Stephanie Drake

Stephanie Drake – Designer

📚 ✨ Passionate children's book designer and illustrator, dedicated to bringing your vision to life. ✨ 📚

Overview

Hi! I'm Stephanie, and I’m here to help bring your children’s book to life. I’m passionate about creating engaging and beautiful picture books.


Whether you have a clear idea or need some guidance, we can work together on everything from storyline and characters to illustrations and design. As a Children's Book Designer with experience across sticker books, picture books, novelty books, and more, I can bring your vision to life with the right typography, artwork, and design to make it stand out.


Beyond design, I also offer art direction, helping to find the perfect illustration style for your story and ensuring everything aligns beautifully. If you already have illustrations, let's look and how to incorporate them seamlessly into the design.


When it’s time to print, I’ll make sure everything meets your printer’s specs so you can easily upload files and get one step closer to holding your book in hand.


If you're ready to get started, reach out! Let’s make an amazing book together!


I've recently had some time out to welcome the newest addition to our family, baby Jasper, but now I'm back and happy to get started on some lovely new books.

Services
Non-Fiction
Children’s Non-Fiction
Fiction
Middle Grade Picture Books
Languages
English
Awards
  • SCBWI Spark Award for Picture Books 2023: Pebbles and the Biggest Number
  • American Fiction Award for Best Cover Design 2023: Children's Books. Pebbles and the Biggest Number
  • Self-Publishing Review Book Award. Pebbles and the Biggest Number
  • 2021 Gold Award The Mom's Choice Awards: If I Can't Eat Flies, What am I?
  • 2023 - Mom's Choice Award for Children's Picture Books: Science & Technology. Pebbles and the Biggest Number
Certifications
  • Ba(Hons) Fine Art - Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design

Work experience

Wonderbly

Jul, 2022 — Present
As a children’s book producer at Wonderbly, I’m part of the Story Studio team, creating personalised books that delight children and adults alike. I work closely with writers, editors, and designers to bring unique stories to life. I also manage timelines and budgets to keep projects on track, handling any production challenges along the way.

Freelance

Jul, 2020 — Present
I provide freelance design support to anyone looking to bring their ideas or publications to life through tailored design solutions and illustrative support.

Igloo books

Jan, 2015 — Jul, 2020 (over 5 years)
Role: I worked as a Senior Designer within the Children’s Book department of a mass-market publisher. I project-managed the creation of children's books within the team, ensuring materials were produced to high design quality and technical accuracy and meet schedule deadlines. My design input was from the initial concept, and illustrative commissioning through to print ready files. Working closely with authors and illustrators to produce impactful cover design, page interiors, and project packaging. I verified files were technically accurate during all stages of production to produce professional industry-standard publications. The titles I worked on are available in retail stores both in the UK and across the globe.

Inspirational Playgrounds

Jan, 2013 — Jan, 2015 (about 2 years)
Role: I designed a comprehensive range of education products for games, interactive signs, murals, and classroom furniture that inspired learning through play. I produced the concepts, original illustrations, and product design for primary and nursery school resources for UK education settings.

Stitch -Mi- Lane

Jan, 2012 — Jan, 2013 (about 1 year)
Role: I designed and marketed a garment range focusing on the bicycle commuter sector. I worked on design and product development of a range of textiles and garments.

Portfolio

Do Dogs Dream: Cha-Cha Explores the Wonderful World of Art

Peppers, Kandace

Waller Williams Publishing, LLC

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
The Height Of Friendship

Searle, Adam D

Wide Awake Books

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Magpie and Penguin: The Big Switch

Kemp, Lisa

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
The Birthday Party: A Cool Kids Book

Koons, Marissa

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Empty

Potvin, Richard

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Who is the Greatest Organ?: Some of the major organs compete to decide who is the greatest organ

UnclEdwin

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Penguinville: Come Find Yourself

Palmisano, Joe

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Bird Hide

Higges, Geoffrey

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
There's No Other Love

IglooBooks

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
The Yeti Who Came to Stay (Gift Book)

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Goodbye Mother Bear: FARADAY BEAR & FRIENDS

Searle, Adam D.

Wide Awake Books

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Cayden John Dinosaur: Responding to Your Name

Parra, Brittany

Brittany Parra Design

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Pebbles and the Biggest Number: A STEM Adventure for Kids - Ages 4-8

Joey Benun

Joey Benun

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
My Frenchie & Me Postcards from Paris

Menneke, Michelle

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Made with Reedsy
Trick or Treat: A Cool Kids Halloween

Koons, Marissa

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
A Treasury of Beautiful Stories: Snuggle up for storytime with 21 sparkling stories to share

IglooBooks

Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Build Your Own Pirate Racer

IglooBooks

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Little Lost Penguin

IglooBooks

Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Build Your Own: Dinosaur Racer

IglooBooks

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
My Giant Preschool Sticker Activity Book

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Unicorn (Colouring and Sticker Fun)

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
The Nativity

The Nativity

Cover Design Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
A New Friend for Mouse: Great friends can be hard to find

Lacey, Jo

Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
The Night Before Christmas

Igloo Books

Typography Book Interior Design Production Management

Stephanie has 31 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Alan G.

Alan G.

Apr, 2025

Stephanie did a truly excellent job turning my text and images into a finished book. She really went above and beyond and was a joy to work with, I can't recommend her highly enough. She understood my vision and did such a wonderful job bringing it to life with any revisions that I needed. I very...
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Catherine B.

Catherine B.

Feb, 2025

Stephanie was fantastic to work with. She's very skilled and knowledgeable and answered all my questions. She put me at ease(since I am new at publishing). She's extremely thorough and provided all her work in a timely manner. You're in good hands with Stephanie. Highly recommend her! Cathy
Stephanie D.
Thank you so much for your kind words! It was an absolute pleasure working with you, and I’m so glad I could help make the publishing process feel a little easier. Wishing you all the best with you...
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Catherine B.

Catherine B.

Feb, 2025

Stephanie has been wonderful! She's easy to work with and stayed very professional. She helped me to understand different aspects of the final product. In fact, we are still finalizing some changes on my part and she has adapted to my needs considering I am completely new at this! She provided he...
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Laila H.

Laila H.

Jul, 2023

This was my second time working with Stephanie and it was an even better experience than the first time. She designed the best cover I could've ever imagined. She managed to turn my vague ideas into an amazing cover. She was so helpful the whole time. I have no complaints. I recommend Stephanie t...
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Brittany P.

Brittany P.

Nov, 2022

Working with Stephanie on my very first Children's book was a dream! From the beginning stages all the way to the final message was such a pleasant exchange with clear communication and questions that brought to light every detail of my vision for the illustrations. Stephanie not only captured ...
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Most recent contributions

How do you keep up with industry trends?

How Do You Keep Up with Industry Trends? As a children’s book designer, keeping up with industry trends is a mix of organic discovery and purposeful effort. Here are my top five ways to stay ahead: 1. Check the Bestsellers Lists A purposeful way to stay on top of what’s trending is to regularl...
Read more

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