Book interior design, book cover design, ebook creation, print book output and publishing project guidance

Brief

Storytelling is important. Sharing first person accounts helps others to learn from experiences. Oral history provides an accurate picture of the past by augmenting the information provided by records, data, photographs, maps, letters, diaries, and other historical materials.

The Association of Jewish Refugees have been working with me for several years on a series of books called ‘My Story’. The brief was to create a book design that could be adapted for the many stories that the volunteers for the My Story series were collecting from Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors. These books form part of the library of work at the museum curated by The AJR, a keepsake for the families and used in workshops which raise awareness of the Holocaust.

What Hello Lovely did

The design was created using draft text from the very first interview. We experimented with different page sizes so that the point size was easy to read but didn't create bulky books that would cost more to print or be difficult to handle. This Tips and Tricks explains print terms including point sizes. A neat square measuring 120 x 120mm was perfect. The book is printed with Book Printing UK who handle the short print run.

The choice of typeface was important as the text contained Cyrillic characters which I discuss on a Tips and Tricks on International Design. The font is Adobe Caslon Pro.

The books present some challenges with the images. Often the photos have travelled a lifetime and many miles, and have been damaged. Work on these in Photoshop is handled with great sensitivity. What I may think is a scribble, could be a precious signature or the lost information of a photographic studio. Some titles may not have any images at all. Heinz had one image for his book; I supported Naomi and Debra with sourcing further images from photo libraries. Other images maybe low resolution or poorly photography so the design of the pages allows for this. Where possible, the full page is used.

Photographers take portraits for the front covers. Sometimes we’re limited in this too if the subject is unwell or sadly passed before the book is completed. Covid also presented some challenges with the photographer taking images from a distance, I greatly admire their inventiveness during difficult times.

Once set, the books are proofed by the family and The AJR team. I take in all the corrections and provide the files for print for Book Printing UK. I have also attended the book launch in London and was honoured to talk to the families. One of the most moving comments I have received about the books was from the late Tom Egri’s daughter who told me how much the family and Tom valued the care taken over the design.

The result

The AJR have published 29 books on their website and we have another 10 in production. It’s proving a very popular project. As well as being on display in London, they are also in the National Library of Israel. Over 2022 I will be collaborating to complete the projects already started, providing my design skills to support survivors to tell their incredible life stories and messages for future generations.

Other work

Ask Me Again In November

The AJR has a poetry club that’s supported by a team of volunteers. Naomi who is one of the project managers for My Story, asked me to design a book of poetry, dedicated to the founder of the group and as a gift to the volunteers.

Continental Britons

This publication was one that didn’t exist! It was produced many years go and the source files were missing. The AJR asked me to recreate the book including the cover and all inside pages for inclusion at an exhibition. You can read about how I solved this problem on my Tips and Tricks page.