Booknotes, NZ / Autumn 2003
The Author’s Silent Partner
A past judge
of the Spectrum Print Book Design Awards referred to book designers
as the author’s silent
partner. So too for the general reader, whose reading pleasure can be
enhanced or marred by the designer’s work. But what is it that
a good book designer does to assist the author and reader?
Sarah Maxey, who runs her own
design company specialising in book design, explains the process she goes
through with a new book. “I first read the manuscript and then come
up with some ideas and prepare a mockup. This may include doing or commissioning
an illustration or a photograph for the cover, or it might be a typography-only
cover. I also decide on the typeface, colour, printing stock and method,
finishing, binding and format of the book. All these decisions are made
with content, audience and budget in mind. My main challenge is to produce
good-looking design that is fresh and innovative while remaining true
to the content of the book.”
Catherine Griffiths of Epitome
Typography and Design, concurs with Sarah. “My work is a response to the content.
In allowing the content to shape what I create, and encouraging a situation
where the client is willing to hand over the creative thinking based on
mutual trust and respect, the process becomes almost intuitive and natural,
based on a well-developed set of skills.” And the greatest challenge
of her job? “Ultimately, the challenge is to myself—to be
sure I will feel good about the work in years to come.”
Julie Williamson has been a
book designer in New Zealand and England and is currently lecturing
in Typography at the Massey University School of Design and Fine Arts
in Wellington. For her the challenge is for the design
“to enhance the reader’s experience, add something to the
book and invite the reader to pick it up.”
What are the key elements of
good book design? For Catherine it is critical to have a publisher
who recognises and wants well-crafted books. “The
publisher should insist on employing a book designer/typographer whose
skills and thinking will produce a book worthy of the author’s writing
and their ideas. All the parts that form a book, from the written word
to the finishing and binding, are critical. The book should be a finely
designed object, however simple or complex”.
So does the New Zealand publishing
industry give sufficient recognition to book designers? Catherine feels
that. “ … some publishers
do, and some do in part, but most book design is ordinary. The ordinariness
of book design is so prevalent that nothing more is expected. The book
designer’s role at a skillful level simply isn’t recognised
in the way it could and should be. Until the desire for good book design
is expected, the book designer will continue to be a minor player in
the publishing industry. Julie suggests that publishers need to have
more faith in designers and allow them greater creative freedom. In her
role as a judge of the 2000 Spectrum Print Book Design Awards Julie wrote,
Publishers must not rely on the tried and true but also constantly reassess
their beliefs on how design can best serve a title. Designers should
be given the right brief and space to achieve this.
The most public way the publishing
industry recognises its designers are the Spectrum Print Book Design
Awards, administered by The Book Publishers Association of New Zealand
(BPANZ). However the announcement of the Spectrum Print Awards co-incides
with the much higher-profile Montana Book Awards and consequently they
receive little media coverage. Awards for Best Book, Best Cover, Best
Typography and Best Use of Illustration are given. The judges look
for ‘design appropriate to its purpose and audience;
that shows flair, imagination, innovation and creative problem solving.’
Sarah has been a consistent winner at the Spectrum Print Awards, including being the 2002 joint winner of the Best Cover category for Brian Turner’s book of poems, Taking Off. She says, “The Awards are valuable and I’m glad they exist, but I’m a little dismayed by the lack of publicity they receive.” Catherine has also won Spectrum Awards, most recently in 2001 with a Highly Commended Best Cover for Looking for the Local: Architecture and the New Zealand Modern by Justine Clark and Paul Walker. She too is disappointed in the lack of profile. “The Awards have the potential to be very valuable. They need to be widely publicised before and after, and not only with in the design industry, but nationally. Fashion design, for example, has earned a much stronger profile, now that it has been recognised for its export value by the government, but not without years of hard work by passionate and talented individuals.” Julie, also a past Spectrum Print winner and a judge of the 2000 Awards commented, “It is a shame the Awards are not better known outside the design industry itself. They were timed to ‘ride on the back’ of the Montana Book Awards but this has not happened.”
And the future of New Zealand book design? Julie is optimistic. Over the last decade she has observed a growing awareness of good design in the general community, particularly as more people have access to computer technology. She believes that the quality of book design has improved and that it will continue to do so. Catherine is more cautious about the future but hopes that “ … we book designers can encourage a wider appreciation here in New Zealand, by continuing to work in the way that is important to us. Authors and readers appreciate beautiful books.”
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