Go Go Logos

Logos continue to evolve apace in the mainly digital design world. Some attractive trends, some pretty ugly, as showcased here.

“Modern culture continues to shift the ways we interpret symbols and how we visually prioritize in context, setting topsy-turvy the relationship between identity and application. Greater credence has been given the attending visual vocabulary as texture, pattern, typography, photography and illustrative elements have shifted seats in the visual brand hierarchy. It’s becoming more common to see a brand driven by the supporting visual aesthetics, occasionally leaving the logo to call shotgun if it’s invited along for the ride at all.”

Troubled Times in East Timor — Cover Design

Michael Pert has written a taut, intelligent thriller based on Australia’s role in the troubled birth of East Timor. In the above draft cover, we blended images of Timor and a stark colour palette, and used the striking Franchise for the title typeface.

Uncle Sam is Your Type (supplier)

It seems like everyone is getting in on typefaces: Alibaba one day, the US Government the next. Public Sans is a multi-weight open source sans with a strong presence. Students of type design will notice Public Sans’ debt to Franklin, a seminal American type design.

Dear Diary — Book Cover

Victoria Argyropoulos composed a book of poetry (Dear Diary) exploring the nuances of a relationship. She wanted a fairly stark cover with a subtle texture. The book was interspersed with her own photographs and many solid panels. She was very pleased with the print job:

“Yesterday I received the proof of my novel and it looks incredible. I was honestly left speechless.”

We highly recommend the print management services of Tenderprint Australia. More news later re. the availability of this interesting volume.

It's the Gas, Gas, Gas — Book Cover Design

Dr. Harald Osel works in the global oil and gas industry and has written four remarkably detailed volumes on the industry he knows and loves. We designed covers for all four volumes of his magnum opus and typeset the text. Every aspect from exploration to extraction and transport is covered, along with issues of environmental preservation and clean energy. Published by Aurora Publishing. We maintained common design elements for al four covers and used images that reflected the topic covered by the specific volume. Typeface used on the covers: Proxima Nova (various weights and widths).

Rain — Book Cover Design

Mala Naidoo writes literary fiction — she prefers evocative, atmospheric cover images. For this collection of short stories. the composition we designed incorporated four images, including the barely visible hut in the woods (featured in one of her stories). The title typeface is Roman SD and the subtitle and author name use Essonnes.

Clients and You — A Practical Guide

A generously detailed look at running a creative practice and dealing with clients in a sane and fair way. Full of excellent tips on pricing, time management, project management, decision-making and the psychology of making a sale.

“Working with clients is hard, but—like any healthy relationship—it starts with a strong sense of self worth and confidence. Understand your value. That knowledge is power, so calculate it, know it, and communicate it. Protect your time. Screen potential clients. Set expectations for the relationship you want to have. Get comfortable with talking about money and the value you have to offer. Ask for it, then get it in writing. Rinse, repeat, and iterate.”

— Co.Design

Epic Fiction and Domestic Dramas — Book Cover Design

Thomas and Rose spans the globe and many decades, while Memoirs of a Stay at Home Dad charts the efforts of one dad to raise his children and deal with the changing roles of men. The Thomas and Rose cover uses the sharply cut and elegant Orpheus Pro for the title, and the Stay at Home Dad sports the rough and warm finesse of Five Boroughs.

Rubber Brain — Cover Design

A bright and cheerful cover for a book showcasing techniques for increasing mental productivity and resilience, and targeting tertiary students. The rubbery title typeface is Hamurz and the subtitle is Gilbert.

“In this book, five leading psychological educators show you simple tools derived from a wide range of solid science covering everything from positive psychology to goal setting, from mindfulness to CBT, and from emotional regulation to moral reasoning, to optimise your thinking.”

— from back cover blurb

Calling Creative Independents

Creatives often work in semi-isolation, even in the era of the Internet. The Creative Independent aims to provide an eclectic resource for artists and other creative people. Resources include interviews, practical advice for running a business, how to turn a creative idea into a career, avoid creative blockage etc. All clearly and unpretentiously written.

“The Creative Independent is a growing resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people. Our goal is to educate, inspire, and grow the community of people who create or dream of creating. The Creative Independent is ad-free and published by Kickstarter, PBC.”

— Creative Independent

Virtual Box Set — Cover Design

Some of the conventions of print live on in digital books ... for example bundled sets of books are often depicted as an actual box set of the printed kind. We set up the pictured box set for Peter Ralph, the successful author of numerous financial thrillers.

“I’ve been involved in business and business litigation for most of my life and my story-telling is coloured by the days and weeks I’ve spent in lawyers’ offices, barristers’ chambers and courts waiting for the wheels of justice to grind to a conclusion. I enjoy slightly changing the facts, adding a little more violence than actually took place and changing the names of the characters to protect the guilty to produce what are hopefully enthralling business themed suspense novels.”

— Peter Ralph

The Map is Not the Territory

National Geographic Magazine has just opened up an archive of thousands of its customised maps. Those of us who grew up with piles of yellow-edged National Geographic magazines will recall the intensely detailed and often very colourful maps covering the globe, nations and specific themes.

Australian Book Designers Association

There's an organisation for everything, even book designers. ABDA showcases the work of a group of designers with diverse approaches and workflows. It even organises awards, a few events and posts interviews with individual designers. Here's my interview from their archives.

Author Testimonial #8 — Cover Design

“The books came today....they look lovely. Thank you for helping with this project and for arranging the printing as well. It’s a very nice thing to see the cartoons so well presented, and for some reason, more satisfying than on the website....maybe because you can’t turn a book off! You’ve been very helpful and obliging....many thanks for that, and hopefully I will be back for Book 2 in due course.”

— Carolyn McMurtrie

Introducing the Illustrations of Pawel Nowacki

Pawel has illustrated several books with us now, with a range of subject matter. He has adapted well to every request and produces illustrations with personality and energy. Here's an introduction from Pawel:

"My name is Pawel (the Polish cognate  of Paul) and I’m a freelance illustrator based in Poznań, Poland. When I was a small boy, my father showed me a ballpen-made portrait — I've been drawing ever since. Being self-taught, I barely ever leave my pencil behind, wanting to be a better artist. Working almost my entire life in IT business has given me an interesting perspective on art, and at the same time equipped me with some skills that are helping me out with my art work. Coming from two such distant worlds is both advantage and a challenge which I take happily, having a great motivation from my family, especially from my beautiful wife Joanna.

I really enjoy black and white drawings. Book illustrations, comics and graphic novels were always something special for me. Being able to actually create book illustrations is like fulfilling my childhood dreams. This is also why I really enjoy working with Luke, for he is a professional, honest and friendly person, giving me the opportunity to do what I really love:)

If you are a book author and want to decorate your book with any kind of illustration I'm more than happy to help you. I always like to research the subject of the illustration to fit it best for authors idea. I usually do hand-drawn, pencil to paper sketches then scan and add some processing work on the computer with use of a graphic tablet. I always like to leave a hand-drawn feeling to the final effect. I can create book illustrations, portraits, caricatures, etc. but I stay open for any kind of drawing / art idea you might have!

You can have a look at some of my previous works on my portfolio archive at pawel-nowacki.tumblr.com/archive and also on my Instagram account: www.instagram.com/nowacki_pawel,  (user: nowacki_pawel)"

Author Testimonials #5

“I would strongly recommend you to anyone requiring this kind of service. I absolutely love it. Thank you so much. You are a genius.”

— Janet Doyle, author of "When Guido Fell"

Client Testimonials #3

““The final viscomm textbook looks really really nice. The manager here even said it’s one of the best looking books we’ve done, and that is in no small part due to your cover and text design, so thanks again for your impressive work and help on that.””

— Mark Cleary, Editor, Cambridge University Press

Images With a Yum Factor

An alternative to all the anodyne food images available at typical stock art libraries -- free photographs from www.foodiesfeed.com