“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
We design luxurious hard cover, custom books and prestigious publications for discerning audiences. Whether to use as a sales tool, to attract investors or celebrate a special anniversary, we craft beautiful, limited edition books and luxury sales brochures that instantly impress. A high-quality, gloriously photographed brochure or custom book can add kudos to luxury brands, expressing their story in a lavish and unique way. Whether you want to honour your brand’s heritage, celebrate your successes or express yourself as a tastemaker, a luxurious book design can take your brand into a new realm of luxury.
A custom coffee table book is a chance to communicate your brand in the most sophisticated way and it demands careful consideration. Our book design process begins with a thorough exploration of each client’s objectives. Who is the book for? What is its purpose? What is the ‘story’ to be told? How should a reader feel when they read it, or even first set eyes on it?
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Once a brief and outline ‘story’ is agreed, we commence a discovery stage. This results in a series of inspirational idea boards covering broad ranging aspects including page layout and photography styles, typography and illustration. A concept should extend not only to the design of the book, but should also flow through to the physical elements. So during the initial discovery phase we also consider page size, paper stocks, cover materials and book binding technique. It’s an exciting, collaborative process that leads to the first concept presentation, where the merit and relevance of different book design concepts are discussed and dissected.
As well as great copy and excellent design layout, high-quality imagery is essential to communicate with your target audience on a deeper, emotional level. Our clients often have a catalogue of their own fantastic images, but we can also source stunning, imagery through image libraries or commission bespoke photography shoots, depending on our client’s specific book brief and budget.
For luxury brands the tactile nature of a custom book is just as important as its contents and we work closely with specialist craftspeople to bring our book packaging concepts to life. We’ve worked with cabinet makers to produce coffee table book boxes made from solid walnut, traditional craftsmen to add mother-of-pearl marquetry to an acrylic slipcase, we’ve even been asked to cover books in crocodile and stingray skin!
Aside from the actual content (words and images), the fees we charge for our custom book services can be broadly split into two main parts: book design and book production. The design aspect covers all concept creation, design development, page layout, image sourcing, artwork, meetings and project management, whereas production covers the actual printing, book binding and book packaging. In terms of a production cost there is of course no upper limit, and the uniqueness of ideas put forward by our book designer become governed only by what is achievable within a client’s set budget and deadline. Creating hard cover book can be a substantial investment, so for peace of mind we also always include provision in our fee for a prototyping stage.
A custom coffee table book is a big statement, giving you the chance to explore your story, prestige and iconic products in a lavish, eye-catching way.