Allow me to break free from Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator for a few moments to catch my breath and attempt to continue this dialog on design.

The last week has been very much a week of logistics. Paper types, embossings, costs for special orders, minimum size orders, colors, how colors affect cost, foil stamping resolutions, cover design and book wraps. It's been a series of emails with our printer, Bang, in Minnesota. This is our first time working with them, and we're trying to make sure they understand the type of book we're looking to produce. One that, hopefully, will hold its own against, if not exceed Kuhaku in terms of craftsmanship.

I modified my sleep schedule to stay up a little later than normal so that Justin at Bang and I could talk about all of the logistics one has to deal with when producing a book. Mainly our conversations have focused on cover design. The color of the paper and the type of embossing applied to it (i.e., a "linen" or "textured" feel) greatly influences the price.

For instance, one type of black paper with a normal embossing would cost us an additional $400 to use in the book. Whereas another black, with a special embossing, could cost us $2000. Why is this? It's because there may be a higher minimum order on a special embossing depending on the demand. It's also because our printer doesn't stock every type of paper and embossing combination out there. If we want something that's not in their warehouse, they have to dig it up. And that costs them time and money, which is then transfered to us.

So as both a designer and as a principal in the company — i.e., someone who both has fiscal and artistic connections with the final project — I've spent the last week pushing and pulling cover designs in a dance of sorts, aiming to balance cost and beauty. And over the weekend it finally, like so many critical moments in all creative projects, came together.

Through trial and error I found our cover and, subsequently, the visual lexicon to be used throughout the book. I had been sending off cover comps that I hated to Bruce, Yuko and his brother David, knowing very well that just the idea of them looking at such horrific excuses for covers would be enough to motivate me to dig deeper into the book for more elegant solutions. And I found one, which I'll discuss in the next installment.