Originally, the biggest challenge in designing this book cover was to clearly identify the Minnesota Vikings as the subject of the book without using trademarked materials. No team symbols, no logotypes, no jerseys, helmets, player names, etc. The concepts we presented with that criteria did not work for our client, the University of Minnesota Press. In the end, a rights-managed cover image was selected.

It should be noted that this book was a joy to work on for a Minneapolis-based design company. As book designer Anders Hanson put it, “I love the Vikes! They’re my favorite team in any sport by far. This cover image struck me as a fantastic, historic example of Vikings football—the fleet-footed Fran Tarkenton handing off to the hard-nosed Chuck Foreman.”

Remember Axel, the screwy Scandinavian character who lived in the tree house? With his dog Towser and his cat Tallulah? This book details the life of Clellan Card, a Twin Cities radio and television personality who starred in Axel and His Dog, a beloved local show that aired from 1954 to 1966 on WCCO-TV.

Beaver’s Pond Press contracted Mighty Media to handle this book’s design and production. Care was taken to maintain a nostalgic feel on both the cover design and the internal page design.

In 1998, Milt Adams started Beaver’s Pond Press Inc. His vision was to create an alternative for authors that weren’t interested in traditional publishing models. Beaver’s Pond Press came to Mighty Media in 2008, looking for a logo redesign that could modernize the company’s identity without diminishing the existing brand equity. The introduction of an accent color along with several other minimal yet powerful tweaks gave this logo a crisp, clean look.

Mighty Media was asked by Beaver’s Pond Press to design and produce The Yield, a compilation of Susan Peterson Johnson’s columns. The columns, which were originally published in The Land magazine, bravely detail Johnson’s experiences as a mother and wife.

Given Johnson’s intimate content, the inclusion of family photos was editorially impactful. Through careful retouching and color correcting, we turned old snapshots into print-ready images. These family photos were consolidated into several pages with soft backgrounds at the end of the book.

Written and developed by Mighty Media, this series nurtures an early reader’s artistic side. Each book uses  simple language and how-to photos to introduce early crafters to a variety of projects. Even seasoned crafters will be surprised by the ingenuity and functionality of these ideas! In an effort to develop the most telling and intuitive instructions possible, we took an endless amount of photographs; solid photography in the step-by-step instructions was an absolute must. Materials and tools lists were added to help kids get prepared before the glue and beads started flying.

Get ready to break a leg! Written and developed by Mighty Media, this expressive series provides budding theater lovers with the how-to information they need to create their very own shows. Each book brings to light a different production element, from script writing to special effects. All together, the books in this series make theater basics come alive, enabling young readers to make their first show a reality.

To produce the necessary photography for these books, we conducted an all-day photo shoot with a handful of wiggly, theatrical ten year olds! The kids were excellent models, despite the endless costume changes and face makeup application. We’re proud to have developed a series that encourages theatrical quality in children. We just may just reap the benefits as an audience members someday.

Written and developed by Mighty Media, this series grabs the interest of early readers that are curious about tools. Each image-filled book defines a basic tool, its history, and four popular variants of the tool. Straightforward definitions along with labeled images help kids understand the uses and value of each device. Simple sentences, tool-in-use photos, match games, and quizzes were included to promote comprehension.  Distributed through our client ABDO Publishing Company, this unique series is expected to do very well upon its release.

The University of Minnesota Press contracted Mighty Media to design and produce Subterranean Twin Cities, a book about the tunnels, caves and interesting spaces beneath Minneapolis and St. Paul.

This book’s beneath-the-surface subject matter gave our book cover designers plenty to chew on.  The cover design that was eventually selected is shown at left, though we’ve added a few of our favorite concepts as thumbnails below. Additionally, check out the thumbnails of this book’s interior, which was designed by typographer Chris Long. The extended right margins work perfectly with the vertical chapter heads.  We feel that this book is an example of some of our best text design.

National Public Broadband (NBP) believes that connectivity drives community development. That’s why they strive to bring affordable, state-of-the-art fiber optic telecommunication networks to all communities, rural and otherwise. 

NBP wanted a logo that communicated their mission and the speed and quality of their service. They chose this concept for its all-encompassing energy, movement, and connectivity.

This from designer Anders Hanson:

“The emphasis is on dynamic energy and speed. It feels a bit like a deconstructed globe, giving it a pervasive feeling. There’s also a half-hidden star, which I think adds another level of meaning. I used this typeface on several versions because it’s modern and stately, but it’s also very accessible.”

Other logo concepts were also presented (see the thumbnails below). Hanson experimented with the business’ acronym, rounds hapes to represent bandwidth, and a teardrop-shape to denote growth and speed.

This book, an English translation of a best selling novel, La invasiòn, centers on one of the most traumatic periods of Mexican history, the 1847 invasion of Mexico City by American armed forces and the ultimate loss of almost half of its territory to the United States. The book cover had to accommodate the wishes of the publisher, co-publisher, the author, the translator and the distribution sales force. Not an easy feat to accomplish! The first attempt portrayed the style and art of the period but was mistaken as nonfiction by the sales team. The new book cover design displays the love-hate relationship between the political forces within the context of enlightening and entertaining historical fiction.

This was a fun series to design. We started out looking at old circus posters… the geometry in our initial cover designs resembled these old posters. But in the end, the bright colors and bold typography were the only remnants of the initial circus direction. 

One key to making this series work was great photography. We searched for the largest, most detailed photos each breed… we wanted to see every hair! With the photos already doing a great job of showing the physical characteristics of each breed, the authors were able to commit to describing their personalities in detail. We wanted to really focus on what makes each breed unique… not just list generic facts for use in book reports.

We feel these books do a great job of presenting the breeds is a fun, exciting way!

Cool CSI, the latest best-selling “cool” series, introduces kids to the fascinating world of forensics. The books present simple experiments that use every day materials and mirror the processes carried out by professional investigators.

The covers carry on a design style that was established with the first “cool” series. With regard to the interiors, however, the publisher presented the design challenge of wanting the books to look like the CBS television series without directly copying it. Things get creative with backgrounds and typefaces that evoke high technology and intrigue. The backgrounds have the added practical function of changing with each new project to help guide the young reader through the book. The typefaces chosen are clean and easy to read, and original photography is used to demonstrate several steps for each project.

This is the third and most recent AlphagalorZ series which covers a fun variety of of A to Z topics. Famous Places from A to Z will bring children to some far reaching places all over the world and hopefully spark their interest to explore more. It covers both well-known and lesser-known places to discover. Holidays from A to Z provides a basic introduction to events and celebrations from many different cultures and religions. Children can find out more about themselves when reading All About Me from A to Z and of course Pets, Cats, and Dogs are always a big hit!

Creating a new identity for YMCA YFACE™—Youth Finding Activities in Community Engagement, a CNCS grant-funded three year project with YMCA of the USA, has presented many challenges.  The critical issues lie in the need to appeal to and attract teens and youth-serving adult staff and fulfill the grant requirements as well as adhere to the graphic standard guidelines of YMCA of the USA. Our design team came up with several versions of the logo and a tag line that divulges the meaning of the acronym. The logo highlights the Y, which stands for youth. The angular feel gives the logo an edgy feel that will appeal to youth and has a similar name as many popular social networks which will hopefully draw attention. Additional parameters for the logo design included multiple uses for print, multimedia and online applications.

This series was created to fulfill the need for more children’s books on measurements and how to use measuring tools. The book begins by introducing the measuring tool and then leads into a short story of a child using the tool in every day life. The books include several other brief scenarios of children measuring with the tool and there is a fun fact and quiz at the end! When creating the layout of the book, the challenge was to fit the design to a range of tools while remaining consistent. I thought the utility wall would make a good background that would fit with all the tools. This was also the first book series I was able to do some simple illustrations for which I thought added an element of interest.

Most library publishers publish the same books as their competitors.  As a book packager, we strive to create similar series of books with differentiation. We extensively research the competition and determine ways to visually and editorially present the content in a more creative, innovative and educational context that gives the publisher a marketable edge.  We utilize educational standards and rely on the expertise of our reading specialists to insure appropriate grade interests and requirements.  Special features such as maps, diagrams, additional facts and illustrations enhance the text and also appeal to a variety of learning styles and reading levels.

It took a lot of research (and in our office, a lot of internal “debate”) to develop a series of books that introduces early readers to our 50 states. Our final concept incorporates a fictional story in the main body of each spread that correlates with fact-based sidebars, which we named “Fact & Fable.” Each story is based on the symbols, history and geography of the state. While photography is used in each sidebar, we decided to use illustrations, courtesy of the mega-talented Bob Doucet, to bring the narrative in each book to life. Other features include an illustrated treasure-hunt style map that plots the journey of the story through the state, a fun comprehension quiz and more things to do in the specific state keyed to another map.

During the Greek-Italian conflict of World War II, the newly married and idealistic Dr. Theodore Electris was called to the Greek front in the remote mountains of Albania. Homesick, hungry, and desperately missing his young wife, Chrysoula, he kept an intimate journal to preserve his experiences. Those experiences come to life in Written on the Knee.

Translated from Greek by his daughter, Helen Electrie Lindsay, Written on the Knee serves as both an authentic historical document, a love story, and a testament of Grecian bravery. We worked with Lindsay to produce this incredible journal, which is generously supported by photos, excerpts of letters, and other reference materials.

Often overlooked, Greece’s six-month conflict with Mussolini’s forces in Albania during the beginning of World War II played a pivotal role in the outcome of the war. Many historians believe that Greece’s fierce resistance against the Italians delayed Hitler’s move into the Soviet Union, which turned the war in favor of the Allies.

It was important to visually capture the romantic undertone of this diary alongside the brutality of war.  We decided to incorporate french flaps for this book to give it a hardcover quality within the softcover production. The inside front and back covers have printed maps showing the course Dr. Electris covered.  Many of the photos are from his personal collection. This is the second version of the book after the first self-published version that also exists in a Greek version.

Who doesn’t love baby animals? Our design concept involves a “birth announcement” theme that includes vital statistics at birth along with growth milestones, adult involvement, eating and living habits and environmental dangers about each animal. Additional fact blocks on some pages help young readers understand more complex vocabulary and concepts and the comparison fact page offers cross-curriculum learning  opportunities which provides a competitive edge over other library books on baby animals. Other series include:  Baby African Animals and Australian Baby Animals.