Book Design by Chuck Braman; Chuck Braman, New York, Manhattan, West Village, graphic design, book design

<body> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="450"> <tr> <td> <h1>Book Design by Chuck Braman</h1> <p class="flush">To date, I have designed three books, two of which were published by Prentice Hall .</p> <p>From 1986-88 I worked full-time writing and designing a 176-page, self-published book, Drumming Patterns. In conceiving a new approach to <img border="0" src="GraphicDesignImages/DrummingPatterns.gif" align="left" hspace="3" vspace="2" width="192" height="261">presenting drumming techniques, I created a new concept within the design of the book, that of "fold-out" pages which allow the reader to simultaneously view any of the pages in the first half of the book with the fold-out pages in the second half of the book. During the final phase of production I oversaw every step of the printing process, researching alternative methods of offset printing, selecting the paper, binding, cover finish, and visiting several ink factories in order to find the exact color I preferred for the cover. To help produce and promote the book, I read Pocket Pal, a graphic arts handbook, and How to Publish, Promote, and Sell Your Own Book, by Robert Lawrence (St. Martin's Press, 1985). My work was subsequently acknowledged in a review in Modern Drummer magazine, which read in part, "The production quality of 'Drumming Patterns' is very high."</p> <p>Among the people who saw the design of Drumming Patterns was Mark Gridley, author of the Prentice-Hall textbook Jazz Styles. During 1990-91, Dr. Gridley persuaded Prentice-Hall to employ me, rather than use one of Prentice-Hall's in-house designers, to create the design and page-layout of<img border="0" src="GraphicDesignImages/ConciseGuide108.jpg" align="right" hspace="3" vspace="3" width="186" height="260"> his new book, A Concise Guide To Jazz, and the book's accompanying CD and Cassette. The rationale behind A Concise Guide To Jazz was to create a book that would include the essential content of Jazz Styles, but in a more inviting format that would have a greater visual appeal. To proceed I had to learn many new skills, such as copy-fitting and photo resizing and cropping, and I had to advance my general knowledge of design as well. Towards this end, I read The Macintosh Font Book by Erfert Fenton (Peachpit Press, 1989), Typography for Desktop Publishers by Mark Hengesbaugh (Business One Irwin, 1991), Looking Good In Print by Roger C Parker (Ventana Press, 1988), and Desktop Publishing By Design, Aldus PageMaker Edition (Microsoft Press, 1989). Upon completing the project, I received a very nice <a href="GraphicDesignMain/PrenticeHallLetter.htm" target="_blank">letter of praise</a> from the production editor, Michael Steinberg.</p> <p>Pleased with my design of A Concise Guide To Jazz, in 1992 Dr. Gridley also contracted me to modify the design and do the page layout of the fifth edition of Jazz Styles.</p> <p>I have passed the Adobe Expert Certification exams for Photoshop and Illustrator since producing these books, adding digital photography and illustration skills to my page layout skills.</td> </tr> </table> </body>