Episode 81 - Designing a 640-Page Book, with Dora Drimalas from Hybrid Design
Dora Drimalas, co-founder of San Francisco studio Hybrid Design, spent years (on and off, over a decade) building a 640-page case-bound monster of a book, and in this episode she walks me through every nerdy detail of how it came to life.
We get into the production specs (CMYK plus silver and fluorescent orange spots, sealed ribbon bookmarks synced to digitally printed edge painting, black and white editions), the publishing decision to go with Victionary instead of self-publishing, and how they managed over 400 contributors who each needed legal clearance.
Dora also shares her journey through the world of design that included Nike, and then founding Hybrid Design.
In this episode
- Why Hybrid built a book that's a "survival manual for design," not just a portfolio flex
- The full spec breakdown: 640 pages, two spot colors, edge painting as a nod to traditional marbling, and ribbons that sync to those edge colors
- Self-publishing vs. going with a real publisher, and why that validation and distribution mattered
- What it's like to proof a 640-page book for six months and still keep finding errors
- The legal reality of 400+ contributors and why most studios avoid books like this
- How locking the grid and templates early made the design the easy part and the content the focus
- Why a printed piece beats a PDF every time when you're trying to get noticed, and how to start small (a zine, postcards, a saddle-stitched book)
Buy the book here: Buy the Book
Learn more about the book here: The Blog
Check out Hybrid Design: The Website
Follow Hybrid Design @hybriddesignsf
Print Club Pro Coaching Details and Application: The Details
Come say hi on Instagram @printdesign_academy
Tags: print design, book design, studio book, Hybrid Design, edge painting, print production, graphic design career, getting noticed as a designer
