Staff Picks—Embiggen Books Favourite Book Cover Designs
The latest in a series of interviews where we ask staff at bookstores to tell us about their favourite book designs. This month we hear from Warren Bonett at Embiggen Books, 197-203 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Fiction This is arguably the most competitive visual real estate in publishing. Fiction cover design frequently depends on whether the […]
Q & A with David Campbell
As Senior Designer at the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) David Campbell is surrounded by inspiration. Before landing this coveted role he was a freelance designer for twelve years, working with numerous galleries and arts organisations including ACMI, Melbourne Fringe and Voiceworks magazine. Did you mean to end up as a book designer? What was […]
Alison Forbes: a book design pioneer
Alison Forbes (1933–) was the first full-time independent book designer in Australia. In a pioneering career which paralleled the transformative period of Australian publishing, Forbes designed hundreds of titles. Her remarkable legacy can be seen today on the bookshelves of Australian homes, libraries and schools. In the third year of her illustration and design course at […]
Q & A with Gayna Murphy
Gayna Murphy is a versatile and award-winning designer who has worked across many areas of publishing including magazines, large format illustrated books, cookbooks, literary fiction and children’s books. She is currently senior designer at Bauer Media Books. Did you mean to end up as a book designer? What was your trajectory? I started out designing and art directing […]
Re:collection and Sun Books
A guest post by Dominic Hofstede A look at the history and art of Sun Books, the iconic Australian paperback publisher launched in 1965. In 2016 Warren Taylor and I undertook a Creative Fellowship with the State Library of Victoria (SLV). The Fellowship provides artists, scholars and designers with a unique and supportive environment in which to […]
How I mucked up Ickypedia
A blog post by Bruno Herfst about the making of Ickypedia. Bruno won the Best Designed Children’s Fiction Book at the 2016 ABDA awards for this work. WARNING: THIS IS A ONE-SIDED VIEW OF THE CREATION OF A BOOK. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, CAN YOU ASSUME THIS IS THE COMPLETE STORY. THERE WERE MANY IMPORTANT PEOPLE […]
The 2017 ABDA Awards President’s Report
The ABDA catalogue celebrates the books shortlisted in the 65th annual Australian Book Design Awards. Selected from 341 entries submitted across 16 categories, these designs are the cream of the crop of books published between 1 January and 31 December 2016. Judged by our formidable panel of designers and design lovers: Reg Abos, Murray Batten, […]
Staff Picks—Readings Bookstore Favourite Book Cover Designs
This is the first in an ongoing series of interviews where we ask staff at bookstores to tell us about their favourite book designs. This month we hear from staff at Readings Bookstores. Bronte Coates, Readings Digital Content Coordinator: My favourite book covers are tactile and bold, with clever references to the book’s interior. One […]
The Making of Begin, End, Begin
A blog post by Danielle Binks. A new anthology of #LoveOzYA short stories is being released in May by HarperCollins. Editor Danielle Binks runs us through how the concept and design for the cover came together. To understand the concept and brief for the cover of Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology, you have to […]
Diary of a Series Redesign
Allen & Unwin discuss the challenges and triumphs of redesigning the YA series The Hidden. In news just to hand: everybody in the entirety of the world judges books by their covers. That is what covers are for, to help the reader judge: What is this book and is it for me? The book cover […]
I took a holiday to the Melbourne Art Book Fair
A blog post by Garry Trinh The 2017 Melbourne Art Book Fair brought together over 200 established and emerging art publishers, artists, writers and designers for fifty diverse programs including free talks, workshops, book launches and performances. My holiday began at 4.30am, when I dragged 22kg of my self published photography books to Sydney airport […]
Q & A with Kim Lock
From the unique position of both an author and book designer, Kim Lock enjoys designing her own and other writer’s books. She’s been the lead designer for MidnightSun Publishing since 2013. Did you mean to end up as a book designer? What was your trajectory? I didn’t! I started in the art-room of a magazine […]