Inspiration: Barnaby Whitfield

Colorful, ruddy, and concupiscent! See more work from Barnaby Whitfield  here.

Austin Publishing University presentation

I lugged a projector, handouts, a box full of books, and a laptop out to BookPeople in 100-degree heat this past Sunday to do a presentation on book cover design as part of the Austin Publishing University series (APU). I had a great time presenting to and chatting with Austin writers, designers, and book aficionados. Who knew public speaking could actually be fun? (And what's up with the word 'dongle'?)

There will be two more APU presentations in August. These will focus specifically on book marketing. To find out more, visit any of these links:

Greenleaf Book Group website
 APU Facebook fan page
 BookPeople website

Below is my PowerPoint presentation. It's pretty self-explanatory. Lots of Seth Godin! Highlights include my theory as to why some ugly books sell so well, what it means to fit in yet stand out in your genre, suggestions for soliciting opinions about your cover from others, and the most effective way to give designers feedback. Oh, and you don't want to miss the phallic vegan cookbook cover (slide #51)!

 

Yoga, yoga, yoga

For the last few weeks I have been immersed in the layout of a series of 4 yoga books, artfully (I hope!) arranging gorgeous anatomy images with their captions. As I was completing an anatomy section which shows among other things the muscles, tendons, and bones of the hands; I was reminded of a recent NPR story about how human hands differ from other primates'. Check it out here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128676181

Below are a spread from the yoga book and an image from the NPR story. Do you ever find yourself geeking out over anatomy or other scientific topics?

photo by Maggie Starbard/NPR

Designers respond to disaster II: T-shirt design contest for Gulf Future

My co-workers and I decided to enter the H.O.P.E. (www.hopecampaign.org) T-shirt contest to contribute to Gulf Future. Gulf Future (www.gulffuture.org) is a "collaborative effort to raise awareness and increase public support for the communities along the Gulf coast affected by the BP oil drilling disaster. This campaign is the brainchild of the Gulf Coast Fund and the Gulf Restoration Network."

Our plan is to create the designs, upload them to the Design by Hümans website (www.designbyhumans.com) and then have a get-together to print up some for ourselves.

I'm really interested in crowdsourcing and how creatives can help social causes with their talent. Do you know of any other worthy efforts that designers can get involved with?

"i made a dream" by kharmazero