About

Aim

Loughborough Design Press (LDP) is a specialist publisher of significant theoretical contributions to design education. It was established by Eddie Norman and Ken Baynes, and is now managed by Kathy Norman.

Design education has been long-established both in the UK and internationally, but is not in our view sufficiently represented within the mainstream of art, design or technology education publishing. This is the situation that we hope LDP will help to address. Design education, alongside Science and the Humanities, is important because it underpins our relationship with both the natural and made worlds – whether real or virtual – and hence all our futures.

Editorial Policy

LDP creates three main types of publication:

• Single authored ‘big’ books by writers well-known for their contributions to design theory, design education and the economic, environmental and social significance of design
• Collections of essays, case studies and research reports on key themes in design, aesthetics, graphicacy and technology education
• Single authored short books (squibs) with a controversial point to make in the field of design – particularly about the relationship between design and social issues.

Strategy

LDP is a web-based publisher. This enables it to reach a worldwide audience. Hence, its essential marketing strategy is through its website: www.ldpress.co.uk

This website has an associated blog, Twitter and YouTube accounts (http://twitter.com/ldpressbooks and http://www.youtube.com/ldpressbooks). LDP news will be updated through Twitter and LDP authors will talk about their publications in short YouTube videos. The focus of the website is on the authors, who will invite feedback through their book pages. Authors will respond to the feedback received periodically through the LDP blog.

Products

In keeping with being a web-based publisher, LDP will supply its publications as ebooks and through ‘print on demand’ (POD). It may be necessary to supply ebooks in a number of formats in order to ensure the integrity of the numerous illustrations which will be an integral part of LDP publications. The intention is to take full advantage of the opportunities  for inclusivity that ebooks offer. POD offers a potentially more sustainable option for those customers who would prefer a physical product, and LDP has taken care to consider the sustainability policies of its suppliers. As many customers already own Kindle readers, the intention is to make a Kindle version of each book available.

Direct Sales and Marketing

LDP anticipates organising exhibitions and seminars related to the work of its authors. These could be in association with academic conferences concerning design education, and also at galleries, museums, universities and events where it is believed that people may have an interest in LDP’s publications. At these events pre-printed books will be available for customers to buy directly from LDP.

Book Design

The design of the POD book, in particular the B&W paperback version, is targeted at providing a working document convenient for use at a desk. The selection of materials and associated pricing policy have been determined with this objective in mind. LDP’s styling policies have been designed with web presence in mind. Book covers need to be striking even when small, and to have a strong visual identity to show that they are making a contribution to LDP’s aims. This is achieved by using the enlarged web ‘favicon’ on the book covers, with colour changes and ‘interventions’ of the authors’ choices. We hope that an interesting series of book covers emerges over the years and that the ‘favicon’ will become well known as the linking element.

The design of LDP’s books will be the subject of on-going review in response to feedback.  Discussions of LDP’s choice of typeface and approach to cover design can be found on LDP’s Blog here.

Notes for Potential Authors

As a new publisher we are only able to pursue a limited range of styles and formats. Current we publish: Big Books, Collections and Squibs. They are published as traditional hardback, paperback and ebooks, which are printed and distributed by Printondemand-worldwide.com. If you would like to know more about LDP, then please download the Notes for Authors PDF below: