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A Thousand Tiny Details

Many people judge a book by its cover (and, as visual people, we can quite easily relate). Because of this fact the function of a book cover is only partially as the face of the product. Before it is product, however, the book’s cover functions as a sales tool. Whether the customer is browsing books on Amazon or in the local bookstore, the book cover functions as a marketing tool that sets it apart from competition and gives the potential buyer high expectations about the value of the content.

By contrast, a book interior is pure product and the value of its design can be seen immediately. A well designed interior adds not just to the ambiance of the page but also makes the very act of reading more pleasurable. A thousand details such as font type, letter kerning, line leading, border sizes, gutter widths, header & footer designs, rules, and illustrations make for a highly technical form of design. Measurements, proportions, and line weights challenge designers to create something beautiful by balancing all this multitude of details using a minimal number of tools and, often, a minimal palette. But, as is often the case, such challenges often lead to the most rewarding solutions.

Simple to Complex

Design Corps has provided both design of interiors and typesetting/page composition for a wide variety of books—from simple chapter books to complex Bibles, workbooks and devotionals. Below is a brief summary of the assortment of interiors we have done.

COMPLEX ONE COLOR INTERIORS
Bible interiors are a good example of complex interior design since they require multiple character and paragraph styles, headers, footnotes, chain references, as well as multiple components for specialty Bibles. Bibles with interiors designed by Design Corps include:
• The Concordia Study ESV Bible,
• The Concordia Study Apocrypha,
• The Legacy Bible (Zondervan),
• The Heritage Bible,
• The Latino Bible,
• The Renewing the Mind Bible,
• The A. W. Tozer Bible,
• The Serendipity Bible,
• The Teachers Bible,
• The MacArthur Study Bible

TWO COLOR INTERIORS
Design Corps has done multiple two-color Bibles. Color selection, duotone art production, and careful color management all lead to outstanding use of creativity. Sometimes this heightens the use of two inks to give the Bible a more full color feel. Other times it helps to tie specialty Bibles to their contributors’ published materials. Design Corps has done two-colored interiors for the following Bibles:
• The A. W. Tozer Bible,
• The Fire Bible for Kids (Life Publishers),
• Our Daily Bread Bible (Discovery House),
• The Apologetics Study Bible (Holman),
• The Hope Bible (Free Press),
• The Maxwell Leadership Bible revised (Thomas Nelson) and
• several speculative Bible products never developed.

FULL COLOR GIFTBOOK INTERIORS
Our gift book designs have used full-color to make every spread important to the product as the cover. The rich feel of the interior design helps create a luxurious ambiance in the overall experience of reading these books.

Balancing Great Creativity with Great Project Management

For over 15 years Design Corps has been involved in various forms of interior design. Each project has its own unique challenges and rewards. Design Corps’s strength lies in its right-brained/left-brained combination. We combine outstanding creative solutions — creating clear, attractive pages targeting specific audiences — with superior project management to get you technically well-built files on schedule and in budget.