Shanie Cooper – Designer

I'm a graphic designer who specializes in children's picture book design. I design picture books for kids of all ages and have done both fiction and non-fiction picture books.

I work together with the author and the illustrator to create a final product that is professional, fun, easy to navigate, and cohesive. My goal is to create a synthesis between the pictures and the text, so that the final book feels like a unit, with the pictures and text interacting and visually supporting each other. To this end, I can be involved with the illustrator starting from the sketching stage, making sure that the areas left for text placement make sense, both visually and in terms of the story's flow. After the illustrations are complete, I will work to find a font that complements both the tone of the story and the style of the illustration. The next step is laying out the text, which varies widely depending on the story. Sometimes we'll have text that dances around the characters on the page, varying sizes and ignoring baselines, and sometimes text will be more traditional, allowing the illustrations to take center stage. The final step is preparing the file for print. I have worked with printers all over the world, and have experience in most of the different printing types.

I have over 20 years of experience in the graphic design industry and have been working in publishing for most of that time. I have worked with independent authors, editors, illustrators, and publishers including Flashlight Press (I Need My Monster, When a Dragon Moves In, Too Much Glue, and many more), Apples and Honey Press (Big Sam by Eric Kimmel, French Toast Sundays, Judah Maccabee Goes to the Doctor, and more), and Menucha Publishers (E is for Elisa, From Wheat to Challah, and many more), working on covers and typesetting for easy reader chapter books for kids ages 7-11.

I'm looking forward to working together!