6/14/2006 1:05:00 PM Brewster’s book designs lend elegance to mere words
Valerie Brewster, freelance book designer, has worked on books for publishers all over the country including a bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a National Book Award book of poetry. – Photo by Kathie Meyer
In the shadows of every publishing house are the book designers. Rarely do readers ever realize their existence.
Valerie Brewster, a freelance book designer living in Port Townsend, is OK with that. While she is best known around town as one of Copper Canyon Press’ designers, she also designs books for other publishers all over the country and for authors who self-publish. She is the graphic artist for the publication Art Guide too.
Of the many books she’s worked on, one, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins, made it to the bestseller list. Copper Canyon’s books Delights and Shadows by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser and Migration by W.S. Merwin won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, respectively. Previously, Ruth Stone’s In the Next Galaxy won the National Book Award too.
Of those awards, Brewster said, “Even though I’m just a book designer – mostly invisible – it’s really exciting.”
Cover images
When beginning a project, Brewster is often given a concept of what the publisher and author wish to convey. Rarely does she pick out the cover image. Sometimes a publisher, such as Rum and Reggae, with which Brewster also works, has an in-house illustrator whose cover art is used on each book in a travel series, for consistency. It’s often Brewster’s job to merge the art and cover text in a pleasing manner.
“Covers are complex because so many different people have an interest in them. Depending on the publishing company, different people [such as marketing staff and the author] have power about the covers.
“The truth of it is that no one really knows what makes a good cover. There is no stock formula. Why does a book sell? I don’t think anyone really knows the answer to that.”
The pages inside
Publishers might also have a set of stock designs for the interior, as is often the case with textbooks, but every book does need to be designed because “somebody’s got to make choices,” said Brewster.
Of course, it’s most fun when Brewster is given artistic freedom, and Copper Canyon Press has been a good match for her. “Copper Canyon gives me a lot of freedom to do what I like and they appreciate the same kinds of things that I do. And I get to read poetry all the time,” she said.
“A lot of people don’t even realize that anything happens inside. Part of it is the nature of the beast. When you’re doing a good job on the interior, your reader goes into a trance and they don’t even see that it’s there. With a good interior, the designer is invisible. When an interior draws too much attention to itself, the reader notices it more and it’s distracting.
“Every book is different, and part of what I do is read the book and try to hear the voice of the author and choose typeface which has that flavor. It’s a subtle thing. I think people are aware of it even though they don’t know they’re aware of it. I think people respond [to a good design] and feel that harmony when it’s there.”
200,000 fonts
Brewster recalls a quote she saw that claims “Fonts are the sushi of the ’90s.” She explains that once computers became an integral part of people’s lives, they became aware of the many choices beyond “Times New Roman” and “Courier.” Designers themselves are hyper-aware of fonts, noticing them in every little thing.
“I used to be able to play a little game when I went to the movies where I could pretty much name the fonts in the credits. It’s getting harder and harder to do because there are so many fonts [now].
“One that’s driving me crazy and other designers I know is the font ‘Papyrus.’ It has become the universal font to say ‘Asian.’ A lot of Asian restaurants use Papyrus. Four galleries use it in the Art Guide. “All of a sudden you start to be aware of it and you notice it’s everywhere.”
Serif or sans serif?
Ask Brewster about the use of serif typeface – those that use small details at the end of the stroke – as opposed to sans serif – those that appear unadorned and block-like, and she says it’s like asking “paper or plastic?”
“I don’t think there is a clear answer. I certainly prefer a serif typeface. I wouldn’t want to read a sans serif typeface for very long. There’s a reason for serif. It helps move our eye from page to page. We don’t read character by character, we read in globs, and the serifs help our eyes connect one shape to the other. They help you form a block of the words.
“Serif type tends to look a little more traditional, and sans serif looks a little more modern. Sans serif gives a book an ‘edgier’ feeling and is often associated with art books.”
More than fonts
There is more to book design than choosing a font or two. “Page geometry” is also involved.
Page geometry is how the type block sits in the page. “I really like to work from a very traditional model and I love to play with traditional proportions,” said Brewster.
“The most common size of a book is 6 inches by 9 inches. And everyone loves the Golden Section or Mean, because that’s the classic proportions from the Renaissance. It looks beautiful, but unfortunately it doesn’t leave very much type on the page on a 6-by-9 book. What happens on a 6-by-9 book is that I tend to use different proportions, usually the proportions of a pentagon or hexagon. These determine the ratio of the width to the height of the page. Your eye responds to the difference between the two proportions – the proportions of the book itself and the proportions of the type block. I love to play around with it. Proportions are in so many things in life. Nature uses proportions all the time.
“There’s a relationship between the size of the type and the length of the line. If you have a really long ‘measure,’ or column width, you can’t have tiny type go all the way across the page; it becomes fatiguing. Similarly, if you have a short measure and your type is really large, you end up with gazillions of hyphens and big gaps.” Conversely, when designing a big book, designers often leave wide margins, explained Brewster.
Patience required
Brewster built her business bit by bit over the years. She went to college and majored in English but found herself working in publishing early on.
“I’ve always been interested in type. After college, I took calligraphy from the California College of Arts and Crafts and I worked for commercial typesetting houses that don’t exist anymore [because of computing]. I learned a lot about typefaces and typography that way.”
While one can go to school for book design, Brewster said, “I didn’t go to school; I went to work.” Like a lot of jobs, she’s noticing that publishers, especially in the textbook divisions, are outsourcing to foreign countries to save labor costs.
To keep her business flowing, she seeks out publishers and shows them her portfolio. Many years ago, she put a bug in the ear of Michael Wiegers, managing editor of Copper Canyon, and it took awhile before he gave her a contract. Now she designs about eight titles a year for the poetry publisher.
“To me, it’s a lot about personal relationships. I try to establish long-term relationships with my clients. The book life cycle is really long. It can take nine months from the day that you sign on to design a book to the day that it comes out,” she said.
“When the author is happy with the book, to me that’s the best. Think about what it is for the author – it’s their heart and soul usually.”
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