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Many clients have collected images, texts, word documents, and other items which are not yet in a print-ready PDF file, but which they would like bound into a hardcover book format. The studio offers book design and page layout, image scanning and editing, copyediting, printing, and project management — every aspect of the creation of a book, from the concept to the final presentation. Single hardcover copies as well as editions of up to 200 can be provided.

The aesthetic goals, specifications, and confidentiality of the client are always respected, and numerous opportunities are provided to adjust drafts and layouts before books are printed and bound. It is recommended that clients use a dropbox or google drive file to compile all of their materials; hard copies may be brought to the studio for scanning and/or transcription. At the completion of each project, the client is provided with a thumb drive containing all of the digital files: edited images, working documents, and final PDF layouts.

Sample page layout and bookbinding projects

Memory Book (Wrap Gift)
A book combining commissioned drawings, script pages, compiled letters, photographs, and posters.
Image editing work in Adobe Photoshop: Pencil drawings scanned into digital files and background paper texture removed. Posters desaturated from color files to gray-scale. Script pages scanned in to digital files.
Page layout work in Adobe InDesign: Pages given gray backgrounds, text typeset in white. Different fonts used for text of letters and authors. Pages presented in chronological order, varying mixture of image types and content.
Page size, 12” high x 10” wide. Printed on Cougar text paper.
Hardcover leather binding with black foil stamping.
Custom clamshell box to match binding.

Illustrated Novel, with dust jacket
Client provided Microsoft Word document and mixture of photographs, drawings, and digital imagery.
Images edited in Adobe Photoshop, color corrected, backgrounds lightened, pencil markings removed. Dust jacket images modified to fit book size.
Pages laid out in Adobe InDesign, copyedits, spell checking, and line breaks corrected throughout.
Page size, 11” high x 8.5” wide. Printed on Cougar text book paper.
Book bound in black hardcover cloth with gold stamping on spine and front cover.
Dust jacket to match.
Edition of 7.

Artist’s Book
Pop-up book edition.
Accordion book with pop-ups, folded from a single page. Front, photographs of sea, poem text, ship imagery. Reverse, historic map.
Hand-drawn mockup leading to Adobe InDesign page layout spread.
Horizons of photographs aligned. Images of ships and sea monsters edited in Adobe Photoshop and layered over photographs.
Map image from digital photograph from in-studio conservation project. Additional imagery added to map in Adobe Photoshop.
Printed on Mohawk Superfine paper.
Open size, 12” wide x 8” high, folded to 2” x 2”.
Pop-ups hand-cut; pages hand-folded.
Hardcover wrapper of Twinrocker handmade paper, with ribbon ties and foil stamping.
Edition of 100.

Picture Book
Client commissioned an artist to create illustrations and provided digital files.
Images laid out in InDesign to create print ready book.
Page size, 10” high x 12.5” wide.
Printed on Cougar text book paper.
Hardcover cloth binding with front cover foil stamping.
Custom clamshell box to match book cover.

Illustrated Story
PDF of project provided.
Pages imported into Adobe Photoshop and text darkened. Images brightened and contrast improved. Minor text edits within Photoshop.
Pages laid out in InDesign to match original book presentation.
Page size, 8” x 8”.
Printed on Cougar text book paper.
Hardcover cloth binding, with full color image inset into front cover.
Edition of 30.

Illustrated Artist’s Book
Archival skeletons resized in Adobe Photoshop.
Book text, Man, A Machine, typeset in Goudy, text in gray. Type wrapped around skeletons. Pages laid out in Adobe InDesign.
Page size, 9” high x 6” wide.
Printed on Mohawk Superfine paper.
Paper hand-dyed in studio.
Edition of 20.

Celebratory Scrapbook
Compiled vintage photographs, handwritten letters, drawings, emails, Word documents, and digital photographs.
Adobe Photoshop image editing: color correcting, backgrounds removed, images straighten and cropped.
Pages laid out in InDesign, combining letters and images throughout.
Page size, 10” high x 8” wide.
Printed on Cougar text book paper.
Hardcover cloth binding, foil stamping on front cover.
Clamshell box to match book cover.

Autobiography
Client provides assistance writing autobiographies. Chapter extract from biography, prepared by client in Microsoft Word.
Photographs editing in Adobe Photoshop: color adjustments, backgrounds removed.
Text typeset in Adobe InDesign. Section breaks, decorative capitals, justified pages.
Page size, 9” high x 6” wide.
Printed on Cougar text book paper.
Hardcover cloth binding with black foil stamping.
Matching clamshell box.

Photo Album
Photo album containing a mixture of archival photographs (which had been scanned), contemporary digital photographs, and ephemera (scanned in studio).
Photographs resized in Adobe Photoshop.
Album pages laid out in Adobe InDesign.
Page size, 10” high x 12.5” wide. Printed on glossy paper.
Hardcover binding in quarter linen with Japanese paper covers.
Full linen clamshell box.