The focus is on children’s books. While the awards are not just for children’s books, this is one area of the industry where people get really passionate about the importance of good book design so it seemed as good a place as any to start.
How good does a good book look?
Within the industry the revamped book design awards are seen as a positive step, and there are hopes they will encourage a greater range and style of books to be considered for design awards.
Many are hoping that more books will get a look in on the design front rather than just the glossy coffee-table book. As illustrator and author David Elliot says, good book design is not just beautiful production or beautiful graphic design.
“For instance, a really important part of children’s book design is managing the pace and story-telling quality,” he says.
What is book design?
So what is book design and what makes for good children’s book design? Why does everyone in the industry support good book design, but many still lament the lack of it?
At the production end of the spectrum decisions have to be made for every book including format, stock, hard cover or soft cover, and the type of binding used. Cover design, layout and typeface also need to be considered. Other elements of children’s book design become harder to pin down, but contribute to the overall look, feel and ‘readability’ of a book. How well text and illustrations are integrated, how and where the words sit on the page, and the way the words flow when read out loud are all elements a good designer will consider.
What makes for good book design?
Good book design is almost invisible, says Commissioning Editor for Children’s Penguin Group, Vicki Marsdon. “A designer is an integral part of getting a book out. You need someone who is able to empathise with the nature of the story and what it is trying to do. But the design should almost be invisible. The reader should simply be captivated by a book without necessarily knowing why. It should be a subtle thing,” she says.
Marsdon describes good design as a perfect marriage between the raw materials of script and illustrations. While she makes decisions on the format, cover type and paper, she says the designer has the overall vision for the book and she chooses her free-lance designers depending on their skills.
“Children’s picture books, for instance, can be so different. One book might suit a cartoon style, while another might need to be a gorgeously beautiful book.”
The ‘invisibility’ of good book design is something that Book Design’s Kim Dovey agrees with and she says over-designing is a trap that inexperienced designers, or those not used to doing books can easily fall into.
“Unfortunately one of the reasons why good book design is not always given the recognition it is due is because it should be invisible. With a book the design has to travel all the way through without the sections or themes of something like an annual report. Sometimes simple is best with books.”
Does good book design cost more?
Dovey says good design will end up costing a bit more, but she believes it is well worth it in terms of boosting sales. Research is often needed to work out how to capture the look and feel of a particular time period, for instance, and good design also comes out of just plain old ‘thinking’ time rather than doing a rushed job. Once decisions are made about the overall look and tone of a book, things like colour palettes, typography, graphics and illustrations need to be considered.
Publisher Julia Marshall, of Gecko Press, agrees that good design will help sell a book and also give it a longer life. She believes the difference in cost between good design and poor design is minimal when compared to the costs of producing the book as a whole although she acknowledges that some areas of design can get expensive, especially cover design. One issue she singles out as being important is finding a good book designer, rather than someone who is simply a good graphic designer.
“There’s a very big difference between people who can design books and people who are graphic designers and who can do a brochure well. A lot of graphic designers don’t necessarily know about book typography. Understanding how type falls on the page is a huge art.
“For me good design is critical. Anyway, the saving in not using a designer would be so minimal that I wouldn’t see any reason to not use one,” says Marshall.
Where do authors and illustrators fit in with book design?
Traditionally even the most well-known of authors and illustrators have had very little involvement in design. After they hand over their work it is up to the publisher to steer the book through design and production stages.
But this approach may be slowly changing. Some designers are finding that authors and illustrators can make a significant contribution to the ideas they have for a book. “More and more we are connecting with illustrators and authors, though we certainly don’t do it for every book we do,” says Kim Dovey of Book Design. “We are doing an historical book at the moment and with the publisher’s permission went and spoke to the author after we had come up with some initial ideas. What we have got now compared to then is just so much more.”
An author who has always bucked the trend is Joy Cowley, who has designed hundreds of early reading titles and picture books, both her own and other author’s. “Since most of my work involves books for children learning to read, there is a particular focus on the way the book is put together. Every aspect must be for meaning and must help the emergent reader,” she says.
Cowley says when she started writing books in the early 1960s there were no such thing as book designers and she learned through her own interest in art and design. While she would never call herself a designer, she says she has learned a lot in nearly 50 years of writing for children and knows what makes a book work. She writes for publishers both here and overseas and says her involvement with a book varies.
“My experience is different to other authors, but here in New Zealand I am usually involved in the design of my books. Some of the American publishers work with me, while others prefer to take the text and present me with the finished product. “I have been disappointed with novels and picture books that have not had a designer and look as though they’ve been put together in a hurry by a committee. Occasionally I have pointed out to a publisher that it costs just as much to produce a poorly designed book as a good one.”
It’s about creativity too
While there are many writer-illustrator combinations in children’s publishing, one unusual team is illustrator Ali Teo who works with her designer partner John O’Reilly. “When we say book design I think about the entire product, not just the size of the font used and the number of pages. It’s the overall unit,” says O’Reilly.
He and Teo are in the fortunate position of being able to choose which projects they do and they won’t take on projects unless they have total control. Their aim is to make a perfectly integrated package – a book that’s so good that kids don’t ever want to throw it away, even when they’ve grown up.
Teo says the key for them is that they aren’t doing it for the money. “Where we are lucky is that we both have other jobs so that when we do a book it’s not for our bread and butter. It’s a chance to do something that’s beautiful. We are working very hard for what we get paid because we put a lot of time into each project.
“Our process is to sit down together and think how the book should work, the style of illustrations etc… We like to approach each script with a fresh set of eyes and we usually try something different.
Publishers often approach us looking for something like we have done before and we won’t necessarily do that. For us it’s about looking forward for the next cool thing and for them it’s often about looking back to what was cool last time,” she says.
Kim Dovey says in her experience publishers know what they like and tend to want to head in that direction. The trick is to pick up their ideas, understand what they want in terms of tone and where they see the market for the book, and then subtly move the design ideas a bit further on to something that’s new and fresh.
The booksellers’ eye Publishers taking a somewhat retrospective perspective is something that Christchurch Children’s Bookshop owner Shelia Sinclair knows about. “There’s often the ‘here we go again’ reaction to the books we get in because there are always lots of look-alikes once something’s been successful,” she says.
Teo says the key for them is that they aren’t doing it for the money. “Where we are lucky is that we both have other jobs so that when we do a book it’s not for our bread and butter. It’s a chance to do something that’s beautiful. We are working very hard for what we get paid because we put a lot of time into each project.
“Our process is to sit down together and think how the book should work, the style of illustrations etc… We like to approach each script with a fresh set of eyes and we usually try something different.
Publishers often approach us looking for something like we have done before and we won’t necessarily do that. For us it’s about looking forward for the next cool thing and for them it’s often about looking back to what was cool last time,” she says.
Kim Dovey says in her experience publishers know what they like and tend to want to head in that direction. The trick is to pick up their ideas, understand what they want in terms of tone and where they see the market for the book, and then subtly move the design ideas a bit further on to something that’s new and fresh.
The booksellers’ eye Publishers taking a somewhat retrospective perspective is something that Christchurch Children’s Bookshop owner Shelia Sinclair knows about. “There’s often the ‘here we go again’ reaction to the books we get in because there are always lots of look-alikes once something’s been successful,” she says.
Sinclair wishes New Zealand publishers would spend more time asking book-sellers what they think. She says she rarely gets asked her opinions on books, though some publishers are starting to realise they need to do more. One recently sent a few test jacket covers for comment which was ‘fantastic’.
“It is changing, but there is still a difference between New Zealand and overseas-published books. The New Zealand books are just not sharp enough overall, although a few of the latest ones are much better. I am very pleased to see these new design awards starting.”
And one thing is certain, she says. “Good design sells books.”
“It is changing, but there is still a difference between New Zealand and overseas-published books. The New Zealand books are just not sharp enough overall, although a few of the latest ones are much better. I am very pleased to see these new design awards starting.”
And one thing is certain, she says. “Good design sells books.”
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