With two excellent books pubished on aspects of 19th Century Victorian history, Eaglehawk Press are off to a flying start. Their recently created website is very accessible and hopefully will feature more well-crafted books as time goes by. Workingtype Design worked with Eaglehawk Press on the cover and text design of both books, and can attest to the attention to detail and effort behind their creation.
Free Scholarly ebooks
From the ever-active folk at Open Culture, a very long list of free ebooks, many of them the greats of world literature and intellectual endeavour. From Wittgenstein to David Foster Wallace — a lifetime's reading awaits...
Herbert Peabody
Bianca Ross' charming Herbert Peabody series (typesetting and layout by WorkingType Design) continues with Herbert Peabody and the Incredible Beehive. Authors would do very well to study Bianca's promotional activities as outlined on her Herbert Peabody-themed Facebook feed. Lots of media activity, plentiful, on-point posts, a feeling of positive, targeted activity. And it helps somewhat that the book itself is excellent with very good quality illustrations. Herbert's official website is worth investigating as well. And buy the book!
An Accident of Birth — Comparing Countries
A quick way of checking one nation's vital signs against another, and what they would mean if you relocated from one to another. The relatively minor differences between the industrialised democracies stand in stark contrast to the massive divide when comparing them to under-developed countries afflicted with corrupt and repressive regimes. Overall, a well-designed website that vividly demonstrates the work to be done in ensuring a better outlook for a large fraction of the Earth's population.
Fonts on Fire — Tinder for Typefaces
With the Ashley Madison hack in the news, comparing a font matching service with a dating service is probably not a great move. Fontflame brings the matching aspect of Tinder to typefaces. At present all of the typefaces matched are from the Google stable. This means they are free for any use, but the overall selection is rather limited. Also, the type sample shown on screen is rather small, making it difficult to make an informed selection. A more full-featured service would be great, with typefaces from large and small foundries and the ability to input one's own text string. That would be very useful for designers looking for inspiration.
Surfing Selfie
Capture a thumbnail sketch of your freewheelin' web-surfing self. Mine was rather email and work-oriented, perhaps yours will tend toward something more idiosyncratic.
Information is Dangerous to a Dictatorship...
Repressive governments are in the business of keeping secrets from their own people. The Chinese Government has attempted (with much success) to filter the Internet anything critical of their practices and record. To get a sense of the huge repressive enterprise involved in scrubbing the Internet of any inconvenient truths, have a look at some of these sites. And give some thought to the long term intellectual consequences of institutional dishonesty.
Elvis is in the Building — Interpretive Design
The Henry Parkes Centre is located in Parkes, NSW. WorkingType Design worked on the exterior and interior signage units — the emphasis being on colour, boldness and scale. The Centre houses a rather diverse group of exhibits: The King's Castle Elvis Exhibit, Parkes Motor Museum, Parkes Museum and Antique Machinery collection.
Go Duck Go
If you'd like to search the web without every keystroke being logged, analysed and monetised, try Duck Duck Go, "the search engine that doesn't track you" (and is blocked in China). Of particular interest is escape from the "filter bubble". Many google and Facebook users are unaware that search results are subtly tailored to their user profile and history on that service. So you may miss out on interesting links because Google automatically demotes them according to your perceived preferences.
Large File Transfers: One Time Box
Large file transfer is big business. Anyone who has tried to attach heftier files to an email will soon want a better way. Dropbox is an excellent option, as is ge.tt, wetransfer or hightail. One Time Box represents interesting new look a fresh look at the underlying use-case. Just set up a 'box', upload your files into it and email the link to the recipient. No need to part with contact details or anything else. The service is free, with a total file size limit of 1GB, and uploaded files last one week.
Accidental Terrorist — Book Cover
A hapless conman inadvertently attracts the attention of American anti-terror operatives. Niresh Parag follows in the tradition of Tom Sharpe in chronicling Mukeri's misadventures, building up to a literally explosive finale. Our cover incorporates some of the key elements of the story, including a rocket made of 44 gallon drums! Typefaces used: Veneer, Ambulance Shotgun Pro.
Cut to the Chase — Book Cover Design
Writer of mystery and crime fiction, Ray Scott has an impressive website showcasing his work. Unusually, his news page is up to date, with accounts of recent talks and pointers to upcoming events. Cut to the Chase (cover design by WorkingType Design) is available on Amazon.
On Writing for Teen Boys and Getting Your Book into Schools
Some interesting thoughts from Anne Davies, author of Wrath, listed as a notable book in the Children's Book Council Awards. She touches on the school market and writing with boys and young men in mind.
“Well, I was a high school teacher for a long time and found boys particularly hated reading, apart from”The Outsiders” which was written by a 17 year old American girl (S.E.Hinton) back in the ‘70’s .They made a movie of it — the first movie, I think, for Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe and Matt Dillon.
Anyway, I thought I would try to write something a bit more meaty but using her principles which boys liked — minimal description, short chapters, plenty happening,every chapter ending on something which you would want to find out,move the action along.I have certain things which I wanted to add — the whole idea of personal responsibility for your actions; how you need to have some “rules” for yourself — what sort of person do I want to be? How can I not be led by others into doing things I don’t want to without appearing a loser? What things do I admire in other people and want for myself? etc.This allowed me to at least touch on Buddhist concepts of being in control of your own thinking. As I say in the book, take over the steering wheel of your mind, without being too overtly religious but trying to convey the necessity of not just floating along being influenced by others or by random thoughts.One reviewer said, the book “gets a bit preachy towards the end for some.” I have to say, I meant to be preachy.
I approached a few schools which had been sent a copy of the book and bought a class set and offered to talk to the kids.I have only gone to two but both have been great, with the teachers saying some kids said this was the first book they had ever read to the end (we’re talking Year 12 here!). They all wanted to know about how much was autobiographical (lots!), would there be a sequel (no, I don’t think so) and so on. The surprise was that girls liked it too. Both teachers were very enthusiastic because the kids had really gotten into it and were happy to recommend it to teachers they knew so it will roll on hopefully.”
Local Author Generating Publicity
The Albury Wodonga paper of record, the Border Morning Mail recently ran a story on Maria Stefanidis and her book "The Sunny Side of the Street". The article details Maria's dedication to her writing and discipline in ensuring her work is of the highest possible quality.
Genetics, Murder and Time Travelling — Recent Cover Designs
Three recent titles we have worked on. A diverse range of subject matter (as usual) — genetics, a Victorian-era murder mystery and a time travelling thriller.
Red Cross Poster Series
A bit of a blast from the past — three posters from a multi-poster series designed for internal use by the Australian Red Cross. Using simple, bold typography configured to reflect the message of the particular poster and an open, friendly feel. Quite an enjoyable project to work on.
Wok Logo Ideas
Our client seasons woks for lovers of Chinese cooking and sells them online. "There should only be one wok you need for the best Asian cooking results, and that is a professionally seasoned wok. All traditional Chinese restaurants use seasoned woks." We designed several options involving the shape of the wok and colours associated with heat and Chinese cuisine. The current header choice is very bold and bright.
High Caffeine Book Cover
Ilinda Brunner's "Coffee Lovers" is a lyrical book about memory, freedom and of course, coffee. We wanted the cover to capture the playful, often whimsical tone of the novel. Elements of the story peek out through the painterly lettering.
The Brave New World of the Sharing Economy
Benjamen Walker's podcast "The Theory of Everything" investigates the new world being shaped by the big tech companies. A recent series of three podcasts (instaserfs) looked at what Walker calls the "On-Demand Economy", a development more advanced in the US than elsewhere. An associate of Walker attempts to live by working for Uber, Lyft, Manservant and other online services. He finds working without rights, for very little money and constantly hurried along by staff-facing apps to be a stressful affair. The lack of empathy shown by most of the companies in this space for those who actually provide the service is quite striking. A sobering corrective to the usual line that the customer experience is all important.
Book Reviewed by Local Bookstore
Not only did my book Goldenscale find a congenial home at the lovely Eltham Bookstore, it has now been the subject of a kind staff review:
“Golden Scale by Luke Harris
Beth Ormonde lives with her small family, goes to school and has the usual pesky brother, caring friends and bullying foes. She is, however, afraid of the darkness beneath her house. Lurking below, unknown to all but Beth, a disembodied voice calls to her, pulling her near. As the ancient and rumbling creature begins to slowly awaken, Beth discovers within herself a courage she had not known. This a story filled with hair raising twists and turns, chuckling humour and small town characters, reaches back into the ancient history of the land on which we live. This book will linger in your memory for a long tome after you finish the last page.”