Arjan van Woensel

Arjan van Woensel – Designer

Easy-going and highly experienced designer / art director with many professional accolades and experience under his belt.

Overview


Hello, my name is Arjan, born and raised in the Netherlands but living in beautiful New Zealand.

Under the nom de guerre of Tenzing, I help people achieve their publishing aspirations. Together, we explore opportunities and I guide you to your publishing goal until — in the words of Sir Edmund Hillary — you knock the bastard off. I'm the Designer / Art Director who will forge ahead on the path to getting you a gorgeous, publishable book.

Let’s talk about your Everest and see if I can be your sherpa! 🤩

I've got tons of experience in print — the technical side of it as well as the visual aspects of it. I love a challenge and always aim to make a publication stand out. Typography is my forte and I go further than just creating an attractive cover: the perfect typesetting of the interior text is just as important to me.

Over the years, I've won many professional accolades. I'm afraid I seriously lost count of how many design & art direction awards I have won.

I'm a book nerd and built my own library room to keep all my favourite reads neatly together. Think of it as a research library for book design — I'm almost a bit ashamed to admit there are plenty of copies in my library that I bought just because of their looks. Oops! There, I said it.

I love cover designs with loads of character in it — whether that is bold and funny or clean and straightforward or playful and frank.
My designs are not minimalist but rather maximalist: I aim to dramatise the main feeling and style the author wants to get across and I use typography, colour and well-curated photography to achieve that goal.

But I'm at my very best when I can add that emotional layer of suspense and intrigue to the design. I love it when a book makes a statement and is singular in its design. Let's make yours!

↪ Snippets of recent reviews I'm proud of:

“Arjan is such a talent! So much thought went into how and why images were chosen, it really opened my eyes to the creative force of the book cover. I'm certain that his artistry played a role in my #1 new release title. You won't regret a collaboration with Arjan.”
— Cee McDermott

“Arjan is an extremely unbelievable professional. His quality and class of job output are way out of this world. He is extremely patient, painstaking and committed to the project he undertakes. His level of understanding of the job requirement is mind-boggling.”
—Emmanuel Obeta

“Arjan was great. Not only did he come up with several good design ideas, but he also sent them in a fun and clear presentation for me to make my choice.”
— Kevin Mori

“I must say, Arjan's work is state of the art. His thorough involvement, engagement and interaction during the project was second to none.”
— Sohan Gokarn

Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs Business & Management Health & Wellbeing Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Fiction
Dystopian Historical Fiction Historical Romance Humor & Comedy
Languages
English
Awards
  • Eurobest Awards
  • Cannes Lions Awards
  • Epica Awards
  • ADCN Awards
  • Adobe / HOW Awards
  • Best Awards
  • Clio Awards
  • Crowdiate
  • Effie Awards
  • Esprix Awards
  • PHNX Award Jury Member
Certifications
  • BFA Communication Design
  • SEO Linkedin Certificate
  • SquareSpace Circle Member
  • Google Analytics
  • Enlightened Warrior
  • ICC Boating License Inland + Coastal + VHF

Work experience

Self-employed

Mar, 2012 — Present

Design and marketing consultant. Starting self-initiated and commissioned branding projects. Translating strategy into visual communication. Growing brands and businesses.

Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Jun, 2013 — Nov, 2015 (over 2 years)

Creative Strategy workshop as part of the Entrepreneurship curriculum of the Amsterdam University Of Applied Science.

Doom & Dickson

May, 2000 — Jan, 2006 (over 5 years)

Creative direction, brand strategy concepts and art direction for consumer and business brands. Strategy and management tasks for agency.

Portfolio

Made with Reedsy
Your DNA, Your Life

McDermott, Cee

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Tears of Apphat: Immortal Beloved

Camus, Alain Louis

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Standing Strong memoirs of an Overcomer

Webb Kirby , Sandia

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
DNA Powered Health: Unlock Your Potential to Live with Energy and Ease

Genrich, Ms Sheridan

WuWei Books

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
A Powerful Obsession

Wright, Mary

Wright Print

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design
Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Clearing in the Woods

Matthews, J.D

J.D Matthews

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Hussar: The Etonians: Book 1

Jackson, M. Battle

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Great Harvest : A story of Committed Faithfulness

Ballantyne, Michele Bence

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Tortoise and the Hare Retold: Learning to Run & Win the Races that Matter

Michael Mecozzi, Psy.D.

High Tide Press

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Widow: The Etonians - Book 3

Jackson, M Battle

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
The Casino Caper : An ill-conceived quest

Joyce, Margaret M.

Margaret M. Joyce

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design
Cover Design Illustration Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Strong Like Wildflowers

Thompson, Eric L

Illustration Typography Book Interior Design

Arjan has 55 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Baldwin G.

Baldwin G.

Dec, 2024

Besides the cover design, Arjan helped me further with the conversion of my files in E-book and Paperback formats. This is actually quite complicated and requires the purchase and comprehension of platforms like Adobe Acrobat . Without prompting, Arjan improved the readability of the text: original title design, preface in roman numerals,all chapters properly aligned, double spacing and new fon...
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Arjan V.
I'm so glad you let me do this for you Baldwin, I know it can be hard to achieve the result you're after when it's outside of your comfort zone. I do this design and formatting thing every day for ...
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Mona P.

Mona P.

Nov, 2024

Arjan made my first experience of having a book cover designed thoroughly enjoyable. His communication skills are excellent, his knowledge impressive, and his design skills superb. The only issue was how difficult it was to make a decision on my favourite design as he provided me with so many wonderful options that matched the brief perfectly. The final design was not only eye-catching, it summ...
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Arjan V.
Thanks Mona, was great to work with you, super fun! And fantastic that the main issue was the difficulty in choosing your favourite design 😁 out of the different proposals. That's why I love to wor...
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Timothy R.

Timothy R.

Sep, 2024

Arjan immediately nailed the cover. I've had a couple of other design students take a pass initially at the cover and nothing was what I wanted and I even told them exactly what I wanted. For Arjan, I decided to give the general overview and feel I had in mind and not to tell him exactly what to do and was blown away by the offerings he made in a short period of time and completely nailed the c...
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Phylis S.

Phylis S.

Sep, 2024

Arjan’s design of my book is absolutely stunning! As a first-time author I was feeling a bit vulnerable putting my memoir into the world, but after Arjan’s transformation I was beaming with confidence! Readers have been telling me how much they love the appearance of the book. Thank you, Arjan, for your amazing work!
Arjan V.
Hey Phylis, that the book cover now makes you beam with confidence is exactly what I want the result of my designs to be for the author! Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated 🙏
Alain F.

Alain F.

Aug, 2024

Arjan designed the cover for my first novel. I was thoroughly impressed with his ideas and presentations, that I decided to ask him to design my second novel. I love his easy going manner, his great sense of humour, his professionalism and not least his wonderful design concepts. There is a third book in the works... to complete my trilogy.

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