In the inundated new book market we live in today, a single book or series needs to have an identity. Whether we like it or not, it is appearances—the book’s cover or spine—that first attract consumers. Readers are often drawn to such design elements, and that is enough for a single title or trilogy. But what about the overall brand of your company? It stands to reason that your brand and style as a publisher is just as important as the design of the books you publish.
In my work to connect more authors, artists, and creatives, I began looking into custom lettering and drop cap options for my clients. What started as some simple communication with some calligraphers grew into a contract with a brilliant designer.
Cretalyst is a designer and calligrapher. He is a member of several calligraphy societies, as well as the Order of the Maggot (a mysterious artistic organization), and displays a wide array of styles in his art including an English style, stag and shield crest; a Botticelli-inspired, ocean and shell line of letters—among many other amazing themed alphabets—and a catalog of monograms, sketches, and brand designs that will astound.
The level of detail in his traditional ink-to-paper style drew me to him, but it was his vision for a unified, conceptual style that truly made him stand out on my radar. And it was his ongoing assistance that made me realize that many of us indie publishers forget that our brand and style can be as important to our business as the identity of each book.
With the realization that I was in dire need of a theme review and the services of an outside eye, I began to review the sample identity manual he provided to me.
Looking through the various applications of a coherent design taught me a lot of what was missing. Items such as a crest versus a monogram, for example, while now glaringly obvious, were previously something that I hadn’t considered.
With the concept of a uniform identity now solidified, I decided to test the waters with a request for design help with my upcoming brick-and-mortar bookstore, Lantern Tree Books.
Our dialogue began, and my designer asked me some in-depth and personal questions about my vision for the store. He asked for pictures of the interior and exterior to understand the colors and scheme. He inquired about my vision and why I had chosen the name—more so than just what elements that I wanted but, rather, what elements would represent my message, both with and without words.
I felt things were going well, and his guidance in coherent brand design was going well. But we had come to a crossroads, and it seemed it was my fault. I had requested a logo, and he supplied an amazing breakdown of what a logo should be. “A true logo is a mark that lives long to see the future. It does not matter what you or I like; the only thing that matters is whether the logo will work for the brand or not, in the modern digital world of shrinking screen sizes as well as print sizes,” he said.
His logo design was simple, symmetric, well thought out, and perfect. And it was wrong for my bookstore. What I really wanted was a brand illustration, but it was the logo and the explanation of the application that led me to understand why.
The logo was something that I needed for my publishing company, Polyverse Publishing. That would be another project, and the applications of a logo design that would do well in the tech sphere as well as integrate into spine design was the perfect follow-up assignment.
As a publisher, communication is a constant exercise, and this taught me that I needed to learn better visual communications.
I kept the logo for future use and clarified my vision for the brand illustration (more antique, more old-world type, more paper press and burnt wood). The concept art came through, and I was sold. We needed something that seemed older and powerful enough for bookstore designs such as stickers, bookmarks, postcards, business cards, stamps, and signage. It was more than a logo; it was a thematic element.
As for the Polyverse logo, I am very excited to be working with a brand designer who will help us build an identity in color, theme, logo, and identity that goes in the opposite direction. Something that can live on both a book spine and a smartphone app.
Louis Force Torres is the owner of Polyverse Publications, an independent publishing company and creative consulting agency. He is also the founder and CEO of Bookchurch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strategically targeted book donations, working with other charitable and educational organizations such as the SCORE business mentorship program, Stomp Out Hunger, Kids Around the World, the Adizes Institute, and the Adelheid Von Hohenlohe Memorial Library.