Book Design

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. Really? While the saying may be metaphorically true, in a literal sense, as any book publishing professional can tell you, if a book cover doesn’t give you a pretty good idea of what’s inside, it has failed. A book cover’s visual appeal needs to be such that any prospective book buyer can see at a glance that the...

Book Design

    We're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but like it or not, when shopping around a bookstore with nothing particular in mind, it's often a cover that will attract the eye. I was recently perusing the selection at the lovely Type Books in Toronto's Queen West neighbourhood, and certain books stood out to me, not by their outside cover, but rather by their typography—what was on the...

Book Design

This summer, I rounded out my Ryerson Publishing credentials with my final course in the certificate program: Book Design. A daunting challenge for someone who works mostly with words, but one I was hoping to master. Art-making is familiar to me, but design is quite a separate beast; art can be chaotic and spontaneous, but in design, functionality and effectiveness are paramount.   There are far too many topics...