Keyline Pie

I strolled through the library last week looking for possible, “coffee table”-worthy books that were in need of a redesign. Since my aim for my book design class is to have three, portfolio-ready pieces, I think the coffee table test is a good indicator of what can be achieved. I checked out  three books from the library, but as I started scanning them in, I eliminated one from the project possibilities. The first book that made the cut (or failed my own, arbitrary design litmus test, as it were), was Melcher Media’s Sex and the City: The Movie photo book.

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Popularity: 72% [?]

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally have a moment to post images of the finished layout of The Elephant’s Child, Book Design’s first project. Once I’ve gotten the fully assembled book back, I’ll post a picture of that as well. But for now, JPEGs extracted from the PDF file will have to do. Let me know what you think.

Back Cover, Spine and Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright and Dedication

Half Title Page

Chapter One Heading

Chapter Two Heading	Chapter Three Heading
Chapter Four Heading	Chapter Five Heading

First Page of Chapter

Text Treatment

Popularity: 39% [?]

This summer, I’ve enrolled in the book design class at the University of Baltimore. Since UB’s summer session is a short eight weeks, the class instruction (and time to complete a project) is a whirlwind. The first project is to design a book for the Rudyard Kipling short story, “The Elephant’s Child”. After several revisions, I feel I’m close to being happy with my cover design.

Since I am not an illustrator by any stretch of the imagination, obtaining art for a project is always a challenge for me. Especially when there is no client to bill for the work. I found some exceptional paintings from artist Aria Eden which I used to create a rough mock-up to present to class. After attempting the first cover, I was told that artwork created for the story itself could not be used-even unpublished artwork. D’oh!

The Elephant's Child Book Cover Concept (Version 1)

Scouring the Web, I found a beautiful sketch of an elephant’s face. The artist added pink watercolor to the sketch to soften the pencil lines. The use of pink gave me a unique color palette to work from to create the back cover of the book. Sadly, a week after first presenting the cover, a comment was made that the illustration looked like a body part that rhymes with “heinous”. Needless to say, this was a bad thing.

The Elephant's Child Book Cover Concept (Version 2)

Back to the drawing board, I found myself scrambling. Until I found Khawan Barton‘s fantastic sketches on Flickr. Khawan’s elegant sketches of elephants gave me the opportunity to use a more wistful font choice for the title of the book. The only comment in class was that the artwork needed a little more “meat” behind it. I am guessing this means a little more substance to help support it. The result is below. I’m fairly happy with it, though now I’m not sure about the color of the title in version 4.

The Elephant's Child Book Cover Concept (Version 3)

The Elephant's Child Book Cover Concept (Version 4)

Popularity: 100% [?]

Obviously, I’ve totally neglected my  blog! Which, looking back, is actually a good thing. Life happens. That, and I’m slowly weening myself off the dependency of the Internet. I took my first trip with no laptop packed in many, many years. I’m proud of myself. All that being said, I am going to give this another shot. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll have to do some clean up, but let’s see how things shake out, shall we?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Class is finally done. Hoorah! Pat yourself on the back, boys and girls, because we’ve made it. Enjoy your holiday and winter break. Before you know it, it will be January and the start of a new semester. I hope  we’ll all keep in touch. For those of you going to the Sketch Crawl, I’ll see you out in the cold!

Popularity: 25% [?]

As I work on the revision for the instructional booklet, I’m testing out various colors for the hands in the instructions. Below are three options. What are your thoughts?

No Color Option

25% Black Option

25% PMS 4535 Option

Popularity: 26% [?]

Here are some of my favorite spreads from the next issue of Marinalife. I am pleased with how the Florida Keys layout turned out, and the San Diego layout started to grow on me.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Ever wondered how you can bind your own book without outsourcing the job to a bindery? Here’s a wonderfully excellent guide from No Media Kings on how to do just that. The guide breaks everything down from supplies to step-by-step instructions and everything in between. Happy binding!

Popularity: 14% [?]

After three all-nighters (Thursday, Sunday, and Monday), it is time to send the next issue of Marinalife magazine to the printer. The files are ready; the disc sits anxiously on the desk. All that is needed is the final OK from the client tomorrow morning. Once the files have gone to print, I might have to spend some time reintroducing myself to my mattress.

Popularity: 19% [?]

A bubblegum ad created by Leo Burnett in Sao Paulo for Arcor bubble gum. A great find by The Cool Hunter.

Popularity: 23% [?]