The Australian Book Designer’s Survey 2018 (And why you should take part)
A post by ABDA member Mary Callahan (who instigated the survey idea originally) I’ve had hunches. Hunches about how hard freelance book designers work for often meagre rates. Hunches about how many of you are asked to produce huge numbers of concepts for a fixed fee. Hunches about how some of our beloved publishers could tighten up […]
The Dictionary Project
ABDA member, designer and Oxford University Press design manager Sue Dani takes us behind the scenes on this mammoth project, which was the winner of the Best Designed Scholarly and Reference Book category at the 2017 Australian Book Design Awards. More than 28 years after it was first published, it was time to design the second edition […]
The Hot Desk #2: morning routines of book designers
Let’s continue to peek into members’ work spaces and routines: today we hear from two freelance designers, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. Debra Billson Freelance designer, Melbourne My groundhog day proceeds as follows: 7.45–8.55 am: Get showered and dressed in proper pants (like a normal human being), then take my son to school. […]
ABDA Members’ Favourite Covers of 2017
It’s the festive season and with 2017 nearing its end, we asked ABDA members what their favourite covers of the year were and why. Regine Abos, Designer and Lecturer IGNI by Aaron Turner, design by Vaughan Mossop, photography by Julian Kingma In a market that’s filled with covers of celebrity chefs, sexy food shots, cute […]
The Bleeding Edge of Digital Publishing
James Morrison, better known as the creator of the Caustic Cover Critic blog, shares some of his eye-watering finds in the WTF world of digital publishing. When turning to the classics of literature, you are often spoilt for choice when it comes to which edition to buy. Perhaps you’ve never read Pride and Prejudice? In […]
A Brief Design History of ‘The Invisible War: A Tale on Two Scales’
A post by ABDA member Briony Barr What do you get when you cross a graphic-novel with an encyclopaedia, a WWI story with a work of science communication, the human scale with the microscopic … ? SOMETIMES TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION The Invisible War began as an idea to tell the story of a […]
Important Changes to the 2018 ABDA Awards
Every year, the ABDA committee get a variety of queries/requests/suggestions surrounding the awards and what could be improved or changed, from both members and non-members. There’s a significant amount of thought and discussion that takes place with each proposal that’s put forward, so in 2018 we’ve decided to roll out some of these changes that […]
Kenny Pittock, Book Sculptor
Kenny Pittock is a Melbourne based artist who works across a variety of mediums. He shares with us his process and the inspiration for his book sculptures, many of which have been presented to and signed by the authors. How did the idea of making book sculptures come about? What was the first one? The […]
Original Typography Showcase
Submissions are open for the next ABDA Showcase… this time we’re putting original typography under the microscope. We’d like to invite all ABDA members to submit cover and/or text designs that feature original typography created by you, the designer. This includes hand-drawn type and lettering, to digitally created typography. Entries close on Sunday 29 October, with the Showcase […]
The Hot Desk: morning routines of book designers
Introducing a new series and a fun way to get to know each other a little better. With ABDA being a made up of a variety of in-house and freelancer members who often don’t get to meet face-to-face, we asked a few designers if we could have a peek at their workspace and find out what […]
Q & A with Ozan Tortop
Ozan Tortop is a Brisbane-based designer who begun his career in advertising before making his way to the wonderful world of books, in particular children’s book design. He is the co-founder of TadaaBook, where he helps independent children’s authors bring their books to life. Did you mean to end up as a book designer? What was […]
The Making of ‘Lifespan of Starlight’
A post by ABDA member Josh Durham Winning the Best Designed Young Adult Book at the 2016 Australian Book Design Awards, Josh Durham, aka Design by Committee, takes us behind the scenes of the cover design and series look. Lifespan of Starlight is the first book in a three-part YA series about a time travelling […]