before & After Page Design (Paperback) by John McWade. The author “…walks his own talk, bringing you a beautifully clear, cohesive, and elegant primer on page design. You’ll learn by example how to design single-page and multi-page publications,..”
Do you have any favorite resources for the DIY designer? Let me know. Love to hear from you.
Photo by Zeptonn
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“You know a design is good when you want to lick it.”~ Steve Jobs
