Title Design for Books: Overview
A selection of title designs from many genres
If you go nowhere else in this section of my site I hope you will browse the overview of title designs I have created over the years. I like the variety of working in publishing. I get to channel many voices and experiment with different styles. Here you will see everything from romance to horror and everything in between.
Custom script lettering for contemporary fiction.
The category here would be psychology or self-help. I created the logo for the book and did the paintings and cover design for this self-published author.
Brush lettering for a cookbook with Cheryl Crow, illustrations for Reader’s Digest.
Mystery books, some with a dash of romance. This might be the genre that allows the most experimentation, as mystery books have no one set style.
I do a lot of projects for biographies and memoir. The range in style can be huge, from the “Big Book” look of a Kitty Kelley tell-all to the more personal feeling of the tribute to Bonnie Raitt.
Projects for Disney and Dreamworks for film title design.
Romance book lettering, from the contemporary look of Danielle Steele to classic styles for Mary Balogh and Stefanie Sloane.
Fantasy books, usually here the typography has a historical bent.
A lot of research goes into the design of titles for historical books. This is where I am grateful for my years of study of the evolution of lettering styles.
Last but not least, children’s book titles. A chance to return to innocence and use both traditional and playful lettering styles.
Many of these styles of lettering for titles are explored in more depth in the dedicated portfolios for children’s, fantasy, romance and historical books. You will also find more examples posted on my blog, Alphabet Roadtrip, as case studies of process or in my regular updates of new work.