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Interior Art: Helping Tell the Story

Adding Continuity to Communication

Albert Einstein said, “Information is not knowledge.” As anyone knows who has had to read a paragraph twice or who has been lost in the midst of an assortment of facts and figures, words are sometimes not enough to convey meaning. Often what is needed is an image. That is why—along with cover design, interior design, and page composition—Design Corps also offers interior graphics that are uniquely crafted for the style and voice of your book.

Both partners at Design Corps come from a background of taking complex information and molding it into a more simple and understandable form. Dan van Loon grew up learning the art of technical illustration from his father who was a technical illustrator. John Wollinka once worked for the University of Florida producing maps, graphs, and illustrations for professors and graduate students. And today both partners are still turning information into communication.

Design Corps is often asked to produce art for book interiors. As with any form of communication, a book works best when it speaks with a single consistent voice. So when we produce interior art we strive to give it  continuity, consistency, clarity, and craftsmanship:
• continuity with the branding of the author/organization,
• consistency with the look and style of the design of the book’s cover and interior;
• clarity in the conveying all information with readability, simplicity, and accuracy;
• and craftsmanship in its aesthetic refinement and quality.

Charts & Graphs

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Even when we don’t do the cover of a book ourselves, the interior should feel as if it has a single look and feel that it shares with the cover. Therefore the existing cover is always for us the first guide which we use for all subsequent art. The other guide is designing to help the reader navigate through the text. The final design guide is, of course, to make all art look as aesthetic and appropriate as possible.

Illustrations

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Illustration has been used to add value to books since at least the time of the illuminated manuscripts. In the 15th century woodcut illustrations caught on and quickly became popular. Our illustrations today are more humble but can be just as beneficial to your manuscript.

Tables

Whether working in Adobe Illustrator or in Adobe In Design, Design Corps seeks to design data that can pick up styles within the book and be duplicated throughout. Using character and paragraph styles speeds up this process and ensures a consistent application of all styles for a unified look throughout the book.

Special Section Page Art

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Section pages and chapter intro pages are important visual elements in a book. We try to use these as opportunities to give extra visual “punch” to the interior design.
A book is more than just the sum of its parts. From graphs and charts, to icons and illustrations, attention to style and communication can help make a book work more effectively in communicating its message as well as in conveying a unique look and feel from start to finish. Uniformity of style and message is what makes a book speak more deeply than any other form of communication.