RECENT WORK: Patchwork Lab: Gemology

Publishing books is a sneaky business. By the time the book is released and ready to sell, the book team will have already spent nearly a year working on the project! That’s a whole year of working on something super-cool and not being able to share what I’m working on. That may explain the blog posts coming in fits and spurts—or maybe it’s because I get distracted and forget about posting. I am a xenial, afterall: half-analog/half-digital. That said, a really fun book has just reached the hands of the author, so I get to be digital today ;)

Patchwork Lab: Gemology by Andra Tsang Jackson for Lucky Spool was a pleasure to design. Her graphic paper-pieced gemstones and beautiful color sense give this book a sophistication that graphic designers like me dream of working with.

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Kristy

Project: Patchwork Lab: Gemology
Author: Andrea Tsang Jackson
Publisher: Lucky Spool
Book Design: Page + Pixel
Photography: Holly DeGroot

OTP // Mini Masterpieces

A few weeks ago, Mini Masterpieces by Alyce Blythe for Lucky Spool was sent off-to-print. What a fun book to work on! The quilts on this book cover are not photoshopped together, they are the actual quilts hung on a wall. Aren’t they great? They really are minis.

Designing and photographing a cover this way appears like it should be pretty quick and simple (Spoiler: the more simple the layout, the more challenging it was to put together). There were endless configurations that we could place these quilts in, it seriously began feeling like a giant game of tetris! Playing with the shapes and balancing the color, considering where the title would be placed and which quilts worked best together…I’m kicking myself for not recording a time lapse of this set up.

Composing the image while keeping the text in mind is my favorite way to design. I suppose it’s a good thing that I know a great photographer.

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Kristy

Project: Mini Masterpieces
Author: Alyce Blythe
Publisher: Lucky Spool
Book Design + Photography: Page + Pixel

FOCUS + Recent Work // Inspiring Improv

I’m stuck. I’m supposed to be working on a new book design and I’m getting hung up on details that don’t usually stump me. I’ve just spent the last precious hour and a half going in circles about a design decision. I keep telling myself to “Focus”...”Stay focused”…”Make some tea and get focused”. 

All I can think of is this photo that Nissa shot this past summer.

What a wonderfully creative, exciting, invigorating photo shoot that was. We were in Mendocino County at the beach, shooting Nicholas Ball’s book, Inspiring Improv for Lucky Spool . We rented a beach house and made a beautiful mess inside with quilts and pillows and random props all over the place and we had a plan and we stuck to it and we made a bunch of gorgeous photos. 

Imagine that—a plan! I had a plan today and it was to get this book design going, but then I got stuck—unfocused.

After sitting in my pitty-pot for a few minutes I started looking through the photos from the Improv shoot and reminded myself to take a break from what isn’t working. Stretching a different set of muscles for a while will do me some good. 

How about that image with the glass tray in focus? Maybe it’s just that easy to shift focus and to not dwell on what’s not working. Maybe I can remind myself that I do know what I’m doing, it’s just not what I’m focused on right now. Maybe if I let myself be confused and let myself play without a deadline and let myself be tired and rest, it will all come back clear to me. There really is no “maybe”, I’ve been here before so many times before. I know it comes back, I know this is part of the process, it’s just inconvenient.

When the focus comes back it feels really good. I feel settled and feel a quiet satisfaction, much like dusk in a night garden near the ocean.

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Kristy // DESIGN

INSPIRING IMPROV is debuting at QuiltCon in February.
Book Design + Photography: Page + Pixel
Publisher: Lucky Spool Media
Author: Nicholas Ball