Stephen Tiano

Question 1 - Thank you so much for agreeing to the interview. When did you first realize that you wanted to work in design?

Well, it wasn’t a whole inspirational story or moment. Just that, after I married, I realized that if I was going to indulge my fascination with computers and spend money periodically on upgrades, I would need to turn the equipment into more than expensive toys. So I began to study typography and learn software. After two or three years of that--in that time I typeset resumes, display ads for a local supermarket rag, and even a product brochure--an old friend informed me she was proofreading for a local book production outfit and that they were looking for a freelance page layout artist.

This was 1993; I had done layout on one book already, a math textbook. The math was done by hand, by manipulating individual math symbols, as there was no such software for math or equations yet. And certainly nothing for Macintosh. If TeX were around right then (or I if I’d been aware of it), I’m sure I’d be all open-source now, instead of on a Macintosh running commercial software.

Question 2 - How did you get interested in the internal layout design for books?

I began in publishing as a proofreader/copy editor in 1978, my first, real 9-to-5 adult job. I stayed with proofreading for some years afterward. So I knew how books should look. It seemed natural to check it out when my old friend mentioned the freelance opening for someone to do book production off-site. I found that I really enjoyed the work. The next step was to design. I still do a great deal more layout than design, as people contact me for it and it goes so much faster, with quicker paydays, that I can’t find it in myself to turn down production work.

Question 3 - What are the intricacies of your field that most people overlook or take for granted?

That it can be reduced to a rather simple concept: Book design should mostly be transparent, just the means to deliver the book to the reader. Every once in a while, however, projects come along that allow for a little more of the designer to show through in the design. But, mostly, the designer should be a kind of silent partner and the design should not stand out so much that it distracts the reader from the reading … no matter how cool the design could look.

Question 4 - What would you consider some of the more important trends that you’ve seen move through your field, the ones that you think have had or will have a lasting impact?

Well, the one-stop operations that design, print, and (allegedly) market books for self-publishing authors. I’m not fond of these businesses and their cookie-cutter design templates. But that’s just self-interest speaking, I admit. In fact, the whole trend toward self-publishing has far more impact than anything else. I’m starting to see more and more work from that direction. It’s interesting, too, because the more I see, the more my opinion changes. Initially I thought self-publishers tended to publish their own work because these books weren’t good enough to find ‘real’ publishers. But I’m seeing good books authored by people who can really write. And this encourages me to fully consider such projects where, before, I was a little skeptical about getting involved.

Question 5 - What would be your favorite aspect of design?

Sitting down with a manuscript and some sample text, looking at fonts, playing with page size, dimension and proportion, and creating first sample pages.

Question 6 - How much has the design landscape changed since you got involved in the field?

Not as much as you might think. I mean, the computers have gotten faster and cheaper; software can do a lot more; but the idea is still the same: getting an author’s words on paper in the most agreeable fashion and creating a cover that attracts potential readers to pick up a book that first time.

Question 7 - How closely do you work with the books author when designing the layout?

With self-publishers, of course, it’s the author who passes judgment on any design ideas I come up with. When working for a traditional publisher, however, I never even talk to an author. Then I deal with the publisher’s people.

Question 8 - What would your average workday look like? (or rather…read-like?)

I tend to be a binge worker when I have a project going. And the last two years, that’s been very much most of the time. So I’ll work in the middle of the night, early morning, and I’ll sleep sometimes for weeks in a series of naps throughout a day. I get so hopped up on working on a book that I really don’t want to sleep much.

It’s when I don’t have a project that my day is more conventional, divided up into times for contacting publishers and trolling the Internet for projects.

Question 9 - What impact has the blogospere had on the design field, in your opinion? And have these effects been good or bad?

Well, having a blog, I think, is one way of putting ourselves out there for the world to see. In my case, that means marketing myself to potential clients. I use a blog in combination with my website for that marketing of myself. The site presents samples of my work; the blog presents my take on book design and production. As with the Internet itself, blogs make the world smaller and foster a connectedness between people, some of whom need things done and others who have the skills to do them. Book design and production is one of those things.

Question 10 - What kind of advice would you give to an up and coming designer looking to break into the book layout design scene?

Be prepared to spend your career continually learning. Not so much from teachers per se, but more from the things that will occur to you, things that you will try. Sometimes you'll about-face on design choices you thought you'd never stray from. It's all learning and doing.

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