Why Join ABDA

Become part of the Australian book design community, a community that connects people working in book design, along with emerging designers and design students who are interested in pursuing a career in this field. We are a community of passionate and energetic designers who care about what they create and endeavour to preserve its integrity.

ABDA aims to promote professional growth and development and provide engagement with the broader publishing community. Membership confirms your commitment to growing our industry and is designed to advocate for and celebrate the book design community in Australia, and to create opportunities for our community to network, learn and share ideas.

The ABDA website is focused on members and their work. Members can easily sign up, renew memberships online, build their profile and upload their own work, and choose areas of expertise and design styles. The goal is to act as a designer’s own mini website and be the primary go-to resource for all Australian book designers. Designers can maintain their portfolios and share their work with publishers. We encourage publishers to use this new resource as a way of finding the right designer for a particular brief.

Professional Membership: $80 per year

For professional Book Designers and Book Creatives (including illustrators, typographers, typesetters and photographers) living and working in Australia, to showcase their work. This membership supports members by showcasing and celebrating their work through the annual awards, online portfolios and access to Member-only discounts and events.

ABDA exists to serve its members. We encourage feedback and suggestions, please email us with ideas and feedback about events, blog posts or anything else you’d like to see more or less of.

Become a sponsor

ABDA offers a variety of sponsorship opportunities specific to the annual ABDA Awards which celebrate the best and brightest, and most original book design in Australia each year.

ABDA has built a diverse and engaged community. Its membership base resides predominantly on the eastern seaboard, is professionally trained and includes 70% freelancers. Book designers represent an agile, responsive workforce and, as well as specialising in book and print design, often work across a broad range of design fields. They are skilled, connected and in touch.

Over the past 12 years ABDA has grown from a fledgling group of book designers to a thriving community of more than 5000 people. Members are primarily based in Australia, aged 25-60 and include designers, publishers, typesetters, photographers, and illustrators. We connect with designers through our EDM, social media and a series of events throughout the year including the annual book design awards..

Established 74 years ago, it is the oldest book design awards globally.
Originally hosted by the Australian Publishers Association, it is now independent.
Aims to support Australian book designers and connect them with the publishing community.
Provides a network for professionals and fosters emerging talent through events and workshops.

Our followers are engaged and passionate, and primarily based in Australia. Members work across a slew of different industries, not limited to books and publishing. Similarly our membership is diverse and also includes representatives from publishers, typesetters. photographers, illustrators, printers, digital media and pre-press houses.

We have built lasting relationships with other organisations such as the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the Australian Graphic Designer’s Association (AGDA) as well as partnered on events and workshops with cultural bodies such as the Indigenous Literacy Fund (ILF), National Gallery of Victoria, State Library of Victoria, State Library of NSW, and many other smaller arts businesses, like the Jacky Winter Group and Smith Street Books.

Why become an ABDA Sponsor?

Packages suit any budget, offering a number of benefits and incentives to make sure our sponsors get the most value out of their relationship with ABDA.

They are designed to support and promote the annual Awards whilst helping your business achieve additional visibility and connection with our engaged design community.

ABDA offers various sponsorship packages for the annual awards.

Packages range from $250 (Copper) to $5000 (Platinum)
Platinum sponsors receive naming rights for major awards and premium promotional acknowledgment. There are limited allocations of this sponsorship package
Gold and Silver packages offer naming rights for general categories and tiered acknowledgments
All tiers offer member prices for Awards book entries and complimentary award ceremony invitations
In-kind sponsorships are also welcomed for services rendered such as artwork produced for marketing collateral, printing and production discounts and venue sponsorship

If you would like to request more information. please contact Cate Lapham, Sponsorship Manager, via manager@abda.com.au