MARK ECOB - Designer

Frome, United Kingdom

Art Direction, design and illustration for all things book.

Overview

MY NAME IS MARK ECOB.

I’ve been creating covers exclusively since 2001, at first as a Junior Designer for Hodder & Stoughton, then as Senior Designer running Phoenix Paperbacks for The Orion Publishing Group. My most recent in-house role was as Art Director for Canongate Books, Edinburgh. I relocated from London to form a new Art Department and during my tenure the company was named Publisher of the Year in 2009.

Since starting my own studio in 2010, a growing international client list has included the largest conglomerates and smallest, newest publishing ventures.

I’m lucky to work regularly for established publishers such as Penguin, Little, Brown and Amazon, as well as independents such as Faber and Icon, and since 2012 I have been Associate Art Director for Unbound, the London based crowd-funding publisher.

My work has been recognised three times by the Design & Art Directors Association (D&AD), and exhibited at the Hay Literary Festival 2012.

To compliment my design, I take an active role within the book publishing and design industries. Judging the Book Design category for the D&AD in 2012, speaking at The Bookseller Cover Design seminars in 2007, 2010 and 2013 and reviewing for Fixabook, help keep my industry awareness fresh.

Encouraging new talent wherever possible, I have taught on various Graphic Design courses including Edinburgh College of Art, Glasgow School of Art and The Nottingham Trent University (where I graduated with a degree in Graphic Design in 2001). For the last two years I have run a ‘Fantasy Publishing Venture’ workshop with students on the Publishing and Creative Writing degree courses at Bath Spa University, with exciting results.

I work from my studio in Frome, Somerset, supported by my wife Rosey and have two very junior designers who help out around the place, Joseph (6) and Ella (3).

Services

Cover Design Illustration Typography

Languages

English

Fiction

Classics Crime & Mystery Cultural & Ethnic Themes Historical Fiction Humor & Comedy Literature Romance Thriller Women's Fiction Young Adult & Teen

Non-Fiction

Architecture Art Biographies & Memoirs Career Guides Cooking & Food Wine & Spirits Design Entertainment Health & wellbeing Photography Publishing Self-help & Self-improvement

Certifications

BA (Hons) Graphic Design

Awards

D&AD Nominated 2010, 2011, 2013

Work experience

Creative Director

Self Employed

July, 2010 – Present (about 7 years)

Design studio for book publishing.

15 years experience creating covers for everyone from the biggest conglomerates to self publishers, including authors such as Iain Banks and Alexander McCall Smith.

Art Director

Canongate Books

July, 2007 – July, 2010 (about 3 years)

Relocated to Edinburgh to set up a new Art Department within the award-winning Canongate Books Ltd., publisher of Nick Cave, The Mighty Boosh and Yann Martel among others. During my time there we were Independent Publisher of the Year 2009, and nominated twice by the Design & Art Directors Association.