Neal Cobourne - Designer

Name: Neal Cobourne
Address: London, UK
Telephone: +1 407-233-3331

I love books... and over the last 30 years I've been lucky enough to be designing them for many of the major publishing houses

Overview

Starting my career in the late 80s at Quarto, before moving onto Dorling Kindersley for a further 12 years as an in-house freelance in the Jackets Department. Since then I've been working from home for Vision Sports Publishing, Scholastic and Simon and Schuster amongst others. For the last 7 years I've been juggling work with being a stay-at-home dad to my two kids, which now means I have my own focus group whenever I have to do anything to do with dinosaurs (a lot), snakes, creepy crawlies or sharks (almost as much as dinosaurs).

Since working with Vision Sports Publishing, I've picked up several awards and nominations for my sports books:
2010: Centre Court, Winner of the British Sports Book Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book
2011: Twickenham, Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book
2012: Wimbledon Visions, Winner of the British Sports Book Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book
2014: Wimbledon Annual 2013, Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book
2017: Portrait of Wimbledon, Shortlisted for the 2017 Sportel Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book
2017: Nunquam Dormio shortlisted for the Arbuthnot Latham Rugby Book of the Year 2017 at the The 2017 Sports Book Awards
2018: Wasps – The Official History shortlisted for the The London Sporting Club Rugby book of the year at the The 2018 Sports Book Awards
2018: Portrait of Wimbledon, shortlisted for the Thomson Reuters Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2018 Sports Book Awards

Services

Cover Design

Typography

Book Interior Design

Languages

English

Non-Fiction

Biographies & Memoirs

Children's - Non-fiction

Cooking & Food Wine & Spirits

Education & Reference

History

Sports & Outdoors

Awards

2010: Centre Court, Winner of the British Sports Book Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book
2012: Wimbledon Visions, Winner of the British Sports Book Award for Best Illustrated Sports Book

Work experience

Designer

Our Kid Design

January, 1988 – Present (over 32 years)

Over the last 30 years as a freelancer I have worked both in-house and at home for many of the world top publishers, and plenty of smaller ones too, covering childrens and adult reference books along with biographies and the odd detour into non-publishing things, brochures and posters, (check out my erotic chocolate concertina leaflet on my website). I do everything from art directing shoots, styling insides and outsides of books and making the tea (very important). I am well versed in indesign, photoshop and illustrator and can take initial briefs right through to being print-ready. Every job has it's challenges, which I enjoy taking on, and providing the most creative solutions. Check out my website to see what I've been up to over the years

Portfolio (6 selected works)

A Portrait of Wimbledon

All England Club

This beautiful full colour book showcases Wimbledon in all its glory and gives tennis fans a vibrant, high quality access-all-areas look at one of the world's most iconic and scenic sporting events. The book is resplendent in a high quality slipcase and is packed with stunning photography taken by some of the world's best tennis photographers under the leadership of award-winning snapper Bob M... read more

Wimbledon 2018

Paul Newman

Riis

Bjarne Riis

RIIS:Stage of Light and Dark is the sensational autobiography of Danish cycling legend Bjarne Riis who's involvement with the sport has spanned over thirty years. In 1996 Riis won the Tour de France and then eleven years later confessed to taking the banned blood booster EPO in order to achieve the title. In this brutally honest account Riis condemns his poor decisions and provides an insight ... read more

Guinness World Records 2016

Guinness World Records

Brand New!! Re-check ISBN before Purchase

Guinness World Records 2016: Blockbusters

Guinness World Records

If you're hungry for trending trivia, mind-blowing stats and more pop-culture records than you can shake a selfie-stick at, look no further than Guinness World Records 2016: Blockbusters! Are you the world's ultimate LEGO(R) builder? Do you know all the spells from Harry Potter by heart? Think you could name the most-watched movies, highest-charting songs or most-followed stars of the last yea... read more

Blood, Sweat and Treason

Henry Olonga

Sports book meets real-life thriller in this sensational autobiography of Zimbabwe’s first-ever black cricketer. Blood, Sweat And Treason tells the story of Olonga's childhood against a backdrop of revolution, independence and a country that gradually spiralled out of control. He talks of his growing realisation that Mugabe headed up a murderous regime and how he sacrificed his comfortable pos... read more