Domini Dragoone - Designer
San Francisco, United States
Cover and interior designer with 20 years experience. I use passion and precision to create volumes readers love to spend time with.
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Overview
========PLEASE NOTE======== I AM BOOKED SOLID THROUGH APRIL, and traveling through most of May. I would love to speak with you about your project if you have a long lead-time, but I am unable to start any new projects in earnest at this time. My schedule opens back up May 23rd. THANKS VERY MUCH!
I am a book cover and interior designer with twenty 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.
I am a book cover and interior designer with twenty 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 9 reviews
Professionalism
Quality
Value
Communication
Domini is a joy to work with. She goes above and beyond what's expected, delivering in every way! Domini is a fantastic communicator and collaborator. I wouldn't hesitate to work with her again, and you shouldn't either! She's a true expert in her field and would add tremendous value to your project.
Read moreJeff Teresi, April 2019
Thanks so much, Jeff! Your enthusiasm and positivity made the project great to work on, and I enjoyed collaborating with you to make the project it's best. Would be happy to work with you on future projects! :)
Reply from Domini Dragoone
Domini is a gem. The work was performed on time even though a number of iterations and changes were made along the way. The quality was excellent and Domini's creativity produced a very attractive book. I could not have hoped for a better outcome, and if I publish again I will be contacting her first.
Read moreDan Hague, March 2019
Hi Dan, thanks very much! It was great working with you — I'm pleased that you are happy with the project! I'm really happy with how it turned out as well. I hope that your readers will find it to be a useful resource that is clear and enjoyable to use. Glad to be on your team, and will look forward to working with you in the future!
Reply from Domini Dragoone
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
Thanks ever so much, Aaron! You are incredibly kind, and it has been a pleasure to work with you. This was a challenging project, but I enjoyed each part of it. Thanks for being flexible and eager to collaborate on all things, and always being available to answer questions so that we could make the deadlines happen. I'm super stoked that you are so pleased with the book, and that it is doing well. I look forward to working with you again!! Best, D.
Reply from Domini Dragoone
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
I loved working with you, Ellen! As I'm sure you know :) Thanks so much for trusting me with this unique and special project, and I'm thrilled with how the book turned out. It's been exciting to see the book's journey unfold and applaud it's successes. And yours! I look forward to working with you on future projects.
Reply from Domini Dragoone
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
Thanks, Inge! I enjoyed the challenges involved in turning your thoughtfully and carefully compiled manuscript into a thoughtfully and carefully laid out book! :) Your book is a fantastic resource, and I hope that the volume we put together is useful to many, many people. It was great working with you and I look forward to working together again in the future!
Reply from Domini Dragoone
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