University Press Design Show 2024

Significantly behind on this for the second year in a row. Apologies. —Ed.

The annual Association of University Presses (AUPresses) Book, Jacket, and Journal Show has announced its winners published during 2023. The show, now in its 59th year, “honors the university publishing community’s design and production professionals; recognizes achievement in design, production, and manufacture of print publications; and serves as a spark to conversations and source of ideas about intelligent, creative, and resourceful publishing.”

It is a joy to be amid the rush of creativity and exuberance that is exemplified by the Book, Jacket, and Journal Show submissions. Our jurors were spoiled with the wide variety of visual and intellectual expressions that make our community so rich and diverse. The committee members really came through as a team, making this year’s efforts virtually seamless. Here’s to another great Show!

— David Zielonka, Stanford University Press, Book, Jacket, and Journal Show Committee chair

Entries are extensive, drawn from 507 worldwide, and the winners are separated into several categories, which I’ve drawn from below.

Scholarly Typographic

Academia’s titles are so often subjects that you only get from university presses. A great example:

University of North Carolina Press. Book design by Lindsay Starr.

When important titles are accompanied by compelling design, everyone benefits. Honorary mention to Horror and Harm, whose design invokes neither. See all the winning entries.

Scholarly Illustrated

Because these winning entries are from all over the globe, they run the risk of being difficult for us ’Muricans to understand. But design is a universal language:

Aarhus University Press. Book design by Jørgen Sparre.

The cover’s good, but one of the great things about this show is that you get more:

Aarhus University Press. Book design by Jørgen Sparre.

I’m a sucker for an interesting content spread, as demonstrated here.

Aarhus University Press. Book design by Jørgen Sparre.

I love the dingbats next to the page numbers, too; a great way to instantly illustrate which section you’re in.

Duke University Press. Book design by A. Mattson Gallagher.

Strong cover here, with the two shades of overlay really working in concert with the orange. Oh, and another — you guessed it — great content section, like this spread:

Duke University Press. Book design by A. Mattson Gallagher.

Nice. See all of the entries from the Scholarly Illustrated section.

Trade Typographic and Poetry and Literature

Honorable mention to the jacket for Rim to River in the former category and the illustrations in The Lamb Cycle in the latter. See all the Trade Typographic winners and the Poetry and Literature winners.

Trade Illustrated

Some incredibly talented photographers on display here, but one leapt ahead:

Getty Publications. Book design by Jennifer Schuetz-Domer.
Getty Publications. Book design by Jennifer Schuetz-Domer.
Getty Publications. Book design by Jennifer Schuetz-Domer.

More about the photography than design, admittedly, but still great stuff. Honorable mention to Looking at Venezuela, 1928-1978, which combines more-than-interesting photography with another eye-catching contents spread.

See all the Trade Illustrated winners here.

Reference

Couple of titles to highlight:

Princeton University Press. Book design by Heather Hansen.

A outstanding example of the cover being good, but the jacket in its entirely being more than the sum of its parts. Also:

University of Washington Press. Book design by Mindy Basinger Hill.

Not resorting to stereotypes or tropes was absolutely the right move, and the strong interior design works well, too. Nice.

See all the Reference winners here.

Jacket and Cover

This section is far and away the largest, and features some outstanding examples of book design — from any publisher — in subject areas that don’t always lend themselves to dynamic design. Some of my favorites, in alphabetical order:

McGill-Queen’s University Press. Book design by David Drummond.

Simple concept, well executed.

University of North Carolina Press. Book design by Lindsay Starr.

Strong image on this cover works extremely well with the green background and orange fire (and spine). Excellent.

University Press of Kentucky. Book design by Kathleen Lynch.

Love the illustration choices on the cover, with exactly the right background and interesting hand-lettering-style title.

Duke University Press. Book design by Matthew Tauch.

Double-exposure, something hard to execute well and done perfectly here, is exactly the right choice on this strong cover.

Yale University Press. Book design by Jenny Volvovski.

Simply put, excellent: a two-color jacket with fantastic lettering and great texture.

University Press of Kentucky. Book design by Zoe Norvell.

The hint of a face and the illustration within the outline combine to make this a winner on several levels.

University of North Carolina Press. Book design by Lindsay Starr.

Oh, that O! (The rest of the type is awesome, too.) Aged to perfection.

Yale University Press. Book design by Nathan Burton.

Illustration and type combine to achieve a fantastic jacket.

University Press of Kentucky. Book design by Jaya Miceli.

This cover made an appearance on my 2023 Favorite Book Covers list, and I’m delighted to see UPresses recognize it, too.

Princeton University Press. Book design by Katie Osborne.

Another example of simple-done-well. Love the orange.

Louisiana State University Press. Book design by Michelle A. Neustrom.

Color blocking perfection: a lesson in how-to using limited color choices.

University of Minnesota Press. Book design by Kimberly Glyder.

Great illustration, strong type, fabulous colors. (Interestingly….)

Princeton University Press. Book design by Hunter Finch.

Another that avoids stereotypes with a great background. The hint of megaphones is smartly done.

McGill-Queen’s University Press. Book design by David Drummond.

Brilliant: I love everything about this cover.

Honorable mentions go to the type on Divine Days and the open book on Some Unfinished Chaos. See the whole category of winners here.

Looking forward to next year! (Let’s hope I can post about it in a timely manner.)

See also: Last year’s winners highlighted here on Foreword.