Recommend a good graphic designer?

[Sonja]

I'm looking for a good graphic designer to do layout for my book. The style I'm going for is very simple, clear, cute, clean, child-like and happy in a calm way. Any recommendations on people I could contact to potentially offer this work?

[Ben Lehman]

There's actually a lot of graphic designers on this board. Can you give more details about this project? How long is it? How much are you paying (if anything at all)?

yrs--
--Ben

[Sonja]

It's for a non-RPG book, a language instruction book actually. About 200 pages. Many pages will be laid out like language lessons, with vocab sections, parts with 2 columns with one language in left column and the translation in the right column. Some pages will be laid out like a word list or dictionary.

I would pay whatever the work is worth. I am also open to bartering if you need a web publisher, writer, translator or language teacher.

Some pages will have images, like the text may say something like "The kinkajou eats a lychee." with a picture depicting that action above it. I already have somebody in mind for the actual illustrations.

I have already made some decisions, e.g. I want to use Avenir for the main paragraph text and a typeface I bought called Chewy Blossom for the headers.

More info about my project at www.tokipona.org

[Eero Tuovinen]

This sounds like a very nice project, I'd jump at it if I weren't so busy. Do tell us, what's your schedule like? When were you planning for this to be finished?

Also: Ben would have just the perfect sensibility for something like this if he has the time.

[Sonja]

At the moment, I'd like to have somebody available for about 2 hours per week. We're at the brainstorming phase to decide how things will be laid out, what looks good, etc. This helps me as the writer so I know what format to write the content for, being able to imagine something that resembles the final form and look.

Some sections of the book are lessons, to learn various stuff. There are explanations in English and then content in 2 columns, with the Toki Pona words on left (and bold) and English translation on right (in either italics or normal). Other sections are like dictionary-style, with a big list of words that runs on a dozen or so pages. Other sections are literature, with one language on the left page and the translation on the right page.

There are also some diagrams to draw. For example, there is a chapter that teaches the various colour terms in Toki Pona, so I'd like a wheel-type chart that shows gradients of colours inside it. Or for example the chapter about Toki Pona sign language will have diagrams (possibly drawn by somebody else) of various hand gestures, and you will have to lay them out on the page in a clear way to show that this is the sign for dog, this is the sign for turnip, etc.

Later on, when the content is finalized (this summer?), most of the work will be to mark up the content in the templates and layout we have decided.

Work can be done over IM, e-mail and/or phone.

We can figure out a pay rate, if any, that is acceptable to everyone.

[Sonja]

Another skill I'm good at is converting stats (of monsters, difficulty levels, etc.) from one game system to another to keep the same probability or adapt to different game mechanics.