Choosing a designer is about more than finding someone whose work you like. You want to know they understand what you’re trying to achieve, have a solid process behind the creative work, and can confidently guide the project from idea to finished piece.
Here are a few of the questions I’m asked most often about working together, my process and the kinds of projects I take on.
My work is primarily focused on book and publication design, brand identity and strategic communication design.
I work with authors and established businesses to create beautifully considered books and brands, as well as with organisations and communications teams on publications and visual communications.
That can include everything from a book cover and interior to a complete author brand and website, or an annual report, impact report, magazine, campaign or suite of communications collateral.
If you have a project that sits somewhere in between, get in touch. There’s a good chance it falls within my wheelhouse.
It depends on the scope and complexity of the project. Most of my work is quoted as a project fee rather than by the hour, so you know what you’re investing before we begin.
You can view my current starting prices and packages in my pricing guide. For larger, custom or ongoing communication design projects, I’ll put together a tailored proposal based on what you need.
Usually, the earlier the better.
I only take on a limited number of larger projects at once, particularly books, brands and publications with fixed launch or print dates.
If you know you have a book launch, annual report, campaign or rebrand coming up, it’s worth getting in touch before everything is completely ready. We can work backwards from your deadline and make sure enough time is allowed for strategy, design, revisions and production.
Every project is different, so your proposal will include a timeline based on the scope of work.
As a rough guide, a brand identity generally takes around 4–6 weeks, while book and publication timelines depend on the length, complexity and readiness of the content.
If there’s a firm launch, print or reporting deadline involved, let me know when you enquire so we can plan around it.
Most projects include two rounds of revisions at each agreed design stage, giving us plenty of opportunity to refine the work without disappearing into revision purgatory.
My process is intentionally strategic upfront. I’m not throwing pretty things at the wall and asking which one you like best — the creative direction is built around your audience, objectives and positioning.
If additional revisions or scope changes are needed, they can absolutely be accommodated and will be quoted separately.
That depends on the project, and I’ll let you know exactly what I need as part of your onboarding.
For publication projects, your content should generally be final or very close to final before layout begins. For brand projects, you don’t need to arrive with all the answers — uncovering the right strategic direction is part of the process.
Most importantly, you need to be ready to collaborate, make decisions and provide feedback at the agreed stages so we can keep everything moving.
Start by sending through an enquiry with a little information about your project. Or book a call here.
From there, I’ll recommend the right scope and send through a proposal outlining the deliverables, investment and timeline. Once your agreement is signed and deposit paid, your project is officially booked into my calendar.
I specialise in non-fiction books where design is an important part of the reading experience — particularly books by experts, founders, consultants and women turning years of knowledge or lived experience into something tangible.
That includes business and thought-leadership books, personal development, memoir, wellbeing, journals, workbooks and more visual or editorial-style publications.
I work on both the cover and interior, so the finished book feels considered as one complete publication rather than a great cover wrapped around a generic template.
Absolutely — and in most cases, I recommend it.
The cover might be what gets someone to pick your book up, but the interior determines how they experience it once they start reading.
Typography, hierarchy, pacing, chapter openings, recurring features, graphics, white space and the treatment of exercises or journal prompts all contribute to how professional and enjoyable the finished book feels.
Designing the complete publication means those elements can work together as one visual system.
No. I also work with authors going through hybrid publishers and directly with independent and larger publishing houses.
For self-publishing projects, I can design your book specifically for platforms and printers such as IngramSpark or Amazon KDP and prepare the professional print-ready files you’ll need.
My expertise is in the design and production side of publishing, rather than editing, proofreading or book coaching.
I can guide you through the parts of self-publishing that relate to your book’s design, print specifications, file preparation and production, and I work alongside other publishing professionals when a project needs additional expertise.
You don’t need to know every technical detail before you come to me. That’s very much part of what you’re hiring me for.
Yes — and this is one of my favourite ways to work.
A book often isn’t the end product. It can become a platform for speaking, consulting, workshops, media opportunities, programs and whatever comes next.
Through Shelf Published, we can build the book, author brand and website as one connected body of work, rather than piecing everything together with different designers and hoping it all feels cohesive at the end.
Ideally, when your manuscript is finished or approaching its final stages.
You don’t necessarily need to wait until every last proofread is complete to start the conversation. Booking earlier means we can discuss your timeline, printing plans, launch date and the creative direction before the manuscript lands on my desk.
Actual interior layout, however, generally begins once your manuscript has been edited and the content is final.
Absolutely. Publication design has been a big part of my career long before I started designing books.
I work with organisations and communications teams to turn complex information into clear, engaging and beautifully designed publications — including annual reports, impact reports, magazines, brochures, case studies, research and educational materials.
This is particularly suited to organisations with a lot to communicate and an audience they genuinely need to reach — not just another PDF that needs to be ticked off the list.
I work with two main types of brand projects: established businesses ready for their next evolution, and authors building a brand around their work and expertise.
For businesses, I typically work with established service-based businesses, consultants and experts whose existing brand no longer reflects the level they’re operating at. The business has evolved — its audience, offering, expertise or ambition has shifted — and the brand needs to catch up.
For authors, the starting point is often different. We’re usually creating a new author brand that brings together who you are, what you write about and the bigger platform you’re building around your book. That might eventually include speaking, workshops, consulting, media, future books or other opportunities beyond the publication itself.
In both cases, the goal is the same: to create a strategic, distinctive brand that reflects where you’re going — not just where you’ve been.
Generally, no.
A logo is only one part of a visual identity, and designing one in isolation usually doesn’t solve the bigger problem.
My brand projects start with strategy and consider the complete visual system — including typography, colour, imagery, graphic elements and how the identity needs to work across your actual business.
The goal isn’t simply to hand you a better logo. It’s to create a brand you can use consistently and confidently.
We start with strategy.
Before I design anything, we look at your audience, positioning, competitors, personality, values, offering and what needs to change in the way your business is currently perceived.
That strategic thinking gives us a filter for the creative decisions that follow.
From there, I develop the creative direction and visual identity before refining it into a practical brand system, complete with guidelines and the assets you need to actually use it.
By not starting with Pinterest.
Competitor and visual research are part of the process, but they’re there to understand the landscape — not to replicate what’s already in it.
The creative direction comes from the strategy we’ve established: what makes your business distinct, who we’re communicating with, how you want to be perceived and where there is an opportunity to create meaningful visual differentiation.
The result should feel right for your business, not simply right for the current design trend cycle.
Yes. Not every project needs a complete rebrand.
If you already have a strong identity, I can work within your existing brand system to create publications, websites and communications collateral that feel cohesive with it.
If the brand itself is getting in the way of the work we’re trying to create, I’ll tell you. Sometimes what’s needed is a strategic refresh rather than starting again from scratch.
Yes. I design strategic WordPress websites, particularly when they’re part of a broader brand or author project.
Rather than treating the website as a separate digital project, I look at how your brand, content and user experience work together — what your audience needs to understand, where you want to lead them and how the visual identity translates into a digital environment.
If you’re investing in a new brand and your existing website is still telling the old story, we can address both as part of the same project.
