WE KNEW MEMOIRS
BOOK DESIGN
HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY
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CLIENT
CSPS, General Publications
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ROLES
art director | designer | compositor
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DESCRIPTION
We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Volumes I & II
Nous Avons Connu Mary Baker Eddy,
Tome I (French translation)
2 volume hard cover 3 piece case-bound with foil stamp, printed book, 6x9, 639+ pages,
138+ photos, audio disc, eBook
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This two volume book contains a series of first-hand accounts from individuals who knew Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. The design was created to be authentic, yet be appealing, with an approachable modern appearance.
Preliminary to the start of the design work, our cross-functional team talked about the qualities that we wanted the books to present: a “journal-like” appearance, as many of the reminiscences were originally handwritten. With this design, I was able to create a historic sensibility. The composition is modern and up-to-date, but classic. Authenticity was key to the design. The book has a warm and inviting character, one that is approachable and of high quality. I selected typefaces that are easy to read. Overall, the books have a nice feel in the hand.
My goal was to design a very readable and consistent tone throughout. It was challenging to find a typeface which was traditional, yet modern. The font size and spacing was important to consider, since this was a recurring comment from our customers. The intent of the belly-band was to show off the 3-piece cover, while providing a place for informational and marketing copy on the outside of the book.
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When the project was first developed, we knew that there would be different formats and possible translations. Audio recordings were already in motion with the original manuscript. Audio books are generally released as CDs, requiring packaging design, as well as digital downloads. Properly formatted and tagged files within InDesign were essential for the workflow. I created different formats of the books for digital eBooks and exported the files for translation setup.
RECOGNITION
Volume I received a "Best In Category" award in the 55th Annual New England Book Show. Due to the overwhelming interest and success in these books, I got to create the new French translation of Volume I with Volume II currently in the translation process.
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