There are a lot of things that can make a book unreadable: the content, the prose, the plot holes. The list could go on and on. For me, nothing makes a book more difficult to read than badly justified type.
Design
You Know You’re Just My Typeface (Or Is It Font?)
By Bayley McComb @tweetsthings
A few typographical terms still in use today have historical origins. As technology and the practice of digital font creation have advanced, some terms have been replaced by their digital counterparts in conversations surrounding graphic design.
Five Important Lessons We Learned from Freelancing
By Adrian Burke & Jenny Kimura
Do you like making your own schedule and choosing your own projects? Are you someone who doesn’t mind being home all day and is probably also a night owl? Chances are you’ve thought about being a freelancer, perhaps for design, editing, or marketing. The publishing world, like many other industries, is increasingly relying on outsourcing […]
Big Logos, Big Business: Breaking Down Logo Design in Publishing’s Big Five
By Melinda Jasmine Crouchley
Book publishing is a centuries-old tradition, so the logos and brands have been slightly updated over time to reflect current marketing and branding trends. But are publishers doing enough to keep their symbols fresh, relatable, and contextual for modern readers?
Nonlinear Narratives: Using Unusual Formats to Tell a Different Kind of Story
By Jenny Kimura
Sometimes when a story breaks the traditional rules—by, for example, skipping around in time or being told by more than one narrator—the conventional layout of a book interior is not enough: visual design is necessary to help it make sense.
Different Places, Different Faces: Book Covers in the US and the UK
By Meagan Nolan
As the cover of a book communicates to the potential reader what lies within, many conventions have emerged to highlight certain genres, such as an old photograph that promises a memoir, or a shirtless muscular man that promises a romance novel. To investigate further, we’ll look at four popular books sold in both the US and the UK and see what each cover has to say about the same story.