Q & A with Luke Harris
We’re delighted to bring you our first member Q&A of 2017. Luke Harris has been a graphic designer for over 20 years and is currently the director of WorkingType studio. He’s also a self proclaimed bibliophile, wannabe author and artist. Did you mean to end up as a book designer? What was your trajectory? I […]
In The Picture: Book Designers on, and in, their books.
A blog post by ABDA member Mark Campbell It’s common knowledge that designers are not usually drawn to the limelight; the lens of a camera, the sound of voices amplified or even the very sight of a lecturn produces pools of sweat in parts of our bodies we didn’t even know we could sweat. As […]
Meet The Judges — The Australian Book Design Awards 2017
The ABDA committee is pleased to announce the judges of the 2017 awards. With experience across a wide range of publishing, design, academic and media platforms, we’re thrilled to have them on board to uncover the best and brightest, most original and beautiful designs of the last year. DAN WAGSTAFF is Publicity and Marketing […]
Studio Space for Rent in Richmond Victoria
Light and bright studio space available in Dover Street, Richmond, Victoria. We are looking for a creative (Designer or similar) to share with 6 others in a converted 1950s factory-warehouse space. It’s a stunning room with 8 metre high saw-tooth roof, lots of natural light, close to cafes, Swan Street and Richmond train station. There […]
Take Cover — Jon Gray on Book Design
The amazingly talented Jon Gray of Gray 318 visited our shores in September last year and we were fortunate enough to have him as a guest speaker for an ABDA partnership event with The Wheeler Centre. Here’s the video… Save Save Save Save Save Save
ABDA Members Favourite Covers of 2016
It’s the holiday season and with 2016 nearing its end we asked ABDA members what their favourite covers of year were and why. Here are their responses — Rob Klinkhamer Freelance Book Designer Spritz — Italy’s Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, with Recipes By Talia Baiocchi and Leslie Pariseau, design by Margaux Keres and illustrated […]
Images and Influence
A post by ABDA member Peter Long “But what kind of a cover should go on a book about flying saucers? At the outset, there was no consensus as to what the saucers even actually looked like: they were described as blinking lights, purple blobs, flying wings, boomerangs, shiny metal balls, floating kerosene lamps, pie […]
The Making of Hot Little Hands
A post by ABDA member Laura Thomas When I was initially briefed for the cover of Abigail Ulman’s excellent short story collection Hot Little Hands, the notes from the publisher included: “Girls meets Tales of the City – an utterly fresh, insightful and pitch-perfect set of tales about young women coming to terms with (or failing to […]
The Colour of the Sky at Sunrise: A Book Designer on the Road
A post by ABDA member Phil Campbell As a book designer you spend a lot of time at your desk. You might get up for a coffee or a bite of lunch occasionally and sometimes your arm gets some exercise if you are scanning a stack of images or opening the exciting brown paper satchels […]
Local Knowledge: Covers Customised for the Australian Market
A post by ABDA member W.H. Chong So a publisher wants to remake an overseas book cover for Australian shops. What are they thinking? What are the designers thinking? Why is a cover good for one place but not another? Australian designers reveal the local knowledge behind the makeovers. A Wolf at the Table […]
First Impressions
Each year, first-year Visual Communication students from the University of Technology Sydney are briefed to design a series of B-format book covers. Students choose a set of books from one of three literary genres: popular science, postcolonial fiction or science fiction. The brief includes three books in each set (which change annually to avoid feedback-fatigue […]
Re-designing History
A post by ABDA member Peter Long When I was a graphic design student at Swinburne in the early 1980s, I spent a lot of time in the library. I don’t know where everyone else was, but I was in the library. They had lots of old Graphis Annuals stretching back through the seventies, even […]