A Special Commemorative Anthology
When Black Bears & Blueberries Publishing approached me to work with illustrator Tashia Hart to design an anthology of Native women writers organized by Diane Wilson, I jumped at the chance! Honoring the work of this power group of writers in the first Native Authors Program with a beautiful book was an absolute pleasure of a project.
Developing the Design
Project Brief
This limited edition book was created to both honor and acknowledge the completion of the first Native Authors Program as part of All My Relations Arts. To quote program mentor Diane Wilson‘s introduction, “The program was a response to the underrepresentation of Native authors and books in publishing as well as in literary grants and awards. The Native Authors Program was formed to support emerging Native writers in completing a book-length manuscript for publication.”
As Thomas Peacock of Black Bears & Blueberries Publishing explained to me, they were tasked with a 80–100 page 6 x 9 book soft cover (perfect bound) book, black & white interior and 9 author/editor photos. They hoped to tap artist and one of the authors, Tashia Hart, for the cover art, if she was available. The book will be a single 1,000 piece run, printed locally (ultimately with Bookmobile), to be given away at events.
One of the great things about working with this publisher is that they give clear guidance on what they need, and then trust me to take the idea and create a beautiful product.
Cover Development
I love working with illustrators to create covers. And I especially love it when I can coordinate with them before they create their art. This allows me to guide them as to the space available and any typographic plans I have.
To complement Tashia’s art, I decided to use Stanyan typeface by Richard Kegler, founder and lead designer of P22 Type Foundry, on the cover for the list of authors and editors. It’s a hand-drawn serif typeface that strikes a fun balance between formal and informal, complementing Cabrito, the titling typeface I used on both the interior and cover.
Layout & Typesetting
As a collection of prose, poetry, and short narratives, but no images aside from the authors’ photos, the layout is straightforward. Design includes the chapter opener and body text pages, as well as styles for each chapter’s introductory summary and poetry. Front matter includes a half-title page, a title page, a copyright page, a dedication page, and a table of contents. Back matter consists of the authors’ section and a larger-than-normal acknowledgments section, owing to the various granting and coordinating organizations involved with the group.
I chose to keep a fairly traditional layout for the 6 x 9 page, based on a 35-line text block set in Minion Pro, a typeface by Adobe’s Robert Slimbach. Running headers of author and title for the included work in Minion’s eminently clean italic. As usual, I used a baseline grid to ensure front-to-back alignment of text lines, resulting in a very clean appearance.
Because the book is “only” text, the typeface choice plays a larger role in its visual spirit. With the body in the traditional Minion style, I wanted to complement it with a touch of flair. Chapter titles were set centered in the elegant and modern Cabrito, designed by Jeremy Dooley from Insigne Design. The result is clean, fresh, and eminently readable with just a touch of attitude.
