Her book designs are so cool! If you want to view her website, here it is: http://cb-smith.com
A bit about her: "I graduated from Reading University after studying Typography and Graphic Communication. I currently work in-house at Penguin Books. Amazingly my book covers have been recognised by the AIGA (NY) and D&AD (UK) and have featured in a numerous international magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, Vogue and The Guardian. The work I did with Penguin Classics on the clothbound series attracted worldwide attention and harks back to the world of Victorian bindings and a golden age of book binding."
Here is a great article she did on The Casual Optimist blog. They ask her about her process (of course) and I really connected with her answer:
"Could you describe your design process for book covers?
The first stage of every new cover is nerves and self-doubt: can I do something interesting, visually smart and get across the fundamental nature of the book and help it sell? Nightmare. So I get reading and then try to throw away all my concerns and fears and start getting stuff down on the page, sketching on paper and working things out on the computer. Usually that means trying out a lot of rubbish and having to trust that eventually something will emerge from the process that works. When that happens I can breathe a short sigh of relief and then get on with developing and refining until the cover is finished."
A few other book designs of hers.
[Austin collection]
