This is where I’ll be sharing practical guides on design for print and publishing.
Most of what I know comes from doing the work: designing magazines, books and brands, and getting them through to the printer without surprises. A lot of that knowledge never gets written down, and some of it is getting lost as more work goes digital. This section is my attempt to fix that.
What you’ll find here
- Print production: litho versus digital, setting up artwork, bleed, colour profiles
- Print finishes: spot UV, foil blocking, embossing and when they’re worth it
- Book design: the anatomy of a book, front and back matter, running heads, footnotes and binding
- Images and file formats: resolution, and when to use JPEG, TIFF, SVG, WebP or AVIF
- Typography for print
- Using AI in design without losing print quality
Written for designers, authors, self-publishers and anyone who sends files to a printer.
In the meantime, the tools are here
If you’re working on a book now, these free tools may help:
- Book Page Calculator: estimate your page count from word count and format
- Spine Width Calculator: get the spine right before you design the cover
- Cover Size Calculator: full cover dimensions, including bleed
- Book Title Generator: title and subtitle ideas for your genre
- Book Planning Worksheet: keep the whole project in one place
Get new guides by email
New guides will go out by email first. No spam, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks,
Ben