design in book review

The Design of Books

An explainer for authors, editors, agents, and other curious readers.

Debbie Berne

256 pages | 45 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2024

Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing

Library Science and Publishing: Publishing

Reference and Bibliography

• Table of contents
• Author Events

Related Titles

"With the clarity of someone who has spent countless hours explaining her decisions to those unversed in typographic jargon, Berne gives the meaning of every specialist term she uses as she elucidates each aspect of the process by which a manuscript becomes the bound object you take down from a shelf. . .  Berne has produced a sorely needed guidebook that may particularly benefit authors and editors, who are rarely equipped to think about how design can—and should—work in concert with writing."

Times Literary Supplement

"Professional book designer Berne debuts with her first self-authored (and designed) title that seemingly anticipates every question people curious about book production might ask, as well as many they probably hadn’t thought about. . . . This title illuminates all that goes into producing and designing a book. A must for authors, editors, designers, and curious readers."

Library Journal

"From the printer’s specifications—choices about size, binding, and other physical characteristics that dictate the look and feel of the finished product—through typography, layout, and cover design, Berne gives the reader an insider’s look at how a manuscript becomes a book. . . . A must for aspiring authors, this accessible, even entertaining guide will also appeal to book nerds who read the 'About the Type' page when it appears at the end of a book."

Booklist starred review

"Catnip to booksellers, this is an introduction to how books are designed, both from aesthetic and commercial considerations. The author is a book designer herself and this is a practical guide for all involved in the production process, exploring how design can enhance the appeal and usefulness of books."

The Bookseller (UK)

" The Design of Books delves into the art and craft of book design. [Berne] sheds light on how book design plays a crucial role in achieving publishing success and elevating a reader’s overall experience. Whether you’re a self-publishing author with questions or a book editor looking to bond with your art director, [Berne's] accessible and insightful guide unveils the secrets behind creating visually stunning and functionally effective book designs."

I Need A Book Cover

“Berne is an extremely engaging and approachable writer, and her book is valuable for the inviting, excellent, and unpretentious introduction it offers to the craft of book design. I learned a lot from  The Design of Books , including some things I should have known but did not.”

Gita Manaktala, executive editor at large, MIT Press

 “Finally, a book that illuminates the most mysterious warren of publishing—design. For all those seeking to understand the visual language of books, here’s your soup-to-nuts translator.”   

Danielle Svetcov, agent, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary

“A fascinating insight into the hidden world of book design. Invaluable for those who want to create beautiful books.”

Joanna Penn, author, podcaster, and blogger at The Creative Penn

Table of Contents

Lines of Thought

Ayelet Even-Ezra

Interacting with Print

The Multigraph Collective

The Art of Creative Research

Philip Gerard

But Can I Start a Sentence with "But"?

The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff

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25+ Book Review Templates and Ideas to Organize Your Thoughts

Danika Ellis

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

View All posts by Danika Ellis

When I was a kid I loved reading, but I hated book reports. It felt impossible to boil a book down to a few lines or even a page of writing. Besides, by the time I had to write the report, I had already forgotten a lot. It never ceases to be painful to try to pull my thoughts and opinions out of my head and put them on the page, especially in a coherent way.

As an adult, I continue to usually find writing book reviews painful . And yet, I maintain a book blog with reviews of all the (bi and lesbian) books I read. Why? For one thing, I want to raise the visibility of these books — or, in the case of a book I loathed, warn other readers of what to expect. It helps me to build community with other book lovers. It’s also a great way to force myself pay attention to how I’m feeling while I’m reading a book and what my thoughts are afterwards. I have learned to take notes as I go, so I have something to refer to by the time I write a review, and it has me notice what a book is doing well (and what it isn’t). The review at the end helps me to organize my thoughts. I also find that I remember more once I’ve written a review.

Once you’ve decided it’s worthwhile to write a review, though, how do you get started? It can be a daunting task. The good news is, book reviews can adapt to whatever you want them to be. A book review can be a tweet with a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji, maybe with a sentence or two of your thoughts; it can also be an in-depth essay on the themes of the book and its influence on literature. Most are going to fall somewhere between those two! Let go of the idea of trying to create the One True Book Review. Everyone is looking for something different, and there is space for GIF-filled squee fests about a book and thoughtful, meditative explorations of a work.

This post offers a variety of book reviews elements that you can mix and match to create a book review template that works for you. Before you get started, though, there are some questions worth addressing.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Book Review Template

Where will you be posting your book reviews.

An Instagram book review will likely look different from a blog book review. Consider which platform you will be using for your book review. You can adapt it for different platforms, or link to your original review, but it’s a good starting point. Instagram reviews tend to be a lot shorter than blog reviews, for instance.

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Will you be using the same template every time?

Some book reviewers have a go-to book review template. Others have a different one for each genre, while another group doesn’t use a template at all and just reacts to whatever each book brings up.

Heading or no headings?

When choosing which book review elements to mix and match, you can also decide whether to include a header for each section (like Plot, Characterization, Writing, etc). Headers make reviews easier to browse, but they may not have the professional, essay-style look that you’re going for.

Why are you writing a review?

When selecting which elements to include in your review, consider what the purpose is. Do you want to better remember the plot by writing about it? You probably want to include a plot summary, then. Do you want to help readers decide whether they should read this book? A pros and cons list might be helpful. Are you trying to track something about your reading, like an attempt to read more books in translation or more books by authors of color? Are you trying to buy fewer books and read off your TBR shelf instead? These are all things you can note in a review, usually in a point-form basic information block at the beginning.

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Book Review Templates and Formats

Essay-style.

This is a multi-paragraph review, usually with no headers. It’s the same format most newspapers and academics use for book reviews. Many essay-style reviews use informal categories in their writing, often discussing setting, writing, characters, and plot in their own paragraphs. They usually also discuss the big themes/messages of a story. Here are some questions to consider when writing an essay-style review:

What is the author trying to do? Don’t evaluate a romance novel based on a mystery novel’s criteria. First try to think about what the book was attempting to do, then try to evaluate if they achieved it. You can still note if you didn’t like it, but it’s good to know what it was aiming for first.

What are some of the themes of the story? What big message should the reader take away? Did you agree with what the book seemed to be saying? Why or why not?

How is this story relevant to the world? What is it saying about the time it was written in? About human nature? About society or current issues? Depending on the book, there may be more or less to dig into here.

What did this book make you think about? It may be that the themes in the book were just a launching off point. How did they inspire your own thinking? How did this book change you?

A Classic Book Review

This is probably the most common kind of book review template. It uses a few criteria, usually including Setting, Writing, Characters, and Plot (for a novel). The review then goes into some detail about each element, describing what the book did well, and where it fell short.

The advantage of this format is that it’s very straightforward and applies to almost any fiction read. It can also be adapted–you will likely have more to say about the plot in a mystery/thriller than a character study of a novel. A drawback, though, is that it can feel limiting. You might have thoughts that don’t neatly fit into these categories, or you could feel like you don’t have enough to say about some of the categories.

Pros and Cons

A common format for a Goodreads review is some variation of pros and cons. This might be “What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like” or “Reasons to Bump This Up Your TBR/Reasons to Bump This Down On Your TBR.” This is a very flexible system that can accommodate anything from a few bullet points each to paragraphs each. It gives a good at-a-glance impression of your thoughts (more cons than pros is a pretty good indication you didn’t like it). It also is broad enough that almost all your thoughts can likely be organized into those headings.

This is also a format that is easily mix and matched with the elements listed below. A brief review might give the title, author, genre, some brief selling points of the novel, and then a pros and cons list. Some reviews also include a “verdict” at the end. An example of this format:

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill

🌟 Fantasy All-Ages Comic 💫 Adorable pet dragons ✨ A diverse cast

Pros: This book has beautiful artwork. It is a soothing read, and all the character are supportive of each other. This is a story about friendship and kindness.

Cons: Don’t expect a fast-moving plot or a lot of conflict. This is a very gentle read.

Another approach to the review is not, strictly speaking, a book review template at all. Instead, it’s something like “5 Reasons to Read TITLE by Author” or “The # Most Shocking Plot Twists in X Series.” An advantage of this format is that it can be very to-the-point: if you want to convince people to read a book, it makes sense to just write a list of reasons they should read the book. It may also be more likely to get clicked on–traditional book reviews often get less views than more general posts.

On the other hand, listicles can come off as gimmicky or click-bait. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the book matches this format, and whether you are writing this out of genuine enthusiasm or are just trying to bend a review to be more clickable.

Your Own Original Rating System

Lots of reviewers decide to make their own review format based on what matters to them. This is often accompanied by a ratings system. For instance, the BookTube channel Book Roast uses the CAWPILE system:

CAWPILE is an acronym for the criteria she rates: Characters, Atmosphere, Writing, Plot, Intrigue, Logic, Enjoyment. Each of those are rated 1–10, and the average given is the overall rating. By making your own ratings/review system, you can prioritize what matters to you.

My favorite rating system is Njeri’s from Onyx Pages , because it shows exactly what she’s looking for from books, and it helps her to think about and speak about the things she values:

A “Live Tweet” or Chronological Review

Another format possibility is live tweeting (or updating as you go on Goodreads, or whatever your platform of choice is). This has you document your initial thoughts as you read, and it’s usually informal and often silly. You can add what you’re loving, what you’re hating, and what questions you have as you go.

This is a fun format for when you’re reading a popular book for the first time. That way, other people can cackle at how unprepared you are as you read it. This requires you to remember to always have your phone on you as you read, to get your authentic thoughts as they happen, but it saves on having to write a more in-depth review. Alternately, some people include both a “first impressions” section and a more in-depth analysis section in their final review.

Get Creative

There are plenty of book review templates to choose from and elements to mix-and-match, but you can also respond in a completely original way. You could create a work of art in response to the book! Here are some options:

• Writing a song , a short story, or a poem
• Writing a letter to the author or the main character (you don’t have to send it to the author!)
• Writing an “interview” of a character from the book, talk show style
• Making a visual response, like a collage or painting
• Making a book diorama, like your elementary school days!

Mix-and-Match Elements of a Book Review

Most book reviews are made up of a few different parts, which can be combined in lots of different ways. Here is a selection to choose from! These might also give you ideas for your own elements. Don’t take on too much, though! It can easily become an overwhelming amount of information for readers.

Information

Usually a book review starts with some basic information about the book. What you consider basic information, though, is up for interpretation! Consider what you and your audience will think is important. Here are some ideas:

• The title and author (pretty important)
• The book’s cover
• Format (audiobook, comic, poetry, etc)
• Genre (this can be broad, like SFF, or narrow, like Silkpunk or Dark Academia)
• Content warnings
• Source (where did you get the book? Was is borrowed from the library, bought, or were you sent an ARC?)
• Synopsis/plot summary (your own or the publisher’s)
• What kind of representation there is in the novel (including race, disability, LGBTQ characters, etc)
• Anything you’re tracking in your reading, including: authors of color, authors’ country, if a book is in translation, etc

Review Elements

Once you’ve established your basic information, you’re into the review itself! Some of these are small additions to a review, while others are a little more time-intensive.

Bullet point elements:

• Rating (star rating, thumbs up/down, recommend/wouldn’t recommend, or your own scale)
• Who would like it/Who wouldn’t like it
• Read-alikes (or movies and TV shows like the book)
• Describe the book using an emoji or emojis
• Describe the book using a gif or gifs
• Favorite line(s) from the book
• New vocabulary/the most beautiful words in the novel
• How it made you feel (in a sentence or two)
• One word or one sentence review
• Bullet points listing the selling points of a book
• BooksandLala’s Scary, Unsettling, and Intrigue ratings, for horror
• World-building, for fantasy and science fiction titles
• Art, for comics
• Narration, for audiobooks
• Romance, for…romance
• Heat level, for erotica

Visual elements:

• Design a graphic (usually incorporating the cover, your star rating, and some other basic info)
• Take a selfie of yourself holding the book, with your expression as the review
• Make a mood board
• Design your own book cover
• Make fan art

Elements to incorporate into a review:

• Quick/initial thoughts (often while reading or immediately after reading), then a more in-depth review (common on Goodreads)
• A list of facts about the book or a character from the book
• Book club questions about the book
• Spoiler/non-spoiler sections
• Research: look up interviews with the author and critique of the book, incorporate it (cited!) into your review
• Links to other resources, such as interviews or other reviews — especially #OwnVoices reviews
• A story of your own, whether it’s your experience reading the book, or something it reminded you of

This is not a complete list! There are so many ways to write a book review, and it should reflect your own relationship with books, as well as your audience. If you’re looking for more ways to keep track of your reading, you’ll also like 50+ Beautiful Bujo Spread Ideas to Track Your Reading .

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The Best Design Books of 2021

Words by Jarrett Fuller

Published on December 27th, 2021

As a teenager growing up in the suburbs who was interested in graphic design, the design section of my local Barnes and Noble was my only connection to the profession (like many smaller suburbs around the country, there were no graphic design studios in the area). I treasured these books because they opened a world up to me, providing a path into the profession I’d eventually enter. Almost 20 years later, working in a city alongside other designers, my love for design books has not waned. It may have even increased, as books continue to open up new insights into both this field and my own work.

In many ways, graphic design publishing has never been more exciting. From big publishing companies to independent presses, academic journals to highly-visual monographs, there’s a near-constant stream of books about and around graphic design that we can engage with. 2021 was no exception. There’s a handful of books this year that I found myself returning to frequently as they challenge my understanding of design, present design history in new ways, or tell stories that were once overlooked. The selections below are a few favorites from the year. They skew to my own interests and peculiarities, and the list is in no way comprehensive (there’s a stack of books, as always, on my desk I haven’t even gotten through yet.) but there’s still a range here, from the monograph to the memoir, the provocation to the celebration. All of them, I hope, find their way to teenagers somewhere in the world and introduce them to the ever-changing, ever-exciting field of graphic design.

Caps Lock by Ruben Pater (Valiz)

Ruben Pater’s 2016 book The Politics of Design arrived at the perfect moment: just preceding the 2016 election and the reckoning that came alongside it about the designer’s role in society. In The Politics of Design , Pater, a designer and researcher, dissects notions of design from typography to color to layout revealing the biases and political nature of the work designers too often like to think of as neutral. 

Caps Lock , Pater’s follow-up book, continues this critique with a specific focus on the development of graphic design alongside the expansion of capitalism. A revisionist history of sorts, Pater looks at the role of labor, reproduction, branding, marketing, and social media in how they transformed the design industry. Pater isn’t interested in artifacts or celebrity designers as much as systems; especially the often invisible systems that have an outsized influence on the work we make. I always hesitate to declare something required, but upon finishing Caps Lock , my first thought was: “this should be taught in every design program.” 

Baseline Shift by Briar Levit (Princeton Architectural Press)

In this concise collection of essays, Briar Levit recenters the stories of women from graphic design history. From Bea Feitler, whose typographic covers for Ms . look as fresh today as they did in the ’70s; to Angel De Cora, the Ho-Chuck artist whose work is still taught in Native American schools but without attribution, and Margaret Larsen, the San Francisco designer who captured the midcentury aesthetic, Levit and her contributors both correct decades of lost recognition and reframe the design history canon to be more expansive, diverse, and lively. 

The collection builds upon Martha Scotford’s wrote her now-seminal 1994 essay, “Neat History/Messy History: Towards An Expanded View of Women In Graphic Design,” a critical appraisal of who gets included in design history books and who gets left out. Scotford wrote that “messy history” avoids linear narratives and genius stories in favor of a distributed history that would include women whose work is often overlooked. (In Meggs History of Graphic Design , Scotford noted, only 15 designers mentioned were women and only nine of those women had their work reproduced in the book!) This work still needs to be done. Fortunately, there are many scholars who are doing it, uncovering the forgotten women from graphic design history and bringing them to a new audience. Thanks to Baseline Shift , these stories are no longer untold.

Design Struggles: Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies, and Perspectives by Claudia Mareis and Nina Paim (editors) (Valiz)

A confession: academic design writing can be a slog (and I’m speaking as an academic). It can be overly verbose and poorly written, too abstract and disconnected from the realities of contemporary practice. This is a blanket statement, I know, but the stereotype is rooted in some truth. Design Struggles , edited by Nina Paim and Claudia Mareis, avoids the cliches of academic writing in favor of an accessible, theoretical, and relevant collection of essays and texts on design history, education, and practice.

Based on a conference held last year, the book features writers like Arturo Escobar, Danah Abdullah, and Cheryl Buckley exploring new ways to think about design history, its relationship to social issues like the climate crisis and migration, all through the lens of decolonization and intersectionality. Blending essays, roundtables, interviews, and papers, this book serves as a survey of the issues facing the contemporary designer.

Graphic Life by Michael Gericke (Image Publishing Group)

I’m fascinated by monographs, as a concept, but generally find most underwhelming, self-aggrandizing printed portfolios. A successful monograph could and should recontextualize a body of work, revealing the threads that connect otherwise unrelated client work, and allowing the designers’ voice to illuminate the often faceless projects. Pentagram partner Michael Gericke’s new monograph, Graphic Life , does all these things and more. 

Gericke joined Pentagram in 1985, first as a designer for Pentagram founder Colin Forbes, before becoming partner himself a few years later, making him the second longest-service partner at the studio. Over his nearly 40 year career, Gericke’s work has focused on three broad areas, revealed in the monograph: places, stories, and symbols. At 519 pages, the monograph calls to mind the equally massive monographs like Rem Koolhaas’s SMLXL or 2×4’s 2009 it is what it is. With this size, filled with immersive, full-bleed photography, Gericke creates an experience that is architectural in its own right, making an object that allows the longtime Pentagram partner to step into his own spotlight.

Black, Brown Latinx Design Educators by Kelly Walters (Princeton Architectural Press)

At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020, institutions around the country were faced with calls from students to decolonize their curriculums and move away from a strictly white, Euro/Western-centric lens of design. The design faculty at many elite schools in the country is still, unfortunately, mostly white, despite a student population that’s never been more diverse. The unique insights of BIPOC designers—as well as students and educators—are helping reshape what it means to teach design today.

In this concise book of interviews, Kelly Walters, a professor at Parsons School of Design in New York, talks with design educators around the country who identify as people of color on a range of subjects, including how they approach education, their position in the classroom, what decolonization means to them, and the unique challenges they’ve faced in their career. The educators featured here teach at private schools and public universities, community colleges and HBCUs. Each of these positions comes with its own challenges and opportunities, and it’s clear that the conversations Walters has in the book are only the beginning of the work required to expand the graphic design field for the next generations of designers. 

Sandfuture by Justin Beal (MIT Press)

Books on design are rarely written with the literary flourish found in novels, memoirs, and creative non-fiction. Even more, they’re rarely personal, preferring an analytical, critical, or practical position. Justin Beal, an artist and writer, does away with all of this with his hybrid personal memoir and biography of World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki. Released around the 20th anniversary of September 11th, Beal, writing in fragmentary, almost diaristic prose, parallels the story of Yamasaki designing and building the World Trade Center with his own story of moving to New York, becoming an artist, falling in love, and becoming a father.

I read this book over the course of a few days, waking up early to read a few pages while I had my coffee. I was often unable to put it down, pulled into the narrative Beal was crafting and dazzled by his poetic sentences. It’s a great example of a book that is both personal and universal, about design and life, analytical yet moving. It’s unlike any design book I’ve read, but I’d love to read more like this.

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Design Book Review

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In the closing decades of the 20th century, Design Book Review was the preeminent journal dedicated to reviewing architecture and design books in the United States. Architectural critic Michael Sorkin once wrote, “ Design Book Review is no less than the indispensable record and liveliest critique of contemporary architectural consciousness.”

For the first time, the entire content of Design Book Review is available online. Any readers interested in the recent history of trends and debates in design and architecture now can see the pages as they were first published. Design Book Review provides a wonderful glimpse of published writing on architecture and theory just before the advent of the digital age.

New! Scans of every issue available at USModernist . You can also view issues of DBR in Hathi Trust .

Search the Design Book Review Index

Farewell, richard ingersoll.

The California College of the Arts is sad to announce the passing of former  Design Book Review  editor Richard Ingersoll. Richard was involved in writing and editing of  Design Book Review  from its first issue in 1983 and eventually became the primary editor of the journal until 1998. Richard was a brilliant scholar with a deep understanding of contemporary architecture, design, architectural history, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Those of us who worked with Richard found him a kind and generous colleague who was admired by all. To remember Richard, we highlight four examples of his writing from the pages of DBR below.

• Toward the architectural museum (1989)
• Eco-chic: the unfashionability of ecological design (1991)
• Of Texas and Taxes (1994)
• Tafuri's Rome (1994)

Richard Ingersoll (1949-2021)

CCA panel on Design Book Review at the Curatorial Research Bureau at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. From left: Laurie Snowden, John Parman, Keith Krumwiede, Barry Katz, Margaret Crawford, Mimi Zeiger, and Bill Littmann.

The Berkeley-based journal began in 1983 by John Parman, Elizabeth Snowden, Richard Ingersoll, and Cathy Lang Ho—then later published by the California College of the Arts, until 2002. DBR provided a much-needed forum for advanced thinking on the built landscape as well as cities, industrial design, graphic design, land art, and material culture. Design Book Review was essential reading for a generation or writers, providing jargon-free writing by such authors as Janet Abu-Lughod, James Ackerman, Reyner Banham, Manuel Castells, Kenneth Frampton, Phyllis Lambert, William Mitchell, Manfredo Tafuri, and Hayden White.

Founder John Parman wrote a short history of Design Book Review on Medium.

Selected Issues

Frank lloyd wright - design book review 7 (1985).

Reyner Banham on recent books on Frank Lloyd Wright, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hanna House: The Clients' Report, by Paul R. and Jean S. Hanna, Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, by Donald Hoffmann, and Frank Lloyd Wright at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Edgar Kaufmann, 8

Jerzy Soltan on Le Corbusier: An Analysis of Form, by Geoffrey Baker, 43

Elizabeth Cromley on The Architecture of Finance, by Lois Severini, 47

Alan Cowans on Francis Rattenbury and British Columbia, by Anthony A. Barrett and Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, 49

Nancy Steinhardt on A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, by Liang Ssu-Ch'eng, 53

Samuel Gruber on Rome in the Age of Bernini, by Torgil Magnuson, 59

Sarah Chase on Fabrics for Historical Buildings, by Jane Nylander and Wallpapers for Historical Buildings, by Richard Nylander, 80

Toward an Architectural Museum - Design Book Review 16 (1989)

Richard Ingersoll, “Toward an Architectural Museum,” 12

Dialog with Phyllis Lambert, Director, Centre Canadien d'Architecture, 17

Discussion on architectural exhibitions with Mildred Friedman, Walker Art Center (23), Georges Teyssot, Milan Triennale (24), John Zukowsky, Art Institute of Chicago (26), Paolo Polledri, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (28), Stuart Wrede, Museum of Modem Art, New York (29), Ulriche Jehle-Schulte Strathaus, Architekturmuseum, Basel (31), Francois Burkhardt, Centre Pompidou. Paris Departments (32)

Caroline Bruzelius on Building Troyes Cathedral: The Late Gothic Campaigns, by Stephen Murry, 36

Adrian Forty on Shifting Gears: Technology, Literature, Culture in Modernist America, by Cecelia Tichi, 40

Mark Brack on Architects in Competition: International Competitions of the Last 200 Years, by Hilde de Haan and Ids Haagsma, 42

Janet Abu-Lughod on Urban Design in Western Europe: Regime and Architecture, 900-1900, by Wolfgang Braunfels, 54

Louis Kahn - Design Book Review 21 (1991)

Richard Ingersoll, Louis I. Kahn: The Last Master

Richard A. Plunz on Louis I. Kahn: L'Uomo, II Maestro, by Alessandra Latour, p. 9

William H. Jordy on The Louis I. Kahn Archive: Personal Drawings, by Alexander Tzonis, General Editor and Louis I. Kahn: Complete Works 1935-74, edited by Heinz Ronner and Sharad Jhaveri, p 11

Swati Chattopadhyay on Kahn Libraries/Bibliotecas, edited by Xavier Costa, p. 21

Peter J. Holliday on Bearers of Meaning: The Classical Orders in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, by John Onians

Christopher Yip on California Architecture: Historic American Buildings Survey, by Sally B. Woodbridge

Sandra Kocher on The Arts at Black Mountain College, by Mary Emma Harris.

Frank Edgerton Martin and Brian Hoffman on The Razing of Romania’s Past, by Dinu C. Giurescu.

The Political Landscape - Design Book Review 44/45 (2001)

Rebecca Solnit, “A Real Estate History of the Avant-Garde,” 6

Robin Greeley on Wallbangin': Graffiti and Gangs in L.A., by Susan A. Phillips and Crimes of Style: Urban Graffiti and the Politics of Criminality, by Jeff Ferrell, 38

Jane C. Loeffler on Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project by Peter Bacon Hales and Disarming the Prairie by Terry Evans, 46

Timothy Butler on The Bauhaus and America: First Contacts, 1919-1936 by Margret Kentgens-Craig, 56

Paul B.Jaskot on Capital Dilemma: Germany's Search for a New Architecture of Democracy by Michael Z. Wise and The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape by Brian Ladd, 62

Laurie Puchall on Women and the Making of the Modern House: A Social and Architectural History, by Alice Friedman 68

Kenneth Frampton, Erik Asmussen, Architect, by Gary Coates, 84

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08-02-2024 DESIGN

10 great ‘beach reads’ for art and design lovers

It’s summer vacation season! Here’s a (hefty) list of the season’s best new design books you should take with you.

BY  Zachary Petit 5 minute read

A “beach read” means different things to different people. There are those who simply shove a couple paperback thrillers or romance novels into their vacation bag and call it a day. And there are those who thrill at the nerd joy of a bit more substance—like, say, a no-holds-barred treatise on the ethics of their chosen profession (*heart flutters*). Or, a book seemingly containing every single piece of famous graphic design ever created. Sure, all that substance is often substantially more substantial—less “beach read” and more “tidepool tome.” But here’s to those who schlep hardbound books with 80-pound uncoated stock to the seaside respite of their choice.

No matter how loadbearing your beach tote is, if you’re looking to escape the mass-market mystery for some sublime design reading this summer, these 10 books will help you do just that.

Graphic Classics

Phaidon selected a remarkably humble title for a remarkably vast volume—one containing 500 of the most iconic pieces of design ever made. From record sleeves to Gutenberg bibles and virtually every designer you’ve ever heard of (per the publisher, 400 of them, from 33 countries and five continents), this book is a powerhouse of inspiration, not to mention an overwhelming collection of the raw materials that have shaped decades of designers. The book isn’t out just yet—but will ship mid-August, in time for your summer’s end sojourn. 

Atlas of Never Built Architecture by Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin

If Graphic Classics contains every piece of brilliant design ever made, this book captures every brilliant (and, well, sometimes just brilliantly strange) piece of architecture never made. From the Domino’s Leaning Tower of Pizza to Frank Lloyd Wright’s (literally) mile-high skyscraper , the authors capture an endlessly fascinating taxonomy of facade futures that were not meant to be. 

What It Means to Be a Designer Today: Reflections, Questions and Ideas from AIGA’s Eye on Design

I’m proud to have published many articles in Eye on Design over the years—because it was one of the best venues around for insightful industry commentary and critique, not to mention delightfully unexpected design odds and ends. AIGA may no longer be publishing it at the moment, but the good news is that this book (edited by Fast Company ’s Liz Stinson and Scratching the Surface ’s Jarrett Fuller) distills all the best parts of the site down into a 240-page volume that strikes at the heart of the book’s title—and, against all odds, nails it.

Cuban Mid-Century Design: A Modernist Regime by Abel González Fernandez, Laura Mott and Andrew Satake Blauvelt

In the wake of the Cuba’s revolution, designers navigated the balance of international embargoes and consumer demand—and ultimately created a wholly Cuban take on Modernism in the process. This book (which accompanies a Cranbook exhibition that’s currently on view) bills itself as the first to document Cuban Midcentury design—and it does so with great discoverability, while revealing much more. Per the publisher, “This volume brings together a prolific cohort of artists, designers and architects that materialized the ideology of their time, and ultimately narrate[d] the country’s arc from revolutionary promise to authoritarian retrenchment.”

American Modern: Architecture; Community; Columbus, Indiana by Matt Shaw, with photographs by Iwan Baan

You may be surprised, as I—a Midwest native—was, that of all places, Indiana was home to a preeminent creative hub for incredible and impactful Modernist architecture. When I last visited Columbus, I cobbled together a tour based on Wikipedia pages—which is why I’m delighted that Shaw and Baan’s guide now exists and fills in the gaps of how this all came to be, covering works by Eero Saarinen, Eliot Noyes, I.M. Pei, “and the generations-long quest to develop the ideal American city through design excellence.” 

Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations by Peter Miller

Compared to some of the behemoths on this list, this slim hardcover is indeed suitably portable and beach-worthy. In an airy 144 pages, shopkeeper Peter Miller—of his eponymous design bookshop in Seattle, which he opened in 1980—riffs on his trade, from the philosophies of designing a retail space to the nature of time within a shop. But one needn’t be a shopkeeper to appreciate what Miller brings to the page: meditative, humorous New Yorker –style musings that reveal the secret inner life of the highly designed ecosystems we take for granted.

Iris Alba: Art Director

Largely a fascinating visual collection—with the exception of a prologue by Ellen Lupton and a handful of essays— Iris Alba introduces you to Iris Alba, a “missing link when trying to understand Latin American book cover design,” as the book’s co-editor, Leandro Castelao, dubs her.

While Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, and the rest of the Pushpin group was working its pop and psychedelic magic in New York City, Alba flexed her own interpretation of it in Argentina, reshaping book cover design in Latin America in the process.

Modern Man in the Making by Otto Neurath

On face value, Neurath’s legendary 1939 book simply documents the era in which he lived via facts and figures. But viewed retrospectively, as Lars Müller Publishers notes, “The book can be seen as one of the most influential predecessors of today’s ever-present infographics. … Modern Man in the Making shows Neurath’s democratic endeavor to make knowledge intelligible and available to all.” This facsimile edition cleanly falls into the realm of a storied design curiosity—and because of that, I can confirm that there’s no better time to explore it than the veritable void of a vacation, when time is less of a premium and you’re free to let your mind frolic and weigh its impact. 

How Directors Dress

Midsommar . Ex Machina . Everything Everywhere All At Once . You probably know A24’s eccentric (and perfect) films, but you might not know that the studio also has a damn good publishing line. Case in point: How Directors Dress , which “uses clothing to tell exciting new stories about directors, their lives, their movies, and the times in which they were made.” Featuring more than 200 photographs and writing by fashion and style journalists, the book grants entirely new insights into familiar films and their creators—and a symbiosis that’s far from surface level.

Footnotes From the Most Fascinating Museums by Bob Eckstein

Sure, this is a list of beach reads. But that doesn’t mean vacations don’t leave some among us yearning for the confines of a museum. Get the best of both worlds with this New Yorker cartoonist’s collection that captures more than 75 institutions (from MoMA and the Guggenheim to the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum) in 155 pieces of art. Each is a charming profile accompanied by an insight or reflection on the museum—and collectively they showcase just why, exactly, some of us might choose to haunt dark air-conditioned corridors when the warm ocean is right there in front of us.

Apply to the Most Innovative Companies Awards and be recognized as an organization driving the world forward through innovation. Early-rate deadline: Friday, August 23.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zachary Petit is a contributing writer for Fast Company and an independent journalist who covers design, the arts and travel. His words have appeared in Smithsonian, National Geographic, Eye on Design, McSweeney’s, Mental_Floss and PRINT, where he served as editor-in-chief of the National Magazine Award–winning publication   More

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Dezeen's top 11 architecture and design books of 2022

Continuing our review of 2022 , we look at 11 page-turning books published on design and architecture this year, including a tome on the century's best British houses and a "cookbook" of experimental food designs.

The selected titles represent many of the major themes and hot-button topics of the last 12 months, from the role of demolitions in the face of climate change to the lack of LGBTQ+ equality in the design industry.

Here are Dezeen's top 11 books of 2022:

21st Century Houses by Dominic Bradbury

This book profiles the "best of the best" modern British homes, from House on the Hill by Alison Brooks to ACME's shingle-covered Bumpers Oast residence (pictured top and above), which is modelled on traditional Kentish hop-drying kilns.

Their backstories are illustrated via more than 300 photographs, plans and sketches, alongside an extensive list of tips for homeowners who are looking to commission an architect to build their own 21st-century house.

Find out more about 21st Century Houses ›

Circular Design for Fashion by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Part instruction manual part manifesto, this book from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation shares practical insights from more than 88 global brands and designers on how fashion can be designed for a circular economy .

"All of the contributors we have in the book go beyond designing aesthetically attractive, durable products with materials that are sourced sustainably, and incorporate aspects of community, place and designing for a better system," editor Elodie Rousselot told Dezeen.

Find out more about Circular Design for Fashion ›

On the Street: In-Between Architecture by Edwin Heathcote

This book pays homage to the small-but-mighty domain of street furniture – from phone boxes to 5G masts – and the outsized impact it can have on how we experience our towns and cities.

Author and architecture critic Edwin Heathcote chronicles how these seemingly small interventions have influenced public life throughout history, as when streetlighting ushered in the birth of nightlife.

Find out more about On the Street ›

Work From Shed by Hoxton Mini Press

A stilted hut for ceramic production (pictured) and a photography studio with corrugated plastic walls feature in this book, profiling garden studios, garages and sheds from around the world.

The book is a response to the more fluid way of working that was brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and the associated lockdowns.

"Working from home is so personal it allows for much greater expression as to what a working space can look like," said the book's creative director Martin Usborne. "We wanted to explore and celebrate that."

Find out more about Work From Shed›

Anthropocene Cookbook by Zane Cerpina and Stahl Stenslie

As climate change begins to threaten the food security of the world's growing population, artists Zane Cerpina and Stahl Stenslie curated an anthology of experimental food designs that imagine how humanity could feed itself going forward.

Proposals range from artificial organs populated by algae (pictured) to whisky made from urine, with the aim to provoke creative thinking about the existential challenges facing humanity.

Find out more about Anthropocene Cookbook ›

The Council House by Jack Young

Close to 70 of London's "most innovative and iconic" examples of council housing are captured in this book by photographer Jack Young, which hopes to challenge the negative stereotypes surrounding these unappreciated buildings.

"They are so often depicted in black and white photography," Young told Dezeen. "Or on a dark wet night as the gritty backdrop to a television drama."

Find out more about The Council House ›

Queer Spaces by Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell

This atlas – launched as the UK marked 50 years of Pride celebrations – chronicles the design of 90 different LGBTQ+ spaces from around the world, ranging from a Sheffield working-class pub-turned-gay sauna to a windowless home for a same-sex couple in Japan that was designed to keep out prying eyes.

"Queer Spaces is an accessible new history for an area of architecture that has been ridiculed, othered and dismissed for too long," explained London designer Adam Nathaniel Furman and historian Joshua Mardell, who co-authored the book.

Find out more about Queer Spaces ›

Rocky Mountain Modern by John Gendall

This book, from American architecture critic John Gendall, showcases contemporary examples of Rocky Mountain modernism – a residential style influenced by the modern architecture movement and the unique geography of North America's longest mountain range.

The selected projects represent the region's varied landscapes, stretching from Golden, New Mexico, all the way up to Golden, British Columbia, while responding to pressing environmental concerns such as water conservation, habitat preservation and energy management.

Find out more about Rocky Mountain Modern ›

Building for Change by Ruth Lang

The viability of demolitions and their waste of embodied carbon in the face of the climate crisis was a hotly debated topic this year, battled out in high-profile cases such as the M&S Oxford Street redevelopment .

In her book Building for Change, author Ruth Lang makes the case for the reuse of existing buildings by highlighting projects that prove that renovations don't need to be dull – among them Heatherwick Studio 's transformation of a Cape Town grain silo into an art gallery (pictured).

"I'm hoping that clients and building owners can be convinced that reuse doesn't negatively impact the overall quality and creativity of the proposed scheme, and can instead have a financial and environmental bonus," she told Dezeen.

Find out more about Building for Change ›

Videogame Atlas by You + Pea

From Fornite to Assassin's Creed, this book by research studio You + Pea looks at how the architecture of video games can shape players' gaming experience, illustrated through drawings and playful diagrams like the ones typically found in 20th-century architecture publications.

"In many cases, architecture is extremely important," the studio said. "Dark Souls uses carefully planned circulation routes, lighting conditions and transitions from tight to open spaces to promote tension in the player."

"Architecture also helps to situate the player character in the story and surrounding culture of the world, to create a lifelike and immersive experience but also to signal limits – what we can and cannot do within the world."

Find out more about Videogame Atlas ›

Birmingham: The Brutiful Years by Sharonjit Sutton

With brutalist developments such as the town centre in Cumbernauld , Scotland, in danger of demolition across the UK, this book seeks to celebrate the few prime examples of the modern architectural style that are still standing in Birmingham.

Published by The Modernist Society, it contains essays on 22 of the city's seminal brutalist buildings – from the Central Library to the Repertory Theatre – many of which continue to be under threat.

Find out more about Birmingham: The Brutiful Years ›

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The 30 Best Design Books to Buy in 2024

From daring debuts to gardens galore, here's what we are adding to our reading lists this year.

Many rising stars across the decorating and landscape sectors are making their literary debuts with monographs that highlight their innovative approaches to design. At the same time, several esteemed veterans are making a comeback with forthcoming design books that thoughtfully share the extensive knowledge they've gained over years of experience. Each of these spectacular volumes will not only better your understanding of design, but also look fabulous on your elegantly styled bookshelves and coffee tables.

No matter what your personal decorating style , there's a title that will surely delight and inspire your newest project. Below, our picks for the best new design books of 2024.

Release Date: October 8

Michael s. smith: classic by design.

Release Date: October 15

The young man and the tree: fernando wong landscape design.

Release Date: August 20

The savage style.

From the Illinois governor’s mansion to a private, open-air California getaway , Michael S. Smith's projects resonate with elegance and luxury, capturing the admiration of design enthusiasts and notable clients (including the Obamas). Smith's latest book showcases his distinctive blend of European classicism and American modernism through intimate tours of houses, from a breezy Mallorca escape to the designer's own homes

Landscape designer Fernando Wong gives us the lush escape we crave with his newest book dedicated to tropical gardens. From the sunny coast of Nassau to the bustle of Miami, the projects featured highlight Wong's ability to create flawlessly layered gardens filled with pavilions and fountains that speak to their surrounding environment.

Nashville-based designer Jonathan Savage gets personal in his literary debut, detailing the philosophy behind his fresh take on contemporary design. The house featured, many of which are in the South, showcases Savage's ability to blend modern artwork with traditional furnishings to create both functional and breathtaking rooms.

Interiors: Styled by Mieke ten Have

Interiors stylist Mieke ten Have shares her secrets for creating beautiful and inviting rooms in her debut book. She breaks down her four styling principles (Color Theory, Pattern Play, Wild and Tame, and Flowers for Living) using photographs from rooms styled by design greats like Stephen Sills, Mario Buatta, and Alberto Pinto.

An English Vision: Traditional Architecture and Decoration for Today

In his first dedication to only his work (rather than his larger firm), English decorator Ben Pentreath takes readers throughout Great Britain to explore the many facets of classical yet whimsical English style. Each of the book's 30 projects was entirely photographed by Pentreath, including a project for The Earl of Moray, who pens the foreword.

Inside the Homes of Artists: For Art's Sake

What better way to get inspiration for decorating with art than exploring the homes of artists themselves? This volume from author Tiqui Atencio Demirdjian and photographer Jean-François Jaussaud takes readers into the homes of the world's most celebrated artists for a masterclass on art collecting and decorating.

Island Dreaming: Amanda Lindroth Design

The queen of tropical style is back with her second book, focused on embracing indoor-outdoor living in a sophisticated manner. The book features 20 highlighted projects from Amanda Lindroth that showcase her love for bold colors, caned furniture, and airy textiles, all in her signature easy-breezy approach.

Isabel López-Quesada, Town & Country: Isabel López-Quesada

High-fashion city living meets quiet country charm in the second book from celebrated designer Isabel López-Quesada. The Spanish decorator takes us on a journey across the world, offering inside looks at projects that perfectly illustrate her ability to blend timeworn character and contemporary flair.

Veranda Waterside Living: Inspired Interior Design

Dive into the blissful charm of seaside living with the latest book from VERANDA. This exclusive tour spotlights 20 stunning residences from the world's top designers that embrace the tranquility qualities of living waterside while elevating coastal style.

Cullman & Kravis: Interiors

Design firm Cullman & Kravis delivers a masterclass on modern, traditional design in their latest publication, celebrating its 40-year practice. The firm details every step of their process for each project featured, delivering advice on imparting personality, mixing textures, customizing furniture, and so much more.

Ashe Leandro: Architecture + Interiors

Design and architectural firm Ashe Leandro redefines contemporary design with homes that embrace global styles in their debut volume. From urban havens to countryside retreats, each project featured illustrates their firm's design ethos with complementary interviews explaining their process.

The Perfect Room: Timeless Designs for Intentional Living

n her second book, Marie Flanigan guides readers through each room, sharing her insights on how to achieve a harmonious balance of function and beauty in every space. Throughout the book, she provides valuable advice on choosing the right building materials and architectural details for different areas of the home, as well as tips for selecting colors, textiles, and furnishings.

At Home in France: Inspiration and Style in Town and Country

Timothy Corrigan's newest release is a love letter to Francophiles and French decorative arts. Separated into two parts, the first takes readers inside the designer's Paris apartment, exploring the historical architecture of the building and Corrigan's vision for the space. The second section takes readers to the French countryside and his 18th-century chateau for lessons on restoration, decoration, and entertainment.

Forever Beautiful: All-American Style All Year Long

In his third book of the Beautiful trilogy, decorator Mark D. Sikes takes us through a year of classic American design. Each chapter is dedicated to a month of the year and a home that perfectly fits within that season. Learn Sikes' invaluable decorating tips while touring homes from across the country, including a Swiss-style chalet in Idaho and a French chateau-style home in Chicago.

Artful Home

Artist, designer, and tastemaker Josh Young thrives to show readers how to create a uniquely breathtaking home in his literary debut. The book is divided into five guiding principles (palette, texture, form, layers, and nostalgia) that Young follows when designing his homes in a modern classical style. Plus, readers get a never-before-seen look into his country house, Sycamore House, in Virginia.

Wonder of the Woodlands: The Art of Seeing and Creating with Nature

Renowned floral designer Françoise Weeks wants people to think outside the traditional flowers and vase when it comes to arranging. In her newest book, Weeks shows readers how to bring the wildness and wonder of the forest to their indoor arrangements with foraged and reusable materials.

Veere Grenney: Seeking Beauty

Veere Grenney welcomes readers into his three exquisite residences in Tangier, London, and Suffolk, England, through the pages of this personal volume. Each photograph and chapter masterfully displays the celebrated designer's talent for blending traditional design with contemporary living.

The Garden Liberated: An Evolution of Italian Garden Design

Italian garden architect Paolo Pejrone approaches landscape design as a service to nature, crafting sustainable spaces abundant with native plants that resonate harmoniously with their natural settings. The book welcomes readers into ten private gardens across Italy from the wetlands of Piedmont to the hills of Tuscany.

Bryan O'Sullivan: A New Glamour

New York- and London-based interior designer Bryan O’Sullivan has made his mark by reimagining old-school Hollywood glamour with a contemporary flair. His debut book offers an insider's view of his luxurious yet inviting design approach, featuring exclusive looks into his most significant works, such as the Art Deco-inspired Painter's Room at Claridge's, as well as a selection of more personal private homes.

Residing with Nature: The Houses of KAA Design

The acclaimed architecture and landscape firm KAA Design has earned a reputation for creating unique homes that seamlessly blend indoor and outdoor living through the use of thoughtful materials and skilled craftsmanship. Their debut monograph features a collection of contemporary residences, each showcasing modern California style.

Sarah DiMarco (she/her) is the associate editor at VERANDA, covering all things design, architecture, art, gardens, jewelry, travel, wine and spirits. She also manages social media for the brand.

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Want to write a perfect book review that readers enjoy? Discover how to pen a book review in 6 easy steps. To help you understand, we’ve included amazing examples of book reviews. 

We’ve also answered many questions you might have such as: How long should a book review be? How to start a book review? How to conclude a book review? For beginners, we’ve also mentioned the basic book review format. So without further delay, let’s begin! 

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What is a book review? 

A book review is the critical analysis of the book’s content and significance. It includes an evaluation of the plot, character development, and writing style. A good book review highlights the book’s strengths and weaknesses. Reviewers often include quotes to support the opinions mentioned in the book review. A book review is different from a book report which objectively describes the book’s main content. 

Now that we know what is a book review, let’s understand their length. 

How long is a book review? 

The length of a book review can vary, depending on the purpose and the medium used. Book reviews in newspapers, magazines, and journals can range from 500-2000 words. In contrast, book reviews by readers on platforms like Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, or Google can range from 50-500 words. 

Now let us see the 6 easy steps to write book reviews. Whether you’re writing book reviews for your assignment or book promotion, these steps will help! 

How to write a book review

• Note down the key points- This is an important step before writing a book review. Jot down your analysis about the characters, themes, plot, and your personal view. Also, note down the book title, author’s name, and any relevant information about the book. 
• Start with a strong introduction- Mention the author’s name, book title, themes, and main characters in the introduction. The introduction should give a very brief book summary without giving spoilers. 
• Analyze the book- Discuss the book’s strong points and weaknesses. This can include your opinion on the narrative pacing, writing style, character development , and structure. You can also compare it with books belonging to a similar genre. To enhance the review, you can also use relevant quotes to support your perspective. 
• Reflect on your experience- Describe how the book makes you feel. Did you find it engaging or was it slow-paced? Were you happy with the climax or did you expect more? 
• Conclude the review- Summarize the important points and end the review with a final evaluative statement about the book. This is where you can state whether you will recommend the book to readers or not. This is an important step in writing a book review. 
• Rate the book (Optional)- Depending on the platform requirements, you can rate the book out of 5 or 10. 

Now that we’ve seen how to write a book review, let’s see five amazing tips to create the perfect book review.

Top 5 tips to create an amazing book review 

Here are the top 5 tips to create the perfect book review: 

• Start with an attractive hook- Begin the review with an intriguing question or statement, capturing the book’s essence. For example, “In ‘The Enchanted Labyrinth’, every page takes you into a magical world of intrigue and wonder. 
• Discuss originality- Write what makes the book unique as compared to other books in the same genre. If the book highlights an unexplored theme or gives a unique take on a common theme, you can mention it in the book review. 
• Analyze worldbuilding- Review the fictional world created by the author (Its depth, complexity and detail). You can discuss how the setting of the story affected your experience as a reader. This is a good practice, especially while reviewing fantasy and science fiction novels. 
• Evaluate key themes- Discuss how the central themes of the story are seamlessly woven into the narrative. You can do this by highlighting how the characters’ relationships and choices reflect the themes. Describe how themes add depth to the story. 
• Edit and proofread- Once you’ve completed your book review, thoroughly check it. Correct any grammatical mistakes , spelling, and word choice errors. 

Book review examples

1. a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini .

“A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini, is a profoundly moving story set against the backdrop of Afghan history. This novel tells the tale of two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become entwined in a harrowing journey of friendship, suffering, and redemption.

Mariam, an illegitimate child, suffers from stigma and rejection from an early age. Her tragic story evolves when she is forced into an abusive marriage with Rasheed, a brutish shoemaker. Laila, born generations later, is initially a symbol of the new Afghanistan – hopeful and educated. Their shared struggles against the backdrop of Afghanistan crumbling under Taliban rule form the novel’s heart.

Hosseini’s writing is evocative, capturing the stark realities in Afghanistan while also highlighting the profound resilience of his characters. The author masterfully portrays the emotional landscapes of Mariam and Laila, making them vividly relatable.

“A Thousand Splendid Suns” is more than a story of survival; it is a testament to the unyielding strength of human connection and endurance. This book is a must-read, not only for its storytelling brilliance but for its deep exploration of the often-unheard voices of Afghan women. It’s a heartbreaking, yet ultimately hopeful novel that stays with you long after the last page.

Now let’s see another example of a book review. 

2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 

“A Man Called Ove ” by Fredrik Backman is a heartwarming novel that takes readers on an emotional journey of its titular character, Ove. At first glance, Ove appears to be nothing more than a grumpy old man. However, as the story unfolds, we discover that there is so much more to Ove than meets the eye.

The novel skillfully explores themes of loss, grief, and the human capacity for change. Ove’s journey is one of rediscovery and redemption, as he learns to open his heart to the people around him. Backman’s writing is both poignant and humorous, capturing the essence of human relationships and the power of community.

Ove is a character who is easy to relate to, with his quirks making him all the more endearing. As we delve into his past through flashbacks, we understand the events that shaped him. These glimpses provide depth and complexity to his character, making him incredibly three-dimensional.

The supporting characters are equally charming and well-developed. Parvaneh, the pregnant neighbor, and her family are a refreshing contrast to Ove’s gruff exterior. Their interactions with Ove are both heartwarming and hilarious, playing an important role in his transformation.

What makes “A Man Called Ove” truly exceptional is its ability to elicit a wide range of emotions from its readers. It can make you laugh out loud on one page and bring tears to your eyes on the next. The story is a testament to the importance of human connection.

In conclusion, “A Man Called Ove” is a beautifully written novel that explores the themes of love, friendship, and the capacity for change. Fredrik Backman’s storytelling is both touching and humorous, and his characters are unforgettable. For those who appreciate heartwarming stories that inspire the soul, this book is a must-read.”

After seeing these book review examples, let’s see a simple book review template you can use. 

Book review template

The following template highlights a basic book review format and book review outline. You can use this template for reference. 

We hope this book review template and book review examples have inspired you to start writing. Now that you’ve understood how to write a good book review, you can begin brainstorming. Want to get a polished, professional book review? At PaperTrue, our team of experts can help you craft the perfect review for your book. Get in touch with us and forget all stress about how to do a book review. 

You can also take advantage of our self-publishing services like editing, book cover design, securing an ISBN, and creating a copyright page. This ensures that your book is ready for publication. Whether you want a simple edit or an end-to-end service package, we’re here to help! 

Here are some other articles that you might find interesting: 

• Top 10 Best Print-on-Demand Book Companies in 2024
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• What Is a Blurb? Meaning, Examples & 10 Expert Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of a book review, what makes a good book review, how to end a book review, how to structure a book review, where to write a book review.

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Guides • Book Design

Last updated on Jan 21, 2022

The Elements of a Book Cover: A Deeper Dive

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Martin Cavannagh

Head of Content at Reedsy, Martin has spent over eight years helping writers turn their ambitions into reality. As a voice in the indie publishing space, he has written for a number of outlets and spoken at conferences, including the 2024 Writers Summit at the London Book Fair.

About Raúl Gil

Illustrator and designer passionate about cover design and visual identity.

Ever wondered what makes a successful book cover ? While authors and designers obviously want their covers to stand out on the shelves, there are many standard features that you'll find on pretty much any book cover.

In this post, we'll dive into the elements that make up a cover design to better understand their crucial role in contributing to a book's appeal .

Front cover: the moneymaker 

Let's be honest; we all judge books by their covers, and for a good reason! The front cover should be designed to reflect its genre and hint at what it's actually about. It's the first thing a reader will see, making it your number one marketing tool. 

The crucial elements of a front cover are the title and the author's name, but those alone would hardly jump out at you from the shelves. Cover art, color scheme, and typography are just a few other elements that will make your book stand out to potential readers. 

Your cover art will be one of the most critical aspects of your book cover design — different styles and trends are closely associated with specific genres, so it's important to get it right. This is why it's essential to hire a professional cover designer who knows what's fit for the market you want to sell to . 

Adding photos or illustrations to the cover of a book can help offer some insight into what the book is about and signal to a reader whether or not they'd like it. The designs for the two books below do a great job of communicating genre, tone, and content.

The log cabin set in the moody, moon-lit forest for Hidden Beneath the Pines (above) simply screams "mystery-thriller" and tells the reader where the story will be set. On the other hand, the catalog-perfect room on the cover of Messy Bed, Messy Head immediately connects to the book's content — and offers a glimpse of what the reader might aspire to.

However, some covers are more abstract and give an idea of their concept, rather than plot or specific locations and characters. Reedsy designer George Stevens's cover for The Pain Habit takes author Drew Coverdale's metaphor of a 'journey to recovery' and represents it as a trail map up a mountain. 

Through George's use of color and playful graphics, he's able to represent a topic that's tied up in trauma and present it in a hopeful light.  

The cover below (by Reedsy designer Patrick Knowles ) uses bespoke illustrations to capture the unique story in Goran Baba Ali's The Glass Wall.

This design bridges the gap between literal and abstract cover art by depicting the book's characters and settings and the book's complex theme. The book deals with the vast inequalities and challenges facing immigrants escaping conflict in the Middle East. To offset the challenging subject matter, Knowles and Ali ensured that the cover remained accessible, rather than too abstract or metaphorical.

While you can just use stock images to create your cover, illustrations tailored to your book will convey your message much better and help it stand out more, especially if you're putting it out as an ebook that could so easily be scrolled past.

Type hierarchy 

The title of the book and the author's name aren't carelessly slapped onto the book's cover without any thought. The font, size, and placement of any text are key elements of book cover design — not only can it be used to catch a reader's eye and guide them to the most essential information. That's why the names of well-known authors are often more prominent than the title of their book, while debut authors will put more focus on an intriguing title.

Taking the reader's eye on a journey across the cover is especially important on nonfiction covers. More often than not, they'll have a subtitle to clarify what the book is specifically about. The title 'Our Road to Damascus' , for example, could be for almost any kind of book — anything from adventure or fantasy to religion and memoir would fit. It's the subtitle, '7 Lessons for a Life of Purpose and Meaning,' that tells us it's a self-help book. 

Testimonial 

If you've already got some reviews for your book you might want to include a short testimonial on the front cover, too — especially if they're from a recognizable or reputable source. The cover above omits photos or illustrations in favor of a striking background, bold title, and a short recommendation from another author.

Spine: I bet you look good on the bookshelf

The spine is the center of the book's cover, where all pages are bound. It holds your book together and, if done well, will make your book stand out on the bookshelf. 

The essentials for a book's spine are the book's title and the author's name — these should be in the same font as the main text on the front cover. In the example below from Patrick Knowles, the spine continues the front cover and re-utilizes one of the graphical elements. 

Back cover: the (not-so) boring bits 

Once a front cover has caught the reader’s attention, it's up to the back cover to convince them to actually buy and read your book. To anyone sighing because "no one ever looks at the back cover," we ask: how many times have you bought a book without reading its description?

Practical elements

Let's get all of the less glamorous practicalities out of the way first, starting with the ISBN. An ISBN is a unique, 13-digit code used to identify a book, usually found just above the barcode at the bottom of the back cover.

Traditionally published books will also display the publisher's logo towards the bottom of the book's back cover. 

Marketing materials 

The most important feature of a book's back cover is the blurb — a short description to tell readers what it's all about. It shouldn't be a lengthy synopsis, and nor should it contain any spoilers, but it should make your readers curious about the pages between the covers.

Another great way to draw in new readers is a positive review from another author in your genre, especially if you've not already got a testimonial on your front cover or if this is your first book. Many authors also add a personal touch. A short author biography and headshot is standard — especially in nonfiction. 

Flaps: the hardback's special feature

Your book's cover will look a little different if you're publishing a hardback. Hardbacks usually have dust jackets — a removable cover printed on thick, heavyweight paper. Some features usually found on the back cover may be relocated to the dust jacket's back panels (or flaps). 

There aren't really any hard and fast rules — the author's photo and bio are the most common choices for the flaps, but they can also house a book's blurb or some testimonials. 

The exterior design of a book is one of its most important features so getting it right can feel a little daunting at first. But, now that you’ve got a solid grasp of its various elements — you know what it takes for a cover to truly work . If you want a professional cover for your next book, be sure to check out Reedsy's network of experienced book designers.

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12 Graphic Designers on Their Favorite Books

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Whether they’re about pills, products, art, or architecture, here are the books that photobook designers always come back to.

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• Aperture No. 255: The Design Issue
• The PhotoBook Review

There are proper photobooks, showcasing the work of a single photographer’s accomplishments, and then there are books that use photography in the service of something else, as a manual, guide, illustration, or history lesson. For Aperture ’s “ Design Issue ,” we invited a group of graphic designers to select some of their favorite books that use photographs to delve into a range of ideas related to design.

Sonya Dyakova

The Art of Papercraft (B. T. Batsford, 1971) by Hiroshi Ogawa is a comprehensive guide to the Japanese art of paper sculpture. It contains more than 110 photographs, with great attention to detail. The images are dramatic and atmospheric, as if the sculptures are suspended in space and time. The black background and soft shadows enhance the beauty of the shapes. Ogawa provides not only general instructions and suggestions but also explanatory illustrations and notes to accompany the photographs, making this book a practical resource for anyone interested in paper sculpture. It’s special to see the way humble materials and simple techniques can come together to create something so powerful.

Sonya Dyakova is the founder of Atelier Dyakova, a design studio in London.

Duncan Whyte

The Most Beautiful Swiss Books (Federal Office of Culture, Bern) is an annual publication documenting a yearly competition. The volumes are always fascinating, with a Swiss budget for epic reproduction. The two volumes with the best photographs are from 2016 and 2022: 2016 is devoted to “examination,” with spreads comparing all the nominated books through thirty or so different criteria, including spine, strength, and pagination; 2022 features a moody fashion shoot for each book.

Duncan Whyte is an independent art book designer living and working in France.

Jordan Marzuki

Aliens and Herons (Arbor Vitae, 2016) by Pavel Karous is a guidebook documenting postcommunist public art throughout the Czech Republic. The book employs its own taxonomy—class, order, family, genus, and species—to identify each artwork, along with beautifully structured typography and colorful pages. Cheeky illustrations contribute to an unconventional and hilarious narrative, in stark contrast to the serious, often dark history of the region.

Jordan Marzuki is a designer based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the founder of Jordan, jordan Édition.

Other Means

Bill Cunningham’s Facades (Penguin, 1978) features 128 photographs of his neighbor Editta Sherman posing in front of buildings in New York City, wearing period-correct outfits Bill collected over ten years. In most cases the buildings and clothing are in harmony, with the exception of the Twin Towers—Bill contrasts the clean, austere modernism of the towers with the “raunchy” blue jeans culture of the time. Our favorite photographs show Editta next to a graffiti-covered subway, illustrating the book’s core concept of the city as a collage of design spanning two hundred years. The cover, designed by Quentin Fiore, is printed in brilliant red and blue spot colors on metallic paper, evoking Midtown Manhattan’s reflective facades.

Other Means, a design studio in New York, was founded by Ryan Waller, Gary Fogelson, and Phil Lubliner.

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For us, Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen (Artisan, 2022) is more than just a cookbook. We love how the chefs incorporate experimental recipes along with new takes on traditional recipes and the histories behind these meals. The pages are culturally immersed in who we are as Black people and are showcased through a Black cultural lens. From the Bronx to destinations all across the globe, Ghetto Gastro is bringing “food for freedom, fuel for thought.”

WORK/PLAY is an interdisciplinary design studio cofounded by Danielle and Kevin McCoy and based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Maricris Herrera

Roberto Luna’s photographs of the architect Francisco Artigas’s houses published in Francisco Artigas (Tlaloc, 1972) are distinguished by their challenging of traditional visual conventions and their exploration of new forms of architectural expression. With remarkable boldness, Luna constructs insightful narratives for utopian scenarios, revealing his unique ability to fuse modern aesthetics with functionality. Beyond his architecture, Artigas’s distinctive style of self-presentation stands out for its innovation and, above all, its provocative character.

Maricris Herrera established the Mexico City–based design practice Estudio Herrera in 2016.

Vera Lucía Jiménez

I first learned about Puruchuco (Editorial Organización de Promociones Culturales, Lima, ca. 1981) from a beautiful piece written by the Peruvian poet Jorge Eduardo Eielson. Illustrated with photographs by José Casals, Puruchuco shows, with words and images, the attempt to rethink an architectural complex on the coast of Peru that belonged to the Inca Empire from the thirteenth century and served as an administrative center and house of the curaca, an elite official. Casals’s images detail the precision and sensitivity of pre-Hispanic architecture: places connected to the corporality of the inhabitant and the uses they gave to the spaces.

Vera Lucía Jiménez is a publication designer who works between Lima, Peru, and Porto, Portugal.

Adam Turnbull

I was drawn to this publication—the Blue Book of Quality Merchandise 1980 (Bennett Brothers, 1980) —because of the product imagery. I love how the photographs are art directed and the products styled: the hands wearing the gloves, the staged still lifes, the radios with the dark gradient background. The repetition of the products laid out on the page creates a beautiful rhythm. It’s an amazing relic of a piece of marketing material that was both functional and pleasing.

Adam Turnbull is the cofounder, with Elizabeth Karp-Evans, of Pacific, a creative studio in New York.

Gabrielle Guy

I happened to be living in Johannesburg at the time that UP UP: Stories of Johannesburg’s Highrises (Fourthwall, 2016) came out. I found the city fascinating—so different from Cape Town, where I’m from. The city center is big and run-down, and so much more ambitious architecturally. I remember going to the book launch, held in a cool space in Braamfontein on the outskirts of the Central Business District. I love how the book manages to incorporate old and new photographs, architectural illustrations, and archival documents. It’s difficult to deal with such a range of visual material in layout, yet UP UP , with its solid grid, strong typeface, and rigid approach to sections and binding manages to create a strong aesthetic.

Gabrielle Guy is an art book designer and artist based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Akiko Wakabayashi

Kurashi no souzou , no. 7 (Sogei Shuppan, 1978) is the design magazine’s special issue on Japanese craft. For me, the most attractive element is the cover image. The still life on the front is mirrored and then layered twice on the back. One section is treated with a distortion effect. Was this a mistake, a conscious experiment with technique, or is there a hidden conceptual message? The result is puzzling, but this mysterious outcome raises a lot of questions, which I love.

Akiko Wakabayashi is an independent designer based in the Netherlands.

I found The Pill Book (Bantam, 2012) , which covers more than 1,800 of the most regularly prescribed drugs in the United States, to be an effective use of photography as a reference for people. It’s a really beautiful and practical book, which runs more than 1,200 pages. I think it’s also great that the pills are printed to scale.

Alex Lin established Studio Lin, a Brooklyn-based graphic design practice, in 2012.

Scott Williams

The Powers of Ten (W. H. Freeman & Co., 1998) is a flipbook depicting stills from a film of the same name, created by the office of Charles and Ray Eames in 1977. The book is a conceptual and pictorial journey that starts at the edge of the universe and hurtles down to Earth, at tenfold steps, with a photograph depicting each interval along the way. The camera descends rapidly to Earth until the lens eventually enters the hand of a man lounging at a picnic at a park on Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, down into his cells, his DNA, and finally to a single proton. It’s a small book with a big idea.

Scott Williams is cofounder, with Henrik Kubel, of A2/SW/HK, a design studio in London.

This article originally appeared in Aperture No. 255, “ The Design Issue ,” in The Photobook Review.

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Home - Learn UX - The Design of Everyday Things – an honest review in 2024

The Design of Everyday Things – an honest review in 2024

Is The Design of Everyday Things still a must-read book for every UX designer? I’ve purchased the book to review it and find out whether or not the book is the classic every designer says it is.

• Updated on January 3, 2024

Most designers know who Don Norman is. Of course, in the case of this review, we will focus on him as the author of The Design of Everyday Things. Yet, he did so much more. Did you know he is credited for inventing the term user experience (UX) and the founder of the  Nielsen Norman Group ?

If you would make a list of  must-read UX books , this book is on every list. With such a reputation, I purchased this book with great anticipation. 

Table of Contents

About the design of everyday things.

One important thing to remember is that this book has two versions. The original book was released in 1988 under the title ‘The Psychology of Everyday Things.’ Later on, the book got the title we know today.

As a UX designer, the second version is the one to buy and read. It is called ‘The Design of Everyday Things: Revised & Expanded.’ This version of the book was released in 2013.

In the image below, you can see the new version I received in the mail after purchasing it online.

The Design of Everyday Things is a book written by Don Norman. Within the world of design, Don Norman is known for introducing several phrases, theories, and subjects. The most famous of those is, of course, how he introduced UX to the world.

Don Norman talks about how and why he wrote the book in the video I’ve embedded below. He talks about how he took a sabbatical and found out he didn’t understand how to use certain doors, water taps, and other everyday things.

In theory, Don Norman says, everything we use has a set of rules that apply to the use of that given object. The Design of Everyday Things explores these rules and gives you a great insight into the world of user experience.

After reading the book, you’ll know how better to apply these guidelines to your UX design work.

You can, for example, create a lot of parallels between the guidelines from the book and using a design system during your day-to-day design job. Each element from your design system has a set of rules, just like the things mentioned in the book.

Understand the book, and you’ll understand your design components better.

The Design of Everyday Things Summary

Let’s look at the summary of the Design of Everyday Things. With a length of around 300 pages, the book isn’t that much of a long read. Yet, having a clear summary can help you decide whether or not you want to buy the book.

As Don Norman said in the video above, you have to keep several guidelines in mind when designing something. This applies to design in general but also to your work as a UX designer.

He calls these the seven basic principles of design. Here’s an overview.

• Discoverability
• Affordances
• Constraints
• Conceptual Models

You will need to cover these principles if you want to design something that is easy to use, delightful, and useful to your users.

The Design of Everyday Things provides examples and theories on each of these principles to help you out. Looking at a random object you use every day will never be the same!

Especially affordances are one to keep in mind. Don Norman is credited for applying the term ( as previously introduced by James Gibson ) to UX design. Affordances are ways of showing the user how they can use an object.

For example, the Design of Everyday Things discusses doors and door handles at length. The  Norman Door  is a famous term known by many UX designers.

As a UX designer, you design with the user in mind. You design solutions, platforms, and applications that benefit users’ wants and needs. We call this user-centered design.

Don Norman came up with this way of designing before he wrote The Design of Everyday Things, but the term only gained traction after the release of this book.

The theory and examples, as told in The Design of Everyday Things, have great takeaways for every designer. Yes, they apply to real-world objects. However, that doesn’t mean they do not apply to digital objects either.

Keep the seven fundamental principles of design in mind the next time you design something. Accessibility, usability, and usefulness are more important than making your designs look shiny. The book talks a lot about how you can apply these principles to your day-to-day work.

Here are a few great examples of the lessons and takeaways you might get from The Design of Everyday Things.

• As designers, we are responsible for designing something that is useful to the user. We’re here to protect the user’s best interests.
• Didn’t you understand an object or product right away? Don’t be sad! The product was designed in a bad way. The book explains why and how to do it better.
• Follow cultural conventions. Users use more than just your designs. Follow what’s known as common knowledge. Do not reinvent the wheel.

The Design of Everyday Things is a must-read for every UX designer. The theory, basic knowledge, and great examples have great value.  Do you want to become a UX designer or improve your craft? Start with this book!

Get the book

If you want to read The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman, you can do so by clicking the link below. Amazon has the book as a paperback, audiobook, and Kindle.

You can get The Design of Everyday Things on Amazon.

Further reading

That’s my review of The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman. It’s a classic that’s worth every dollar. Make sure you read it!

Books are great. Reading one (or all!) of the  must-read books on UX  I recommend can really help you learn more about UX . Reading a good book can be a relaxing and cheaper alternative to joining a UX bootcamp .

Do you have feedback on this article? Missing something? Or just a question? Reach out to me and I’ll get back to you!

About the author

Hi! I'm Nick Groeneveld , a senior designer from the Netherlands with experience in UX, visual design, and research. I'm a UX coach that supports other designers and have completed design projects in finance, tech, and the public sector.

Through The Designer's Toolbox, I'm an Educational Partner for Interaction Design Foundation.

☎️ Book a 1:1 mentor meeting with me or let's connect on LinkedIn , Twitter and Medium .

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the Book Designers Blog

Book Design Process Behind the scenes

Taking Your Book Layout From Good to Great

Your book's interiors should be as great as your cover. We'll tell you what you should be looking for and how to get there.

WRITTEN BY: Ian

July 27th, 2021

We often hear in the book design industry that a good book layout design should be "invisible." What that means is that there should be nothing about the reading experience that detracts from the intended purpose of a book: to be read.

In the following example, we see that basic idea at work. The look is simple and uses minimal "design." There may be some small ornamental features to add to the mood of this historical fiction novel, but its success is hinged upon its lack of gratuitous design features. To the reader, it's clear when a chapter ends and starts or when a section breaks as well as what page they are on or chapter they are reading. The text is at a comfortable reading size, hyphenations are to a minimum, and the text flows from edge to edge (justified text).

That said, there are many types of interior layouts and book types:  children's books ,  young adult books ,  illuminated manuscripts ,  illustrated books ,  photography books ,  architecture/technical books ,  business books with charts, graphs and tables  (The example here isn’t really a business book—it’s college prep for musicians and there’s only one chart.), as well as books that required  sidebars, pulled quotes  or special attention to line breaks, as in  poetry books  and so forth. In some cases, there is ample room for "design," in the sense that much can be done to enhance the reading experience and give depth to the overall visual experience of a read. Other times, it's important to focus on clarity, simplicity, and readability. In fact, it can be argued that regardless of all the moving parts a book may have, its top priority is readability and logical structure/hierarchy of content.

In these examples, we see more complex design treatments that pair well with the subject matter…

While in the following examples we can see the notion of "invisible" design at work, don't be fooled, there is a lot of design going on here as well. A designer is making a deliberate choice to create appropriate margins, use the negative/white space to create focus, and choose fonts that are appropriate for the topic. The designer is still paying attention to typographic rules, proper font pairings, and hierarchy to create consistent visual flow and logical order and structure to the reading experience. At the same time, they are recognizing it's best to let the clarity and accessibility of the text be of top importance.

How hard can it be?

Oftentimes authors make the assumption that we will basically be cutting and pasting their text into the book layout. Yes, that does happen. But prior to that taking place, there is a laundry list of things we need to do:

1. Make sure your manuscript is fully edited/proofread and ready for layout.  Most book design studios can direct you to editors they can vouch for, but otherwise, there is no shortage of good  editors online .

2. Create sample page designs,  usually showcasing a treatment for a Title page, Table of Contents, Front matter (i.e., Preface, Introduction or a Foreword), as well as a sample design for the first chapter or so and any major elements like image treatments, caption treatment, sidebar and other elements that may affect the flow of the text of the book. Then get those approved by the author/publisher before laying out the entire book. Here we see a typical selection of chapter openers, table of contents, and general text flow design samples. A designer will present you with these prior to beginning the full book design to make sure you are comfortable with the size of the text, and treatment of other major components of your book's content. They may show examples of different ways to treat a table of contents, chapter, part and section openers, and images, charts, graphs, and tables to name a few. It's important to see how all of these things work together in concert and create a readable experience. You would be amazed how one small thing can affect the readability of a text: bad fonts, incorrect margin spacing, reading text line length, and placement of images within the text—all can stop a reader in their tracks and confuse them, make it difficult to read and distract unnecessarily.

During this stage of the design process, we present you with a sample that shows several things you should be looking out for: your book's trim size (the physical size of your book), margins (the distance from text to the edges of the page as well as possible use of columns), font, font size, typographic treatments (things like drop caps, italics, and bolded words), line length (how many words on average are fitting on a single line), space between lines of text, as well as possible treatments for part openers, chapter openers, section breaks and so on.

3. A page cast  is then conveyed to the author to make sure it meets their requirements for the number of pages the book will have. This is also called a book's "extent." Knowing how long your book will be influences a few factors: printing cost (more pages = more expensive product), how thick your book's spine will be, and how heavy it will be as an object (less of an issue if it's just going to be an ebook).

4. All the images used in your book need to be print-quality.  That means they need to be able to reproduce at the size they are being used in the book and not look  pixelated and low quality

Can you spot the difference? It's not uncommon for authors to supply us with images they found online or pictures they’ve taken with their flip-phone camera. There are a few problems with this. First off, do you own the rights to print the image in your book? Secondly, it is likely an image that is at a very low resolution may be fine for online viewing, but not for a printed book. You can learn more about the specifics  here , but suffice it to say, we will give you a heads up and let you know what we need, how we need it supplied, and when we will need it throughout the process.

Finally, only after we do all of this can we format the text of the entire book. At this stage, we will format it according to the approved design samples we showed you, and place all of the necessary images, sidebars, and any elements that need to flow with the book's text. After this, we present to you a "First Full Pass" of the whole book for your review. There may be other things but this is the basic gist. Your designer should communicate all of this and be able to explain the reason behind each of these things.

The Importance of a Good Book Layout

Legendary designers like  Jan Tschichold  spent a good portion of their design careers establishing the do's and don'ts of good book layout. To put it bluntly, a book can have a very pretty cover, but if the interior pages look like shit, it'll ruin the entire package and obviously the reader's experience. It's like going on a first date because you liked how someone looked and finding out they suck in every other way. Nerd out on this…

There are many book-formatting services online. Beware of them. Know what to look for and what questions to ask. Some important things to know:

1. Ask for samples of layouts for books in your genre,  i.e. self-help, business, coffee table, YA, fiction, etc.

2. Do the layout samples feel like they belong with the cover?  In other words, is the designer picking up fonts used on the cover for the interior pages? Why is this important? It shows that they are trying to create a cohesive package.

3. How are they treating things like the table of contents, page numbers, running headers and footers and chapter introductions, part openers, images, captions and other components?  Do these things look unique, elegant, or simply uneventful and boring? Even if it is boring, is it clean, easy to read, and easy to find content and access information on the page?

4. Are there a bunch of widows and orphans in the text?  Widows and orphans (without getting too technical) are oddly hanging single words at the end of lines or starting on the next page. Basically, is there anything about the text flow that catches your eye as odd or off? If it does, think about how that will feel for readers when they encounter such issues over and over through the layout.

5. Are there too many hyphens?

6. Is the text too small or too big?

7. Are there ample margins around each text block?  There are few things more annoying than reading a book whose margins are too small and all into the book's gutter (the gutter is where the pages are bound to the spine of the book). Does it feel like the text is about to fall off the page?

8. And finally, do all of the layout samples look the same?  Many layout services offer a templated look that can get repetitive. Look for diversity. Variety is the spice of life. If everything a book designer does has the same basic feel, it means they are not approaching each project as a unique challenge. A book's layout and cover should strive to convey the author's unique voice. Bottom line, unless it's a design for a series, nothing should ever look the same as everything else. That's called being lazy.

Types of book layouts

As discussed, there are many types of books. There are book layouts with very little text and mostly images with captions. Other layouts are all text or have many chapters, parts, section breakers and other components like sidebars, charts, graphs, tables and spot-art (small illustrations usually featured as chapter openers or to illustrate the text). There are books for kids and for older adults who have a harder time seeing and require a larger font, for example. All these things are important to discuss and know about your book. 

Some books are very involved graphically and almost look like magazine spreads. The more dynamic and complex a layout design is, the more important it is to make sure all of your text is readable and not getting buried in the design.

Remember how we started this article stating that a book layout should be invisible. In other words, the design should not detract from the pleasure of reading. Of course, there are picture books where there is not that much reading, but again, are the pictures displayed in such a way as to encourage the reader to see them in their full glory? Or are the images placed in a distracting way that is hard to follow? Ultimately a designer is creating a visual narrative with your book. They are giving everything its proper context and order and structure.

In quoting your book layout project, most designers will want to know how many images you plan to have in your book, and whether they are going to be in full color or black and white. They might also need to get an idea of what your expected page count is going to be (the more pages to design, the more work for the designer), as well as a general word count and many other questions that allow them to plan your book design.  Below we have a wide selection of different types of book layouts. As you can see, there is no single approach to any given design. Some are very involved and visually rich in color and compositional complexity, and others are very simple and paired down.

A basic history of book design

The history of book layout design started likely in places like Asia . Most early books were some sort of religious manuscripts written on palm leaves or other early forms of paper or stone .

Illuminated manuscripts were hand-written and illustrated during the Middle Ages. Early methods of printing in the form of stamping or using etching and inking of assorted surfaces of wood and metal and pressed onto paper can be traced to medieval times but likely even earlier on pottery, fabric and pressed leaves and wood. There are many beautiful samples of pre-industrial printing and attempts at mass production of various texts. Even into modern times, the process of "designing" a book's pages was arduous to say the least.

Methods involved using cast metal and wooden blocks to meticulously layout every single line of text for printing on assorted surfaces has been in some use  since around 800 AD . To add to the difficult and time-consuming process, this was often done backward.

Take a moment to think about that…

We get the terms “upper case” and “lower case” from when printers stored metal blocks of upper case letters on the top shelf of a case and the small/lowercase letters on the bottom, to not get them mixed up. The expression "mind your p's and q's" came about because printers had to set entire pages of text backward in preparation for inking and pressing. It was not uncommon to mix up the letters "p" and "q" since they looked so similar…

We can safely assume this was not a pleasant line of work. It's a miracle the average book designer didn't just off themselves after finishing a single page.

Benjamin Franklin and many other forward-thinking minds of the pre and post industrial era were eager to develop more practical methods of printing that would be less time consuming and more functional for mass production . With the perfection of modern-day printing devices, even the average person can mass-produce their book thanks to digital printing .

Today, we are no longer limited even by standard offset printing methods that still require plate making and a host of set-up requirements. Now we have print-on-demand (POD) companies that use  digital printers which can print and bind a single book—instead of 100,000 copies that may end up never selling. Most indie authors and even larger publishers are now opting for print-on-demand as it's more efficient and practical and has a lighter ecological impact. Moving to the future, ebooks and audio books are becoming more and more the norm. While bookstores still exist and publishers still spend money on beautifully printed books, it's very likely the printed book will go the way of the CD and VHS. We hope the nostalgia of holding a real book in your hands wins out over technological advances. Books are super cool!

Edit your manuscript BEFORE you start designing!

We can't stress this enough. It goes a long way in saving time down the road. We typically advise having several professional editors work on your manuscript. Only after doing this is your book ready for page layout design. 

While most professional book designers will offer to make editorial changes and assorted design adjustments, it can affect a lot of things when you have too many editorial errors and the whole books is already laid out. Things like images shifting and text not starting and ending where it needs to can occur.

What to know about printing

Nowadays, most books will be printed using print-on-demand technology, which is what services like  Amazon  and  Ingram Spark  offer. The alternative to this is called web offset printing which is essentially a more traditional method of printing. We won't get into the specifics here, but suffice it to say, there are differences between traditional printing houses,  specialty printing houses  and POD services.

Traditional printers will usually have certain offerings that POD printers simply do not offer. They may offer certain printing finishes like gloss, matte, spot UV, embossing, foil stamping and assorted binding methods ranging from standard case-bound, perfect bound, cloth, to spiral binding and other stitching, gluing and even rivet methods that may be best suited to specialty projects. They will also offer things like dye-cutting (essentially cutting a hole in your book cover to reveal a page beneath it), deboss and emboss treatments as well as specialty inks like fluorescent, metallic, and custom colors not achievable with conventional methods. 

Print-on-demand services will usually have a limited range of choices regarding book trim size (the actual size of your book) as well as paper types and printing finishes like matte and gloss and so forth. Because POD is so automated, there are usually many restrictions on how a page design is set up. Most POD services have their own rules and will alert you immediately if something does not meet their guidelines and suggest what needs to be done to correct it.

While this might sound off-putting, it is more affordable and works for pretty much 90% of publications. It may not be the best option if you are wanting a full-color book with many printing treatments throughout and some sort of fancy binding. But if you wrote a novel or a business book and need a black and white interior, POD is the ticket and will save you a lot.

POD has come a long way. There is more precision and quality control today than ever before and it just gets better. It is very possible that at some point if things don't move entirely into the digital realm, that these POD services will end up offering other options for paper, binding, inks, and finishing treatments. We’re crossing our fingers.

What about book design for e-publishing?

There are several file formats that are used for ebooks: ePUB, Mobi and PDF. A good design studio will produce all three. Some publishing services like Amazon will accept ePUB formats and others like Apple need a Mobi file.

Aside from this, you have two basic styles for an ebook: reflowable (the proffered and standard) and fixed layout.

A reflowable format basically means that all of the text in your book will be "responsive" and "re-flow" to fit the dimensions of whatever device it is being viewed on. Some users will want to increase your book's text size or rotate their screen or chose to view it as spreads, single pages or a continuous scroll. Needless to say this ends up negating the need for page numbers in the classic sense of how they are used in traditional printed books.  A fixed layout locks in the exact design and flow of your book. Pages will not shift or "re-flow" and it will essentially look the same on every device. The downside is that this can be very limiting depending on what type of a device you are reading on. Say you are using your mobile phone for reading. The text can become very small if viewed on such a device. Many epublishing services discourage the use of fixed layout ebooks. If your book has a complex layout or a layout with a lot of images and other elements, it may very well be best to avoid creating an ebook out of it. Or, create a version of the book that will work in a reflowable format.

So as you can see, it's more than just copy and paste to design a truly beautiful and readable book interior. A designer needs to consider a host of factors including what device a book will be viewed on. So the next time you open a book, see if you can tell if it's poorly designed or if someone worked their magic.

Book layout design is an art and takes a designer's knowledge of typography, fonts and design principles as well as practical considerations beyond what meets the eye—or shall we say, what will eventually meet the eye. From simple to complex, designing the interior of a book has many moving parts to juggle.

Keep Reading…

Carin Goldberg: Problem Solver

January 26th, 2010

Marc J. Cohen has a soft spot for book publishing

February 3rd, 2010

Archie Ferguson: "Being a designer is part of the fiber of my being."

February 22nd, 2010

15 of the best design portfolio examples

The best design portfolios come in all shapes, sizes and formats.

Getting your portfolio right is vital – it can be the difference between getting hired or not. And there's no end to how creative you can be with your portfolio design. If you need to update yours, looking at a few examples is a good place to start, which is why we've collated this list of the best design portfolios around.

To start building your design portfolio, you need a platform to create it on. Check out our best website builder roundup, or you can head over to the best portfolio templates for pre-existing designs. But for now, just scroll down to indulge in some of the best design portfolios, listed in no particular order.

Top design portfolio examples for inspiration

01. bruno simon.

Paris-based creative developer Bruno Simon has approached his portfolio in an unexpected way. You can actually drive a virtual car between his projects and experience using a keyboard. In 2019, it won Site of the Year at  awwwards , and it's not hard to see why. We wouldn't recommend this type of portfolio to everyone, but if you can make the design of your portfolio show off the skills you want to highlight, then you should.

Gus is a creative strategy company rather than a straight design site, but we think there are plenty of lessons to be learned from its brilliant site. It's cleverly laid out on a grid, and strikes an irreverent tone while giving the reader exactly what they're looking for, with an easy to navigate UX. We particularly like the ' frequently asked questions ' section.

03. Good Habit

London branding and design studio, Good Habit , has a fun and fresh portfolio that beautifully displays its work. A plainer Studio section outlines what the studio does, while the brands section displays projects with large format photography intermixed with sections of texts. It really works.

04. Studio Feixen

This Switzerland based design studio is absolutely jam-packed full of fun and characterful work. Studio Feixen perfectly showcases its vibrant work with a mix-match style portfolio that abstains from a 'less-is-more' approach. Despite the examples being framed in a range of different sized shapes on the portfolio page, the site still looks cohesive.

05. RoAndCo

Founded by creative director Roanne Adams, NYC-based RoAndCo offers beautifully crafted design, branding and creative direction to clients in fashion, beauty, tech and lifestyle. Viewing RoAndCo’s portfolio is an experience in itself, in keeping with the studio's work ethos. Projects are presented in an editorial-like fashion, allowing the viewer to flick through split-screen images, animated web presentations and full-screen video. It's a carefully considered design portfolio and a pleasure to view, whether you're browsing on a computer or a mobile device. 

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06. Robin Mastromarino

Paris-based interface designer Robin Mastromarino employs some neat UI animation touches to keeps things fresh on his design portfolio site. His projects appear as though they're on a wheel, juddering into view, which is an engaging effect. The images in each case study respond to scrolling by warping slightly. It's an effect that we wouldn't recommend for every creative, but for a UI design specialist, this strikes the right note and gives a taster of what the designer can do. 

07. Active Theory

Entering Active Theory 's portfolio website is like visiting a whole other world. It employs a moody, almost cyberpunk aesthetic throughout, and to great effect. From the atmospheric homepage animation with mouse-activated glitch effects to the trippy About page, the setting all gels together to form a cohesive package. The studio keeps things cleaner for its project pages. Each example features a full-screen animation overlaid with a short blurb and relevant links to further information, including detailed case studies hosted on Medium.

08. Raw Materials

Raw Material' s site is a feast for the eyes. The Work section is particularly fun, with more detail on projects shown through diagrams and images. We also like the 3D models in the 'Hello' section, which also appear in 'Contact'. Overall it's a fun fresh site that makes the studio stand out from the crowd.

09. Velvet Spectrum

Velvet Spectrum is the online moniker of visual artist and designer Luke Choice. He shows that simplicity can also make an impact on his homepage, which shows a montage of uber-colourful thumbnails that lead through to visually arresting super-size examples of his work for maximum impact. The black background keeps things clean and helps the work stand out. It makes for a simple but highly effective design portfolio.

10. Locomotive

Locomotive , a studio based in Quebec, Canada, specialises in crafting digital experiences, so it's taken care to make its design portfolio site an all-round delightful and engaging experience. Playful, entertaining animations bring the site to life, and not just on the homepage. It seems like thought and effort has been put into every detail. Little surprises keep the viewer's interest while they browse through the site, making this a perfect example of how animated flourishes can be used effectively without them becoming gimmicky or distracting.

11. Studio Thomas

Named after its two creative directors, Thomas Austin and Thomas Coombes, Studio Thomas in East London creates visual communication for both physical and digital worlds. Its portfolio is a superb example of Brutalist web design with plenty of neat touches. Projects are presented in an orderly but eye-catching way with clear visuals and wireframe models. The site perfectly reflects the studio's explorative and experimental attitude, and it backs up the studio's claim to offer "design for bold brands."

12. Buzzworthy Studio

Describing itself as a "badass digital studio in Brooklyn", Buzzworthy Studio really needed to come up with the goods to back up that claim, and happily, its portfolio does the job. It features dazzling web techniques from the off. Bold typography and animation combine to grab your attention, and a strong eye for aesthetics ensures that viewers stick around to explore all of Buzzworthy's projects. It's one hell of a calling card.

13. Xavier Cussó

This stunning portfolio site for Barcelona-based designer Xavier Cussó was built by Burundanga Studio. It shows off Cussó's work with bold colours, in-your-face typography and practically every animation and parallax scrolling trick in the book. But that doesn't make it feel overloaded. The animation makes and impact and maintains the viewer's attention throughout.

14. Merijn Hoss

Illustrator and artist Merijn Hoss takes a more pared-back approach, but his design portfolio is still very effective. Hoss creates beautifully detailed psychedelic works of art, but his profile presents his work in quite a simple, clean format. It's one of the most traditional approaches we've included on this list of design portfolios and isn't nearly as flashy as some of the previous examples, but it works well because the colourful thumbnails really pop out of the gallery's white background, putting the focus on the artist's work. Click the thumbnails, and large project images and a short description are revealed. Hoss's design portfolio is proof that you don't need all the bells and whistles to make an impact.

15. Malika Favre

Illustrator Malika Favre uses a full-screen edge-to-edge tapestry of thumbnails to entice visitors into viewing her vibrant artwork in more detail. The colours and layout already draw attention, while the arrangement of animated pieces within still artworks serves even more to keep eyes on the screen. Once clicked, the thumbnails reveal a full-screen gallery presentation of the work featured. It's displayed on complementary coloured backgrounds that show off her work to great effect and makes for a bold, colourful presentation that grabs the viewer's attention.

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Ruth spent a couple of years as Deputy Editor of Creative Bloq, and has also either worked on or written for almost all of the site's former and current print titles, from Computer Arts to ImagineFX. She now spends her days reviewing mattresses and hiking boots as the Outdoors and Wellness editor at T3.com, but continues to write about design on a freelance basis in her spare time. 

• Rosie Hilder

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Harold Makes the World With His Purple Crayon. Who Made Harold?

Before there was a feature film or a book, there was Crockett Johnson.

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By A.O. Scott

“How does Harold draw himself ?” my friend Noam wondered. Noam is 4, so he has a taste for the kind of bracing philosophical speculation that “Harold and the Purple Crayon” — the classic children’s book about a young boy and his magical marker — invites, along with wonder, mischief and delight.

There are grown-ups who might answer that Harold obviously doesn’t draw himself, since he’s the only figure in the book not rendered in a thick purple line. But Noam has a point. Harold is the sole visible creator in his universe. The pages he inhabits are plain white expanses until he fills them: with simple objects like a half-moon, a window frame and a sailboat; with more elaborate compositions like a high-rise cityscape, an apple tree guarded by a dragon and a seaside picnic featuring a moose, a porcupine and nine kinds of pie.

Given such effortless, abundant inventiveness, it’s reasonable to surmise that this industrious and unflappable child might indeed be his own creation. At least in “Purple Crayon,” the first of seven books about Harold, there is no sign of a parent, though Harold does have a home and a bed. (A mother is mentioned in his second adventure, “Harold’s Fairy Tale.”) Even things that might have already been there seem to flow from his crayon, which underlines the paradox that captivated Noam. Harold makes his world. Who made Harold?

While I’ve always been charmed, and sometimes unnerved, by the deep metaphysics of children’s literature, I’m more comfortable dealing with empirical, historical matters. So for the moment I’ll dodge my friend’s query. Harold is the brainchild of Crockett Johnson, who was born in 1906 and took up picture books in midlife, after a career as a design director and political cartoonist. But Johnson himself was to some degree self-invented. The name on his birth certificate is David Leisk; the name on the books was not so much a pseudonym (Johnson was his middle name, Crockett a childhood nickname) as a persona, just as “Seuss” (also a middle name) was for his contemporary Theodor Geisel.

Their careers followed similar paths. Like Geisel, Leisk spent much of the 1930s and early ’40s working in advertising and lending his graphic talents to antifascist and left-wing causes. Unlike Geisel, he drew a syndicated daily comic strip, “Barnaby,” which ran from 1942 to 1947. The titular character is a sensible, self-sufficient 5-year-old with an active imagination and an exasperating imaginary friend (or “fairy godfather”) called Mr. O’Malley. A forerunner of both Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” (for its unsentimental child’s-eye view of the world) and Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” (for its satirical pokes at contemporary reality), “Barnaby” counted Dorothy Parker, Duke Ellington and W.C. Fields among its fans.

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Dungeons & Dragons is 50. These books show how it really got started.

In 1966, Gary Gygax, an insurance underwriter living in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, placed a notice in the “Opponents Wanted” section of the Avalon Hill General, the in-house promotional magazine of the era’s premier war gaming company. Like many gamers, Gygax was part of some local and regional clubs but was always searching for new people to compete with or against. He wrote, “Opponents wanted for face-to-face play. Any AH (Avalon Hill) Wargame, other type war game, or any form of chess.” But then he added a telling sentence: “Will cooperate on game design.”

And cooperate he did. Over the next few years, his labors helped lead to the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, in 1974. But though his name remains the most famous associated with the title, he couldn’t have done it without an adventurous army of Midwestern gamers, especially Dave Arneson, a just-graduated history major at the University of Minnesota and Gygax’s co-author. The game slowly caught on as people began to understand that it offered something new – a product where play was as collaborative as the process through which its rules had been written, and where the only true limit was the imagination of the players. Today, the elements that first coalesced in D&D underpin not only much of the global gaming industry but also the gamification of everyday life.

As D&D turns 50, games historian Jon Peterson wants us to take the history of this iconic game seriously. And he’s done the work, meticulous archival research into the core primary documents through which D&D came together – letters, memos, early drafts, trade publications, and an avalanche of newsletters and fanzines – to argue that this revolution in gaming emerged out of a broad network of interlocking gaming communities. These individuals and clubs often came together in a spirit of innovation and improvisation, constantly debating and tinkering with the rules others had put forward. Sometimes, of course, they were motivated as much by conflict, petty gripes and greed. That word in Gygax’s first ad, “cooperate,” is revealing, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

In “Playing at the World, 2E: Volume I: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons,” Peterson opens by breaking down D&D to its core elements, then locates where those elements first appeared in precursor games. Tractics, a World War II tank game, first used polyhedral dice (that is, dice used to create random numbers in ranges other than one to six). Braunstein, a war game set in a fictional Prussian town, allowed gamers to role-play as nonmilitary characters and affect the outcome of the conflict. Eventually Arneson hosted a “medieval Braunstein” with fantasy elements that he called Blackmoor, a critical precursor of D&D.

After 1974, Peterson shifts to tracing the continued evolution of D&D in many iterations (and the struggles of Gygax’s company, TSR, to maintain control of its core product). The 1974 edition was confusing and limited, and even as TSR started putting out additional material, gamers around the country improvised their own, much as Gygax and Arneson had fiddled with other products to make their game. Sometimes, those improvisers wrote back to TSR, such as when a Californian gamer called Gygax to suggest the game’s “thief” class. The very term “role-playing game” came out of an attempt by TSR to make it clear that while there was a mass of new games, and they all involved role-playing, they were not all D&D.

Peterson proves an able guide through those conflicts and communities, carefully selecting which individuals and publications to highlight, building toward a taxonomy of role-playing games and their core elements. He has previously written a corporate history of D&D (“Game Wizards: The Epic Battle for Dungeons & Dragons”). But this book – a wholesale revision of a self-published tome from 2012 that Peterson himself characterizes as having “a reputation of an impenetrable labyrinth” – is a highly readable history of ideas, rather than a biographical approach to Gygax, his co-authors or the companies they founded.

Another recent volume, “The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977,” engages with the same history but shows rather than tells. Produced by a team at Wizards of the Coast (the company that purchased TSR and Dungeons & Dragons in 1997), it is a sumptuously curated collection of facsimiles of early D&D-related texts, along with commentary from Peterson. Jason Tondro, who led the project, used to be a professor of premodern English literature before he left academia, and he clearly brought that training with manuscripts and curation to this work. The book is gorgeous, packed with gems like doodles of monsters from Gygax and, more central to the story, items such as an announcement in a local newsletter in 1971 of Arneson hosting “medieval Braunstein.” But most of the book is taken up with complete editions of core texts, including Chainmail, Gygax’s medieval war game, to which he appended (controversially) a “fantasy supplement.” It also includes the first unpublished draft of D&D, reproductions of the published first edition and most of the major supporting texts that followed in the next few years.

D&D, as a game, is played by more people than ever before. After a moribund period in the aughts, the release of new, easier-to-play editions, paired with the rise of online live streams of gaming sessions, helped draw new people to the hobby. That’s how it was in the beginning, too; you just had to see the game to understand its potential. In the ’70s, that meant going to a convention or a local gaming group, or at least reading a fictionalized transcript of a gaming session: “The Making” includes a reproduction of one such account that Gygax wrote for a Swiss fanzine. Now, with streaming, it’s easier to learn to play, and as many folks discovered during the early years of the COVID pandemic, role-playing games translate very well to Zoom and other virtual platforms.

But if D&D hadn’t bounced back, or if someday it fades away, the history provided in these volumes would still be valuable. If you look around, you’ll find the influence of D&D everywhere, from corporate culture to the classroom, from exercise apps to customer loyalty programs. Understanding how we live now means understanding how concepts like experience points, leveling up and role-playing entered our culture. Where TSR had once tried to maintain control of D&D, the monster born in the Midwest has long since spread its wings and taken to the skies. But the story of how it was hatched – and the many gamers who helped raise it – is as relevant as ever.

David Perry is a journalist and assistant director of undergraduate studies in the history department at the University of Minnesota. He is a co-author of “The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe.”

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