Book

Arizona Christian University

Revision and Release of the University President’s Book

Project Overview

THE OPPORTUNITY

The president of Arizona Christian University wanted to revise his book, Transforming Culture with Truth for the Fall 2020 school semester, creating its second edition. The need for the revision was due to the time that had passed since the original edition was published in 2015 and the school moving campus locations in 2019. The book serves as his signature text describing the mission and vision of the University for the ACU community. It is incorporated into the school’s curriculum as a required text.

THE HURDLE

The revised book was intended to be read for the Fall 2020 semester and the copy was not provided until the middle of the semester. The University also did not have access to the original edition’s source files for the cover and copy, which meant that brand-new files needed to be created.

THE SOLUTION

While the revised copy was being authored, a new cover design was created and a template for the copy was produced based on the original edition of the book. A PDF of the finalized first few chapters of the book was provided to instructors mid-semester so the students could begin reading the new text (while the remainder of the book was being finalized and sent to print).

DETAILS

Project Length: 2 1/2 months
Team: 4 people
Role: Project Manager, Graphic and Production Designer
My Contributions:

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

VENDOR RELATION MANAGEMENT

COLLABORATION

GRAPHIC DESIGN

PRODUCTION DESIGN

PRINT REVIEW & APPROVAL

Discover & Learn

RESEARCH PERFORMED

Prior to the design being started, there were several questions that needed to be addressed regarding the following items:

Timeline: The design request was initiated mid-August with a deadline to have the books printed and in hand by late September (this was later extended to early November).
Source Files: An independent publisher created the first edition of the book and owned the source files. The publisher provided me with the final PDF files of the cover and copy as well as a Word document of the copy.
Printer: The University chose Courier Graphics to produce their book. I worked with Courier to understand their required specifications for print.

Strategize & Plan

PLANNING PERFORMED

Cover
1. Front: Leverage existing photos from a prior on-campus photoshoot from the University marketing drive.
2. Back: I was provided with a login for myidentifiers.com to create the book’s listing and generate an ISBN.
Copy
1. Content: A new template would be created based off of the original book’s copy and cover files that were obtained.
2. Imagery: Locate images that were used in the first edition of the book on the marketing drive.

Concept & Design

CONCEPT GENERATION

The first round of cover concepts were inspired by the original book design. Slight variations were requested to be created.

TRANSFORMING CULTURE WITH TRUTH — FIRST EDITION (ORIGINAL)

FIRST ROUND CONCEPTS: FRONT AND BACK

PIVOT POINT

Feedback for the first round front cover concepts included wanting the students to be unrecognizable (either their faces blurred out or backs facing the camera). Because the existing images did not work, I coordinated a photoshoot with the University’s photographer for a new front cover image. Since the photoshoot was in the midst of COVID and students were wearing masks, we had to mindful that the pictures were taken without the masks being prominent as the updated cover was meant to be timeless.

The photoshoot added a couple of days to the timeline, but helped us to achieve the final design.

SECOND ROUND CONCEPTS: FRONT AND BACK

Revised cover concepts were created based on feedback.

COPY TEMPLATE

A template for the copy layout was created which included the following: master page elements, paragraph styles, and character styles.

Final Design

The final cover featured the students, new campus, and conveyed a sense of community.

The final design excerpt showcases the cover, front matter, and first chapter.