End to end House of Planners book design
Graphic Design
2023
is a comprehensive guide that explores the creative and functional potential of handwritten notes. Authored by Yak King Chuan, Yak Yih Shian, founder of House of Planners, the book delves into the historical and cultural aspects of note-taking, offering innovative layouts, practical tips, and techniques to transform simple notes into powerful tools for thinking and creativity.
In addition to the main content, the book includes a set of detachable note-taking tools designed to enhance the writing experience. These tools aim to revive the joy and experience of traditional handwriting, promoting it as an enduring practice even in the digital age.
Designing a book involves several critical steps to ensure it is visually appealing, functional, and aligned with the author's vision. The process begins with concept development, where the book’s genre, target audience, and overall style are defined. This stage establishes the tone and visual theme of the book. Following this, the content organization phase involves outlining the book’s structure, including chapters, sections, and appendices, and ensuring the manuscript is edited and proofread.
Once the content is organized, The cover design stage follows, where multiple drafts of the front, spine, and back cover are created, incorporating appropriate imagery, typography, and colors that reflect the book’s theme. After selecting the final cover design, attention shifts to the interior layout. This involves choosing the book’s trim size and page count and designing the interior layout, including typography, margins, line spacing, and alignment, as well as integrating elements like headers, footers, page numbers, and chapter titles.
next step, where the chosen typography is applied to the manuscript, ensuring readability through adjustments in kerning, leading, and tracking, while maintaining consistency in style and format throughout the book. Graphic elements such as illustrations, photographs, and charts are then designed and integrated to complement the text and enhance the reader’s experience.
Lastly, preparing the final design files for printing, ensuring they meet the printer’s specifications, and converting files to the appropriate format with necessary bleed, crop marks, and color profiles.The printing and binding stage involves selecting the paper type, printing method, and binding style, coordinating with the printer to ensure high-quality production, and approving a final proof before mass printing
