USC Textbook Design & Layout, App

The University of South Carolina produces its own textbook for their University 101 course, which helps new students make a successful transition to the University of South Carolina, both academically and personally. The book is updated, rewritten, and rearranged every one to two years and USC needs a reliable book designer that can cheerfully puzzle a million pieces together into a great-looking functional book. That is where Evergreen Design Studio comes in…

Project Goals
- This particular year called for making the book more interactive – inside the printed edition with quizzes and spaces to write in, on a website with interactive forms, and in the first higher education textbook app.
- To create a great looking and useful resource for incoming students
- To create visual consistency throughout the book and online materials
My Responsibilities
- Accommodate and create all the graphics within the text in a visually appealing, useful, and legible way
- Piece together multiple Word files in to a print ready InDesign book file, maintaining author styles, carefully treating all typography and editing for widows, orphans, stacked words, etc
- Make edits to the text after it’s in the initial layout
- Create an app from the finished textbook
First Things First
Almost immediately after USC publishes Transitions, they begin work on editing and updating the next version. After they have a clear idea of how the inside content will change, they contact me to begin work on a new cover and inside design that jives with the new editorial content. I begin with the cover design and inside design elements, crafting the look of the book while the writers and editors finalize the editorial content. I create several different cover options, and when one is chosen, I begin the inside design picking colors that go well with garnet and black and design elements that convey the current year’s attitude.
Click image to open gallery
Puzzling together the insides
Recognizing opportunities
The finished printed product
After several rounds of edits and moving text and graphics from here to there, I create the front and back matter and the book takes its final shape.