Domini Dragoone - Designer
San Francisco, United States
Cover and interior designer with 10+ years experience. I use passion and precision to create volumes readers love to spend time with.
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Overview
I am a book cover and interior designer with over ten years of industry experience. I combine a passion for art history and classic elements with professionalism and precision to create books that are a pleasure for a reader to spend time with.
I consider myself an interior design specialist and am adept at any style of book, from novels to technical non-fiction. I have a special interest in wrangling complex and sprawling interiors—no amount of footnotes or formatting is too much! I'm a quick worker, and a great choice for if you need a fast turn-around.
After spending 10 years as Senior Designer for Perseus Books Group (now Hachette), I have transitioned to full time free-lancing — I would love to bring my talents and expertise to your project! My passion for art, design, and making things with my hands led me to earn a BFA in Graphic Design from the Academy of Art University, where I supplemented my graphic design curriculum with courses including printmaking and calligraphy. Since then, I have worked in publishing, designing book covers and interior pages for over 350 unique titles, as well as taken full advantage of the vibrant arts and music culture my city offers to work in photography.
Cover work is below, and please see the PAGES tab on my personal website to see more extensive examples of my interior design work.
Languages
English
Fiction
Anthologies
Classics
Crime & Mystery
Historical Fiction
Humor & Comedy
LGBTQ
Literature
Poetry
Short Story
Thriller
Women's Fiction
Non-Fiction
Architecture
Art
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Management
Career Guides
Cooking & Food Wine & Spirits
Design
Education & Reference
Health & wellbeing
History
LGBTQ (non fiction)
Parenting & Families
Photography
Self-help & Self-improvement
Sex & Relationships
Social & Behavioral Sciences
Travel
Certifications
- BFA in Graphic Design
Awards
- Lambda Literary, Best Book Covers of 2010
Work experience
Freelance Book Cover and Interior Designer
Self-employed
August, 2004
–
Present
(over 14 years)
Clients include: Counterpoint Press, Soft Skull Press, Four Winds Press, Seal Press, Avalon Travel, Bibliomotion, LeafStorm Press, University of California Press, University of Windsor, Red Hill Publishing, and Rosetta Books, as well as dozens of independent authors.
My freelance work is primarily in publishing: designing book covers from concept to completion, designing book interiors, and all related production work (page layout, interior art management, mechanical prep). I'm also adept at content architecture for manuals and other info-packed multi-page documents.
I really enjoy the production side of design work - photo editing and manipulation (Photoshop), complex and detailed page layout (InDesign), working with vector illustrations and logos (Illustrator).
Senior Designer
Perseus Books Group
January, 2005
–
December, 2014
(almost 10 years)
At Perseus, I worked on books produced under the Avalon Travel (Moon Handbooks travel guides, Road Trip USA) and Seal Press imprints. Key recent projects included the series re-design of the Moon Handbooks guidebooks, and the complete re-design and interior art overhaul of our Road Trip USA's 6th and 7th editions, as well as layout of all 900+ unique spreads.
Work for both Seal and Avalon included: book cover/full jacket design and mechanical production, interior page design and production on hundreds of books for Seal Press and Moon Handbooks, photo sourcing for covers (trade and travel), interior photo sourcing and coordination (dealing with permissions, copyright issues, stock sites, author submissions, outreach to private organizations), photo editing (re-touching, prep for print production).
I also worked closely with in-house editorial, cartography, marketing, and publicity departments on day-to-day book production; coordinated production needs with our authors (photo and art submissions, design issues); hired, art directed, and managed freelance designers for Seal titles; and worked efficiently with our book printers.
Production Assistant
William-Sonoma, Inc.
July, 2004
–
December, 2004
(5 months)
Worked on the Williams-Sonoma Home catalog. Management of all product photography and photo shoot images, file prep for designers, database management, text corrections and other file production, and assisted editors, producers, photographers, marketing, and the buyers on any task needed towards producing the catalog.
Designer, Production, & Comp Artist
Orange Avenue Children's Publishing
September, 2002
–
May, 2003
(8 months)
Book cover design and production, comp production for new projects, photography for covers and interiors, photo shoot art direction and styling, tech support, photo editing, illustration editing, package design, production for packaging mechanicals. Worked with all of shapes & sizes of books and book-like objects: boxes, trays, inserts, fold-outs, flash cards, etc.
Intern
One Heart Press
September, 2002
–
January, 2003
(4 months)
Helped staff and press operators with any task, learned how to operate the press, made photo-polymer plates, learned about letter press paper stock/variances, and all related letter press knowledge.
Intern
Primo Angeli:Fitch
July, 2000
–
September, 2001
(about 1 year)
Some packaging design work. Responsible for making comps of new/potential packages for client presentations. Digital photo editing in support of design staff. Responsible for documentation photos of the studio's work, and well as managing and digitizing the existing libraries. Assisted staff with small design and production tasks.
Graphic Designer
JC Graphics and Printing
February, 1999
–
June, 2000
(over 1 year)
All manner of graphic design and production: logos, post cards, flyers, menus, posters, brochures, etc., for a wide range of clients (large tech companies, restaurant and hotel chains, individual business owners). Learned from the on-site high-volume press operators (offset lithography) about the nuts and bolts of production and making files press-ready.
Domini has 7 reviews
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Communication
My experience working with Domini Dragoone as an Interior Book Designer was absolutely incredible and exceeded my wildest expectations. Where others were intimidated by a daunting task with a pressing deadline she excelled. She really has it all and I cannot recommend her enough. I am so very lucky for Reedsy’s introduction to her. She is simply an All-Star, passionate and skilled. Her enthu...
Read moreAaron Isley, February 2019
Domini is such a talented designer. She nailed both the cover and interior design of my book, Leatherwork School, on the first design. She was responsive, flexible and diligent about bringing my book to life through design. She also did whatever it took to raise the quality of the book. With more than 500 photos, she edited many photos to ensure each page looked the best - and she just did ...
Read moreEllen Valentine, October 2018
Domini has done an amazing job with the cover design as well as the interior design of my book. I'm very happy with the end result and I can highly recommend her. She was very helpful at every stage regarding any questions I had and I will definitely work with her again!
Read moreInge Hol, October 2018
I love the great work Domini did designing my cover (front, back and spine) and even advising me on other design questions relevant to choices I made on my interior, to match the cover styling. She was professional, prompt, thorough and an absolute pleasure to work with. Highly recommend!
Read moreErik Bork, September 2018
Domini is incredible to work with. She is a superstar! I learned so much from her. She provided much-needed guidance and direction. She is a professional and it was a joy to work with her. I truly look forward to working with her again.
Read moreCatherine Sorensen, March 2018
Thanks so much, Catherine!! It was lovely to meet you and collaborate, and I also look forward to working with you again in the future. Very glad to have connected with you!
Reply from Domini Dragoone
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