Book Cover

[ignotus]

Hey Folks,
I'm thinking this is the right forum to post to. I've recently been asked to do a Book Cover design. The problem is that I have absolutely no experience in print design...go figure. I've read Cone's Printing Guide, however, I'd like more specific information as it relates to Book Covers. Should I use Photoshop? If so, what should the settings be for color, dimensions, DPI? Also, what format should I save it...PDF, PNG..? Are there any Book Cover templates so I can get an idea of dimensions?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

[senders]

photoshop? If so

color - CYMK
dimensions - depends on the size of the book
DPI - atleast 300
what format should I save it...PDF, but a PSD would work aswell. depends on what the printer wants.
and if you are gonna make the design in illustrator you just need to set the color to CYMK.

but i would make the text in indesign or quarkXpress. so the graphics in PS or IL. and text in indesign or quark.
then save that as a PDF

[ignotus]

Thank you Senders...the client I am doing it for is using Cafepress *coughs*. They have specs that go against normal print specs, so I was confused.

For other projects similar, if I were to do text in InDesign, should I convert the text to outlines or does that depend on the printer?

Thank you again for your reply.

[Shaun]

If you are sending to the printer your best bet is to outline your text because if they dont have the same font as you, well lets just not go there...

[Mizu]

You should never convert it to outlines. Only if you can't do anything else.

Let it be in postscript, and give the fonts you used to the printer.

[ignotus]

Gss and Mizu...heh. I'll just ask what the printer prefers, thanks though!

[senders]

yeah i never had any problems wiht it, but i havent been into the whole print stuff for that long, around 2 years now so.

but i'd go for what mizu said, export the indesign or quarkXpress file for print.
then it will colect all the images and fonts in 1 folder.
burn that onto a cd and give it to them and tell the damn printer to get a move on!
weird folk :P

[ignotus]

Thank you for the clarity senders - I'll definitely keep this in mind.

[designknerr]

How'd the book cover turn out? I, too, have been asked recently to do a book cover design and I have absolutely no experience doing so.
I will probably do as follows:
•Find out the specs.
•Gather photos, graphics, that the author wants on the cover.
•Do all photo editing in photoshop.
•Do all vector graphics in Illustrator.
•Do all text in InDesign.
•Ask for the spine thickness
•Do a single page layout (?) in InDesign, with a gutter as your spine, and the left and right frames as your back and front covers.
•Import the graphics and photos.
I am tad bit excited about this project, as it will open the flood gates for some jobs with more money. Previously I have only been logo designs for about $50 a pop.
I am glad I came across your post. Thanks.

[Dre]

designknerr, where are you from? I am from Anaheim.

[designknerr]

I'm stationed in Orange. Grew up in Whittier, though. 'definitely of the LA breed.