About Us

Design project management for authors and publishers of children’s books and software for educational and trade markets.

We are based in Oxfordshire and include major and minor publishers in our client list including Oxford University Press, Penguin, Pearson, Macmillan, Harcourt, Parragon, Firecrest and Ransom. We also design books for self-publishing authors.

If you would like us to work with you on a project please contact
John Walker on
+44 (0)845 8388707.


We additionally design websites for freelancers, small businesses and organisations. We create websites ideally suited to people who will want to add to the website themselves to keep their site fresh with news and updates.

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Publishing Design

Design project management for authors and publishers of children’s books and software for educational and trade markets.
We are based in Oxfordshire and include major and minor publishers in our client list including Oxford University Press, Penguin, Pearson, Macmillan, Harcourt, Parragon, Firecrest and Ransom. We also design books for self-publishing authors.



QEB: Get Ready For Grade 1

Thursday 06 May, 2010 : Bill Bolton, London, Published, QEB, QED, Workbook

Workbooks for Grade 1 (and then Grade 2) covering addition & subtraction, phonics, time & money, and vocabulary. They may look simple but they were really fiddly, exasperated somewhat by editorial rewrites in the face of the tightest schedule ever. We worked over much of Christmas to get these done. But they were fun, and the artists were both blazingly fast!

Thanks also to Jane Walker at QED for rushing me some gratis copies from the US in time for the London International Book Fair.

Grade 1 artist: Bill Bolton

Sample pages:

Loading Images
Phonics.jpgVocabulary.jpgTime and Money.jpgAddition.jpg

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Deafinitely Theatre: The Boy and the Statue

Friday 12 March, 2010 : Beccy Blake, Deafinitely Theatre, Flyer, Theatres, Tricycle Theatre

Illustration: Beccy Blake

Illustration: Beccy Blake

A quick A5 theatre flyer designed for Deafinitely Theatre/Tricycle Theatre.

We designed this flyer, working with the artist Beccy Blake. The title lettering was created using the Berliner Grotesk typeface, making the infant ‘a’ out of the ‘o’ and ‘l’ letters, as infant letters were appropriate for the target audience age group. The rest of the type was set in Badger.

The Boy and the Statue is a new play for 4-7 year olds, accessible to both deaf and hearing audiences.

Saturday 3rd July
11.30am and 2pm
£6 / £5
Box Office 020 7328 1000
Tricycle, 269 Kilburn High Rd, London, NW6 7JR

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Penguin Active Readers: Covers

Sunday 22 November, 2009 : Adam Hunter Peck, English (ELT), Fiction, Katie Mac, Mike McKeever, Nick Hardcastle, Reader, Sonia Kretschmar

Covers from the 7 reader books we designed for Pearson Education. Penguin Active Readers are published internationally and feature a wide range of genres in UK and International English for ELT. Covers are usually by the artists, but sometimes use stock photos or classic paintings or prints.

Artists: Mike McKeever (Monkey King), Katie Mac (Good Day, Bad Day), Adam Hunter Peck (Stories of Other Worlds), Nick Hardcastle (Bleak House), Sonia Kretchmar (Under the Bridge).

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The Galapagos Cover.jpgThe Monkey King CD.pngThe Galapagos CD.pngUnder the Bridge Cover.jpgBleak House CD.pngGood Day Bad Day CD.pngBleak House Cover.jpgStories of Other Worlds CD.pngGood Day Bad Day Cover.jpgWonders of the World CD.pngStories of Other Worlds Cover.jpgUnder the Bridge CD.pngThe Monkey King Cover.jpgWonders of the World Cover.jpg

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Illustrator's roughs

Thursday 03 September, 2009 : Adam Hunter Peck, Jamel Akib, Mike McKeever, Nick Hardcastle, Sonia Kretschmar

Although I like seeing finished artwork when it comes in, I get more excited earlier in the process, on receipt of roughs. I think it is because though the final artwork is usually very accomplished it is in the roughs that the draftsmanship can be seen.

So here are a few recent examples:

Nick Hardcastle:

Bleak House

Bleak House

Bleak House

Bleak House

•••• more »

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Penguin Active Readers: Stories of Other Worlds

Monday 24 August, 2009 : Adam Hunter Peck, English (ELT), Jamel Akib, Mike Lacey, Pearson, Penguin, Publishing, Reader, Work in progress

Stories of Other Worlds Cover

Stories of Other Worlds cover artwork: Adam Hunter Peck

Part of the Penguin Active Readers series for 2010, published by Pearson Education. Three short stories by H.G. Wells: The Country of the Blind, The Door in the Wall, The Young Ghost, illustrated respectively by Adam Hunter Peck, Mike Lacey, and Jamel Akib. •••• more »

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Firecrest: Project Learning - Mammals

Sunday 17 May, 2009 : Firecrest, Natural history, Non-fiction, Work in progress

This is a buy-in from an Australian publisher. The original was in mono with inconsistent typography. But the text was good, so rights were bought and we were asked to repackage the book with Firecrest’s artwork to produce new layouts. An Einstein boffin character is used to raise issues and mediate the learning.

(The © watermark is not art of the design! LOL)

pl-mammals_page_1 •••• more »

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Heinemann: Abacus Maths

Wednesday 13 May, 2009 : Easiteach, Heinemann, Mathematics, Published, Software, Whiteboard

Abacus Evolve is a versatile and customizable maths course produced by Heinemann. We worked on the interactive teaching resources, ie. whiteboard presentations. They used Easiteach software from RM (Research Machines) which allowed easy onscreen manipulation of objects, drawing, writing in front of the whole class on interactive whiteboards by teacher or pupils. Easiteach was preferred over PowerPoint because it is so easy for the teacher to adapt on-the-fly in response to the class.

abacus1_f02 •••• more »

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Oxford Reading Tree: Snapdragons stage 2

Sunday 10 May, 2009 : Andy Peters, David Mostyn, Fiction, Jess Mikhail, Judy Brown, Liz Pichon, Lizzie Finlay, Oxford University Press, Published, Reader

Covers and sample spreads from the 2nd stage/level of Oxford Reading Tree Snapdragons. We were commissioned to produce 60 titles, in 10 levels or stages, using a wide variety of artists, typefaces, layouts and formats to motivate and stimulate readers. Though clearly leveled to provide a progression through the series, each title had to be an interesting book to pick-up and read for its own sake.

Artists: Andy Peters, David Mostyn, Jess Mikhail, Judy Brown, Lizzie Finlay, Liz Pichon

845510_st2_bk1_what_cvr 845511_st2_bk2_animalcvr •••• more »

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Firecrest: Day and Night - Everglades

Saturday 09 May, 2009 : Bologna, Firecrest, Frankfurt, Natural history, Nature, Non-fiction, Work in progress

Lavish fold-out books describing animals and plants in their habitats. We have begun the second book which covers the Everglades. A beautiful fold-out spread pictures the flora and fauna of the habitat, and subsequent pages work through each example. These designs were done for the Bologna and Frankfurt book fairs. We are now working on them for publication in the USA.

everglades-day_page_5

Day fold-out ©Firecrest Publications 2009

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Oxford Reading Tree: Snapdragons stage 1

Thursday 07 May, 2009 : Colin Mier, Fiction, Ian Cunliffe, Jan McCafferty, Jim Kavanagh, Joanne Partis, Oxford University Press, Published, Reader, Sue Hendra

Snapdragons is part of the ever expanding Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) from Oxford University Press. Usually ORT book stories centre around the Biff and Chip characters, with consistent artwork and type. Not so the Snapdragons branch of the tree. We were commissioned to produce 60 titles, in 10 levels or stages, using a wide variety of artists, typefaces, layouts and formats to motivate and stimulate readers. Though clearly leveled to provide a progression through the series, each title had to be an interesting book to pick-up and read for its own sake.

Artists: Jan McCafferty, Sue Hendra, Jim Kavanagh, Joanne Partis, Ian Cunliffe, Colin Mier

845501_st1_bk1_dadcvr 845502_st1_bk2_updowncvr •••• more »

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