Category: Design

Since that puzzle book I mentioned earlier (math, design) has now been printed and should be appearing in stores, I figure it’s time to post some pages of it here, for your viewing pleasure.

What I started with

A very complex manuscript overflowing with cartoony illustrations (none of which are shown in these samples), line drawings supplied as Word art, equations, and notes to the typesetter, e.g., “Start light red background,” “Set in Bible font,” “Set in e-mail font,” etc. Also, a reasonably high-res comp of the cover, which uses ransom-note typography for the title, a very staid sans serif for the author’s name, and a photo of a tangled ball of colorful wire.
Continue reading “Puzzling Samples” →

So yesterday afternoon I submitted sample pages for that puzzle book, and today I received an e-mail from the publisher saying the “design is drop-dead gorgeous . . . I think it’s lovely.” The author hasn’t seen it, though, and I had some queries about structural issues, so there may yet be changes. But I’ll post some samples eventually.

(It is perhaps appropriate to note at this point that as a designer of book interiors, I am totally in love with Amazon’s “Look/Search Inside the Book” feature, and I’m sure I’ll soon be just as enamored of Google Print. Why? Because each of these services makes it easier for me to find work I’ve done, even if I can’t remember that I did it. Copyright pages are almost always scanned, and that’s where my credit lines go; also, acknowledgment pages tend to get scanned, for those never-too-frequent occasions when one actually gets thanked in print.)

Update, 11/17: Confirmed: “design is way approved!”