Book Designer

Scribe Typography focuses on book design and publication design. With ample experience in design, prepress for four-color printing, and the publishing environment, I can manage a project from start to finish or step in at any point in the process.

I regularly provide design and production services for publishers, universities, corporations, non-profits.

Not all designers understand how to make type work well. I have a passion for type and practice traditional typography. This means I design to express the content, value legibility and usability, and pay attention to detail.

I add value to my design services by approaching each project intelligently. I can suggest more efficient, cost-effective production strategies and offer feedback on how to best communicate with your audience.

Experience

Recent projects include designs for books that won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and a New York Times nonfiction best-seller. In 2007 I was involved with the production of about 26 books, a semi-annual publication, and collateral materials for my clients.

Although I am independent now, for some years I held jobs in the industry while doing design work on the side. Some of the highlights:

Four years as graphic designer and prepress expert for a quality four-color commercial press.
Four years as Computer Coordinator for a metropolitan weekly newspaper.
Two years at commercial type shops. Commercial type shops don't exist since the appearance of PostScript, desktop publishing, and the wide availability of fonts.
Two years at a trade book publisher producing books, manuals, and advertising.
Three years as lead typographer for the composition department a fast-growing publisher.

Editorial & Writing Experience:
Visual arts critic, Reflex Magazine, Seattle Weekly
Editorial Intern, Harper & Row, San Francisco
Editor, Berkeley Poetry Review, UC Berkeley

Education:
BA in English, UC Berkeley, graduated with high honors, studied book design with Steve Renick through UC Extension, calligraphy with John Prestianni through CCAC

Areas of Special Interest:
Literature, visual art, travel, gardening, Asia, Latin America, wilderness, comparative religion, sustainability issues.
Foreign languages: Italian, Spanish.

References and portfolio available on request.