Design & Production
Book design is so much more than a splashy cover. Though the cover does indeed entice a potential buyer to “look inside,” the text treatment can help seal the deal. Typography: font choice, type size, leading, and column widths can all affect the readability of a book.
My philosophy of book design is to make the text flow in a logical and effortless manner. I don’t want anything to break the reader’s concentration with too many hyphens or line spacing that is so extreme that the eye cannot track from one line to the next without getting lost. I select fonts for readability and to reflect the mood of the book. Graphic images and photos are used to enhance the narrative.
My cover design has evolved over the years. When brick and mortar stores were the main vehicles for book sales, a cover needed to stand out on the shelf and beckon the reader to open it. With the advent of Amazon and other online bookstores—and the rise of Twitter as a marketing vehicle—the cover now also has to do that job in thumbnail form. This calls for greater scrutiny of the images and fonts used to ensure that the cover looks good in both its full-sized and reduced forms.
The portfolio samples shown illustrate six types of books: poetry/inspirational hybrid, memoir, fiction, narrative non-fiction, instructional fiction, and poetry.
DRIVEWAY HOOPS:
An Illustrated Guide of Basketball Fundamentals for Kids, Parents, and Coaches
The author provided the illustrations for this comprehensive guide to basketball techniques and drills. Because they were so specific to the fundamental being shown I opted for a bold, graphic cover using a purchased stock image that I modified to fit our needs. I chose a mix of a collegiate font for the main heads and a simple, yet distinctive sans serif for the text.
nothing everything
The author of this contemporary novel about a group of young professional women had an education in marketing so she was very involved in the visual look of this book. Because her vision was so strong, and indeed, spot on, I let her take the lead and worked with her to bring it to life from a technical end. The result is a beautiful book that’s quite different from anything I have done before and, indeed, most books out there.
Horizons of Joy: Poetic Thresholds for Winter
This book invites the reader to an innovative blend of poetry, meditation, and word stories, guiding them through the days shortening and the nights deepening, at the threshold of the Winter Solstice. A companion journal gives the reader additional space, along with writing prompts, to express their thoughts. I used stock photos to create watercolor images to illustrate the four sections of the book.
The Ribbon Untied: A Journey to Finding a Family
A memoir chronicling the author’s relationship with her husband and their journey to helping him discover the story of his birth father. The client provided the images and text. I worked with the photographer to develop the cover photo. I assisted the author with self-publishing through Ingram Spark.
Bridging the Bond
An expansion of a PhD thesis published by Purdue University Press. The author provided all images.
Floating Midnight
A collection of short stories published by River Lily Press, San Antonio, TX. The publisher provided the photos for the cover.
Midnight Housekeeping
A collection of poems published by River Lily Press, San Antonio, TX. The publisher provided the cover illustration and author’s photo. I created the graphics for the four sections of the book.
Teaming with Your Therapy Dog
An instructional manual and narrative. The author provided photos. I created the “step” graphic. This design and layout were done to help the author secure a publishing contract—which it did with Purdue University Press.
Teaming with Your Therapy Dog Sample
“Working with Andrea Ptak of Communicating Words and Images was an extremely gratifying experience on so many levels. I am a new writer with very little background in the world of publishing. In a very gentle way, she coached, supported, offered creative solutions, and was always there for me. Her enthusiasm was contagious as she led me through the process of self-publishing, step by step. If she didn’t know how to solve one of my questions, she researched many options and then offered her advice. She was a true collaborator and professional who always had my best interest. I would highly recommend her to authors who might be seeking help with the next steps in publishing. “
Ann Eklund
Author – “The Ribbon Untied, A Journey to Finding a Family“
I invite publishers and authors to contact me when considering your next project’s design and production needs.
Design and Production
I specialize in the production of news publications for professional associations, non-profit organizations, and businesses. The types of publications include magazines/newsletters for members or employees, annual reports, membership directories, member/employee benefit packages, and conference programs.
Unlike glossy commercial magazines, these periodicals don’t have the benefit of vast advertising income to give them an unlimited production budget. That means the majority of articles and images are often supplied by volunteer members and/or staff. Most have a not-to-be-exceeded maximum number of pages per issue regardless of supplied content. And many require the review by people outside the editorial/production process—board members and other higher-ups—which can throw the proverbial monkey wrench into the works.
Working on these projects can be like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle of disparate and occasionally missing or incomplete pieces into a coherent, cohesive, and attractive final product. I often handle project management, in addition to design/layout and production for my publications clients because I can give them a turnkey product within a short timeframe.
I work to establish a good relationship with the editors and other responsible staff members to ensure that the publication is not only the best it can be from a written and visual standpoint, but also meets the deadline within budget. As a testimony to my skills, my publications clients stay with me at least 5 years, and more than a few have stayed for over 15.
The portfolio examples shown are just a small sampling of the publication work I have done over the past three decades.
The Mind Science Foundation
I produced quarterly newsletters and other publications for this San Antonio-based non-profit from 1990–1998. This multi-year annual report is a good example of what can be done with a tight budget and a minimum of images.
Interactions
I began working with Delta Society—a non-profit dedicated to promoting the human–animal bond—in 1993. The magazine and its design evolved from black and white to full color over the years, giving me the opportunity to redesign it three times—the final incarnation when the group officially changed its name to Pet Partners. Unfortunately, the black and white versions were created before full digital production files, but you can see the design variances in the two covers. Both times, I worked within specific graphic style guidelines established by the organization’s marketing firm.
Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties
This publication is an example of a member recruitment piece and illustrates what can be accomplished with a single color and fine typography.
AEG News
This quarterly member magazine of the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists is the latest incarnation of a publication I have been producing since 2002. Then, I made modest design adjustments to the simple (black and white text with color cover) issue that had been produced in MSWord. Later, when the issue began utilizing more color inside, I redesigned the entire look. I repeated the process in 2014, to accommodate full color and to coordinate the design with the organization’s new website. The current cover design can accommodate a single image or a grid of multiple images depending on the need.
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you with your publication needs, be it a one-of report or a quarterly.
"I hired Andrea to edit and publish professional journals for CNA Consulting. She was highly responsive and produced excellent publications for us! I'd work with her again in a heartbeat!"
Linda Jack, Sr. Manager, Leadership Development Programs at Esterline
Design and Production
The academic journal is its own brand of publication. Often the product of a professional society or organization, it features peer-reviewed articles and research papers by graduate students and/or experts in the field. An editor reviews the selected papers for editorial style and readability. Design and production can be handled by the publisher or, as in the case of the journal I produce, an independent contractor.
I served as production manager for Anthrozoös, the journal of the International Society for Anthrozoology, from 1993–2020. I worked with two different editors over that time, and four different publishers. In addition to layout and production of press-ready files, I coordinated proof reviews with the authors and the editor. This included uploading uncorrected proofs in HTML formatting to the publisher’s pre-publication webpage and sending a PDF copy of the final file to each author.
Papers ran from simple text-only to the complex—full of formulae, tables, graphs, and photographs. The challenge was to ensure that these graphic elements appear in a logical place without leaving large gaps on the pages. Anthrozoös has a set number of allotted pages per issue, so fitting all papers and their elements into this restriction is essential. Despite the technical restrictions, I make the effort to create a page that adheres to the highest level of typographic standards—avoiding widows, orphans, and awkward word breaks. The result is a well-formatted and graphically pleasing publication.
Anthony Podberscek
Editor-in-Chief, Anthrozoös
"I have worked with Andrea Leigh Ptak for over 13 years and have found her to be an excellent production manager for the journal I edit. She has great skills in layout design and has proven to be hardworking and efficient, and she always keeps to deadlines. She is also very friendly—a pleasure to work with."
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you with your journal publication needs.
Design and Production
Promotional materials for musicians, performances, and events serve a different purpose than a logo/corporate ID for a business. The shelf life might only need to be for a few days/months as compared to years/decades. There is little need to spend the time or money (both often in short supply) to create an iconic symbol for the ages. The advent of digital press technology makes short-run, full-color printing affordable and available for everyone with the need—from indie musicians to neighborhood arts organizations.
Using supplied images or with custom-made graphics, I work with individuals and smaller organizations to create materials that are targeted to their markets. I offer affordable rates for these services depending on the client’s needs and budget. The key is for the client to trust that I can create something attractive and functional after an initial consultation, and, to give me enough lead-time to fit the project into my schedule. I normally provide one design option—usually for the type treatment and a visual—to show where I’m headed. We fine-tune from there to create the pieces needed, be it a single poster or an entire package.
Diverse Harmony
Various Social Media Images, Posters, and Programs
This Seattle-based youth chorus is one of my pro-bono accounts. I enjoy using my skills and talent to assist organizations dear to my heart. I provide everything from marketing advice to copyediting, design, illustration, and final production. I work to ensure that the graphics capture the spirit and theme of each show. The client appreciates this donation of time and talent and trusts me to do the job with free rein.
Road Girl—Vols. 1 & 2
CD Packaging and Promotional Pieces
Singer/Songwriter Jean Mann provided the images, shots taken “on the road,” for the two-CD set of music gleaned from live performances. Taking my inspiration from those images and Jean’s whimsical, poetic music, I created a package that included a CD wallet/disc design (for printing via CD Baby), a Radio Playlist, and CD Release Poster, as well as a sticker and tote bag (for RG1) and a stainless steel mug (for RG2) used as Kickstarter premiums.
Columbia City Solstice Festival
Graphics and Poster
A simple graphic illustration and decorative typographic treatment made this poster for a one-day event eye-catching and informative.
Thursday Morning Alleleu
CD Packaging and Promotional Poster
Singer/Songwriter Kathleen Tracy had a friend create beautiful watercolor illustrations for her debut CD cover. I added fine typography to match its feel and style. For the inside spread, I sampled a color from the illustration to “tint” the black and white, tightly cropped image of Kathleen and her guitar. I maintained the look, feel, and colors to create the simple, but effective, poster for the CD release.
Light on Water Healing Arts
Logo Design, Business Cards, Rate Card, Gift Certificate, Street Sign
This trio of healing arts practitioners wanted a coordinated package of marketing materials that would attract an upscale clientele and reflect their brand of alternative medicine and wellness. They provided the photo, which in turn established their color scheme.
River Lily Press
Author Reading Poster
Using the basic graphics and colors established in the book design I created for this River Lily Press offering, I created a companion poster that could easily be customized for various locations.
Explorer West Middle School
Auction Materials
The theme for this auction was Roman Theater. Using royalty-free images I found on the internet, I added color and grouped them in a grid to create a strong graphic element for the covers and invitation. I selected one of the images to use on supplemental pieces to create a cohesive package. Font choices enhanced the design.
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you with your promotional material needs.
Design and Production
Any business or organization that is in the public eye should have a visual identifier that helps to illustrate what it does or what it stands for. This visual is often the central point to the company’s “brand” and can be made up of a distinctive typographic way to display the company name (the logotype), which may or may not incorporate a graphic symbol, or icon, to become the logo. The icon can stand on its own—sometimes replacing the need for the company name at all. Think Apple or Nike.
Over my 40+ years as a designer, I have created dozens of logos for a diverse offering of industries and non-profits. Some were developed to stand the test of time. Others were for a one-of event or short-term use.
The photographic image that ushers in this page illustrates both a logo design and its uses on stationery and a marketing piece. This logo was created before PDF technology and the need for digital images for use on the web. The remaining examples represent some of the projects created since my move to Seattle in 1993—when digital production came into its own. If you’d like to see more examples from the non-digital years, just ask!
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you in developing the perfect logo for you or your organization.
In addition to my graphic design and writing services, I often function as the project manager for the publications I work on. Currently, I handle the management of AEG News for the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists. I also handled the management of The International Society of Anthrozoology’s journal—Anthrozoös from 1993–2020 and Delta Society’s Interactions magazine from 1993–2015. My job varies from publication to publication. The descriptions below can give you an idea of my skill-set and how it might apply to your project:
For Non-Profit Organizations, Professional Associations, Businesses, Small Publishers
Any entity that publishes a periodical, annual report, donor magazine, or other complex documents may be in need of a professional to assist the process along in a timely, accurate, and cost-effective manner. This is especially true for non-profits, associations, and small businesses that rarely have the funds or need for a full-time staff member to take on this role. Most have a point person (acquisitions editor) on staff, who takes in submissions from board members, co-workers, association members, and the like, and hands it over to a production team for completion.
This process can vary in efficiency depending on the skill sets of the staff member, in addition to their own time constraints depending on how many other “hats” they may be wearing. A project manager (who may also serve as a member of the creative production team as I often do), can ensure that publications stay on schedule and get to press without expensive surprises or edits in the process. My most recent project of this type was the Clinical Skills Handbook for the Institute of Family Development.
For Self-published Authors
Despite Guy Kawaski’s advice in his book APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur–How to Publish a Book, it’s not always the best route for an author to opt for the DIY approach. Professional copyediting, proofreading, cover design, and page layout can help a self-published work stand out from the ever-growing crowd. A Project Manager, can assist the author in deciding just what they can and can’t handle on their own, and advise and assist them in selecting team members to help make their publishing dreams come true. This is especially important for writers of non-fiction and technical books that may have an abundance of tables, charts, and other graphics. Ensuring that these elements translate well to the printed page is a job for someone experienced in digital production requirements.
For Academic Associations, Journal Publishers
Academic journals are not always published by a university press. They are sometimes the product of a professional association or society to foster research and discussion in their field of study. Though they usually have more-than-qualified editors and peer reviewers, they often need help with the production process. Tasks can include coordinating the post-layout proof process with the contributing authors in addition to the aforementioned design and production services and liaison with the printer/publisher as well.
To find out if your publishing project could benefit from the assistance of a project manager, contact me for a free half-hour of consultation.
Though my degree is in graphic design, during my career I realized that many of my clients needed copyediting services. Since the written word was my second love, I took numerous workshops and studied editing manuals to enable me to provide copyediting as an additional service. I have edited text for the majority of my clients. The work includes brochures, reports, and, in many cases, magazines.
AEG News
Publications
The Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG) produces a news magazine for its members. In addition to three themed issues per year, they publish an annual report/directory and the program with abstracts for its annual meeting. I work with AEG’s editors who are both volunteers and professional geologists. These editors review text for content and light copyediting, then pass the text on to me. I do one more thorough copyediting pass for basic grammar and punctuation and to ensure that the text conforms to the style guide I developed with one of the past editors. I also combine submissions for the associations affiliate chapters to create The Homefront section of the magazine.
PDF SAMPLES:
Delta Society/Pet Partners
Interactions
I worked with this national non-profit for 15 years with an on-staff editor who handled acquisitions and content. They supplied text and images to me for use in producing their member magazine. It was my responsibility to copyedit the text for grammar, punctuation, and style. I combined submissions to create one document for the State-by-State section. I was often consulted on possible themes for certain issues.
Bridging the Bond
Purdue University Press
In addition to design and production for print, it was my responsibility to copyedit the text. Not only did I have to edit for basic grammar, etc., I also had to work on the readability of the text, as it was originally written as an academic paper by a graduate student. It was my job to make the text less dry and static.
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you with your publication needs, be it a one-of report or a quarterly.
If I had not become a graphic designer, I would have majored in English and the written word. Hence, I look for opportunities to use that skill whenever possible. Over the years, some of my magazine clients asked me to also write articles for their publications. I was happy to oblige and added that skill to my list of services. I dipped my toe into the national waters when I queried American Girl Magazine about writing an article about a tween who visited nursing homes with her dog as a registered Pet Partners team. They not only accepted my pitch, but later asked me to write another dog-related piece for them. That first success gave me the courage to pitch other publications. Since then, I have been a regular contributor to ParentMap—a regional parenting magazine, and have had articles printed in other national and regional publications.
Interactions
Delta Society Member Magazine
Various Stories
During my association with Delta Society, I wrote numerous articles for their member magazine. The majority of these were feature stories about the human–animal bond. Topics included pets, therapy animals, and service animals, and how interactions with them improve people’s lives. More than a few of these articles were reprinted in other publications. I also copyedited and compiled numerous shorter stories into a cohesive article.
American Girl Magazine
Pleasant Company (now a division of Mattel®)
Lend a Paw
Through my contact with Delta Society, I decided to pitch American Girl Magazine about a tween girl who visits nursing homes with her pet dog as a registered Delta Society Pet Partner. They loved the idea—my first sale to a national publication. An uptick in queries to Delta Society showed that the article helped inspire other tweens to become Pet Partners too.
American Girl Magazine
Pleasant Company (now a division of Mattel®)
Signs of Love
My editor asked me to write an article about a tween who had taught a deaf dog sign language. She gave me a link to a group of people who owned deaf dogs, but it was my responsibility to find a match for the article—and to get permission for the girl’s parents to interview. My editor was so pleased with the result that my piece became the feature story for that issue. It was also picked up by the Duke University tutoring program for Durham Public Schools as part of their non-fiction reading lessons.
Parent Map
PNW Regional Magazine
Various Stories
My first pitch to Parent Map was an article about bringing a new baby home to a family with pets. Since then, I have written dozens of articles and columns on topics as varied as picking a preschool (the cover story for that issue), body image, saving for college tuition, and the benefit of brain games. In every case, I was responsible for finding both regional and national professional sources to interview and researching credible information. You can see and read a complete library of my articles by visiting ParentMap and putting “Andrea Leigh Ptak” in their search engine.
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you with your publication needs, be it a one-of report or a quarterly.
If I had not become a graphic designer, I would have majored in English and the written word. Hence, I look for opportunities to use that skill whenever possible. Over the years, some of my magazine clients asked me to also write articles for their publication. I was happy to oblige and added that skill to my list of services. Though most non-fiction writing takes research and some interviewing, the interview-based article requires the additional ability of being able to talk to the main subject, put them at ease, and get the information needed. I often do some research in advance of the interview to acquaint myself with the topic of discussion, allowing me to ask good questions that elicit detailed answers. I pride myself in capturing the subject’s personal style or voice when I develop the final narrative.
AEG News
The Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists
Member Profiles
From 2003–08, I wrote a regular column for AEG News under the heading Member Profiles. The gist of the column was to highlight a member of the association who had an interesting or extraordinary hobby or secondary profession outside the field of geology. I reviewed responses to a query asking for members who would be interested in participating and selected the ones to profile. Each column was based on a 60–90-minute phone interview.
Contact me for a free ½-hour of consultation to see how I can assist you with your publication needs, be it a one-of report or a quarterly.
