Notes on Book Design and Creative Practice from the Desk of Nathaniel Roy
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Hello, Dear Reader! Welcome to A Book Designer’s Notebook.
This is a newsletter about book design and creative practice. I’m Nathaniel Roy. Among other things I am a reader, freelance book designer, and graphic designer at a public library. I live in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with my wife, two kids, and dog.
I’m also a collage maker, photo taker, self publisher, and believer in the notion of a diversified creative practice. This newsletter is my attempt to embody that ideal.
Where to start
What I write about is varied, but generally falls into these categories:
Notebook (what I’ve been up to lately)
Each newsletter gets at least one of these category tags that you can browse via the hyperlinks above or on my newsletter’s homepage. I have also created tags for budding subcategories like self-publishing and my Interview with a Book Designer series.
Here’s a nice sampler platter:
Paid subscriptions
A Book Designer’s Notebook is a free publication, but paid subscribers get access to exclusive chats on the Substack app and a bonus, bi-weekly look at my process behind the design of specific book covers called “How to Design a Book Cover.”
Notes
If you use the Substack app, I am a frequent poster on Notes where I share rejected book covers, process GIFs, collages, book design tips, and pictures of what I’m reading among other things.
If any or all of this sounds good, I hope you’ll stick around! Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
—Nathaniel
Colophon
A Book Designer’s Notebook is a newsletter about books, design, and creative practice from the desk of Nathaniel Roy.
It uses the typefaces Merriweather, Futura, and whatever fonts Substack has chosen. Merriweather is a Google font designed to be a text face that is pleasant to read on screens. Futura is geometric sans-serif designed by Paul Renner in 1927. It is on the moon.
Nathaniel Roy is a book designer, collage maker, photo taker, self publisher, and a few other things in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
You can see his work and hire him here. If you want to support this newsletter, you can buy him a coffee here.