At the September 2017 luncheon, Brian Donahue, the founder of bedesign, Daniel Leary, the creative director of MHS Press, and Mary Austin Speaker, the creative director of Milkweed Editions, gathered to discuss how book design has been changing over the last few years and will continue to change into the future.

Moderator David Farr began the panel with past. All three panelists discussed how their job is increasingly expanding due to efforts to save money at the printers. Contrary to common belief, these designers are much less tied down by cost-saving paper choices. The second half of the conversation turned to a discussion on how designer can stay valuable and relevant in an increasingly templated design world.

Mary Austin Speaker spoke about specializing in a type of design (such as covers), while all three panelists praised the foresight of designers who don’t go all-in into a certain type of product or coding software. The panel ended with a short demonstration from Brian Donahue of a book app that expands book art from the physical to the digital, and allows for multi-media-based reading experiences. For these designers, at least, the future is a shiny thing. Thanks to all attendees and participants for an interesting, exciting event!

An audio recording from this event are available to members in Member Resources.