Our client seasons woks for lovers of Chinese cooking and sells them online. "There should only be one wok you need for the best Asian cooking results, and that is a professionally seasoned wok. All traditional Chinese restaurants use seasoned woks." We designed several options involving the shape of the wok and colours associated with heat and Chinese cuisine. The current header choice is very bold and bright.
High Caffeine Book Cover
Ilinda Brunner's "Coffee Lovers" is a lyrical book about memory, freedom and of course, coffee. We wanted the cover to capture the playful, often whimsical tone of the novel. Elements of the story peek out through the painterly lettering.
The Brave New World of the Sharing Economy
Benjamen Walker's podcast "The Theory of Everything" investigates the new world being shaped by the big tech companies. A recent series of three podcasts (instaserfs) looked at what Walker calls the "On-Demand Economy", a development more advanced in the US than elsewhere. An associate of Walker attempts to live by working for Uber, Lyft, Manservant and other online services. He finds working without rights, for very little money and constantly hurried along by staff-facing apps to be a stressful affair. The lack of empathy shown by most of the companies in this space for those who actually provide the service is quite striking. A sobering corrective to the usual line that the customer experience is all important.
Book Reviewed by Local Bookstore
Not only did my book Goldenscale find a congenial home at the lovely Eltham Bookstore, it has now been the subject of a kind staff review:
“Golden Scale by Luke Harris
Beth Ormonde lives with her small family, goes to school and has the usual pesky brother, caring friends and bullying foes. She is, however, afraid of the darkness beneath her house. Lurking below, unknown to all but Beth, a disembodied voice calls to her, pulling her near. As the ancient and rumbling creature begins to slowly awaken, Beth discovers within herself a courage she had not known. This a story filled with hair raising twists and turns, chuckling humour and small town characters, reaches back into the ancient history of the land on which we live. This book will linger in your memory for a long tome after you finish the last page.”
Your Book on a Banner
If you are planning to sell your book at places other than bookstores, you might want to consider a portable display banner to attract attention. Lightweight, retractable banners are widely available and with designs printed in full colour at high resolution, they can be quite striking. Prices are low and preparation of artwork (a service offered by WorkingType) is usually similarly inexpensive. The banner shown below this post features "The Sunny Side of the Street" by Maria Stefanidis.
Stories From the Wild Side of Strata Title — Book Cover
Those who manage multi-residence properties encounter many strange and challenging residents. Stephen Raff has assembled the stories of a few of his personal favourites. From pig raising in flats to crocodiles in pools, Strata Living Stories features entertaining colour illustrations and some head-scratching behaviour. We embraced the comic strip character of the illustrations for the cover and gave it a lurid, tabloid feel to match the weirdness of much of the behaviour showcased therein.
A Special Part of the World — Book Cover
Ann Gillespie has conjured up a colonial-era property called Bel Endroit. A place where men and women can be at piece from whatever besets them in the external world. Our cover depicts a bucolic viticultural landscape with a contemplative woman in the middle distance. Title typeset in Yana Swash Caps, author name in Trajan Sans. We also designed the cover for Ann's previous title Isabelle some years earlier.
In a Bookstore Now — My Own Little Book
Having printed a few dozen copies (props to Tenderprint of Melbourne for an excellent job) of my Young Adult fantasy novel Goldenscale, I have been fortunate enough to get it into the wonderful Eltham bookstore. The proprietor Meera Govil read it before taking a few copies and has been a very generous booster for it since. Even if Goldenscale goes no further (it is available on Amazon also as an ebook and print on demand, and for borrowing at Yarra Plenty Libraries), the thrill of seeing one's own book on display is definitely a special one!
Sacred and Profane — Two Recent Book Covers
Two very different design projects: a Jesuit book of prayer and reflection, and a thriller set in the deserts of Western Australia. One where nature is a threat, the other where it is a form of inspiration.
Typography for Lawyers (and everyone else)
Matthew Butterick set out to school lawyers in presenting their printed and online material in the most readable, transparent way possible. That online campaign has morphed into a body of advice applicable to all who want their message to assisted rather than impeded by their use of type, white space and other elements of design. Butterick has even designed typefaces for use in legal and other high information content contexts. When Erik Spiekermann is on board, you know his approach and advice is solid. Highly recommended.
A Monument (Valley) to Beautiful Design
Monument Valley (available on iPhone and Android) manages the rare feat of combining enjoyable play with a beautiful dreamlike aesthetic (with obvious nods to the impossible architecture of Escher). Combined with eerie music and a silly but enjoyable backstory, the game is great fun for children and adults alike.
An Unlikely Hero — Cover Design
Dudley Sims is an unassuming man catapulted into a key role in resisting a rapacious land developer. His escapades and love interests are chronicled in The Confessions of Dudley Sims by Brian Smith. We wanted to capture the feel of the riverine landscape he defends in the story – the murky but beautiful Yarra River. Along the base of the cover parades a low-key protest, complete with dog.
From Ireland to Australia — Book Cover Design
Our client wanted to dramatise the great change in circumstances experienced by her family when they emigrated from a mansion in Ireland to a rather more modest in rural NSW. We selected a hand-drawn typeface and ghosted an image of the Irish mansion behind the children making the most of their new home.
Select any text on any website — Project Naptha
This interesting Chrome browser extension attempts to liberate text in images on websites. It can "highlight as well as copy and paste and even edit and translate the text formerly trapped within an image". Modern web designers tend to leave as much text "live" (and therefore available for search indexing) as possible, but in all other cases, Project Naptha might save users from having to retype text. It has robust handwriting recognition and is also good at character recognition against busy backgrounds.
Word in a Browser
'Free' and 'Microsoft' were once words rarely uttered in the same sentence. Today, no longer ascendant and under pressure from Google's free browser-based text and spreadsheet editors, Microsoft offers its signature word processing and spreadsheet products in browser form, at a price of $0.00 (for personal use). The browser-based offerings are not as fully featured as the non-free desktop versions, but they are at least as good as Google's alternative. And surprisingly for anyone used to the ugliness of pre-cloud Microsoft interfaces, the portal is very clean, minimal and attractive.
Wheel Life Stories — Book Cover
Our client, author and historian Ben Schofield, interviewed veteran cyclists about their experiences on tracks and the road in Melbourne during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of these cyclists were world class and helped make Australia a major power in cycling. Title set in Dynalight and subtitle and author name in Vitesse.
Search Engine for Copyright free images
This free service allows users to search large public image libraries (such as Flickr, or Wikimedia Commons) for images tagged for commercial use or adaptation. Very clean interface and simple to use. However, as the home page warns "Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license. You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link."
Marlborough Blues — cover design
Carl Hancock has written a moving tale of a boy sent to a English boarding school and beset by cruel bullies. His intelligence and athleticism are not enough to save him from a scarifying series of experiences. We wanted to capture that feeling of hopelessness but also a strong sense of resilience. The protagonist pauses to catch his breath somewhere on the school grounds, perhaps about to run, perhaps about to stand and fight. The title is set in Requiem and Trajan Sans. Available on Amazon.
Microstock Photography is a Hard Way to Make a Living
An interesting article detailing the thinking behind the very successful microstock photography service Shutterstock. Submitting artists find it surprisingly hard to get into, which is great for users (most stock art sites could do with a much higher bar to entry). The most successful photographers and artists on Shutterstock reputedly earn six figure incomes, but keeping up with the image search zeitgeist must be a somewhat stressful way to earn a living.
Jessica Hische — a one woman design industry
Jessica Hische is almost a brand unto herself in the design world. Blessed with obvious talent and taste, she works on high profile design assignments, but also maintains a raft of often amusing side projects. Examples of her work can be seen here,here, here and here. She is a key part of the recent revival of interest in the lush, layered type design sometimes seen in 19th Century advertising art.