Teresa Sarmiento on her Job as a Marketing Designer
Teresa Sarmiento is a Marketing Designer at Bloomsbury Publishing USA. Here she gives us a fascinating look at the intricacies of her day-to-day work by showcasing one of her latest campaigns. Enjoy!
When I decided to try and get into publishing, I had come all the way from Spain to New York City with the dream of learning in the publishing epicenter of the world. And while studying for a Masters of Science in Publishing: Digital and Print Media at NYU, I started to become more interested in the design aspect of books.
After my first year in New York, I got an internship at Bloomsbury Publishing for the Marketing Design department. And that eventually led to a full-time job.
The thing is, when I tell people that I am a Marketing Designer at a publishing house, they ask me what it is that I do. “So you get to work on book covers?” they usually ask. Usually, the first thing you see when you hold a book in your hands is the cover. But how did you get to know about this book? Maybe you saw it on social media, advertised on Instagram or TikTok; maybe you saw an ad for the book in a magazine or newspaper, or on GoodReads. Maybe you saw an appealing book trailer or animation of it, or maybe you just got a bookmark announcing and promoting the book.
And that's what marketing design is all about. All those promotional materials that showcase the book and its story, its characters, its brand. Like any other product, a book should also be advertised. That means digital ads (static or animated), social media campaigns, merchandising or videos/trailers. And here is where the role of the marketing design department enters.
There is just one thing that is common in every design, item, ad, etc., that I create: the art used, which is the art used for the book cover. The color palette. The typeface. Any promotional item that a marketing designer creates for a book should follow the book’s “brand.” And the brand of the book is stated by its story, its book cover, and its author.
To showcase this, I’m going to use as an example the New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s books. Let’s start with her new book Defy The Night, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. I genuinely enjoyed working on this title because 1) Young Adult Fantasy is my jam, and 2) I LOVED this book cover (illustrated by Sasha Vinogradova, designed by Jeannette Levy).
When talking about marketing design, we refer to how every design made should fulfill a marketing and/or publicity purpose. This can be a preorder campaign (when you preorder the book and in exchange you get a beautiful postcard, tote bag, enamel pin or bookmark), an advertisement campaign for that book which is going to be displayed on a platform or media outlet like GoodReads (for example), or a social media campaign, amongst others.
When these campaigns are established and booked, a marketing designer (me, in this case and for this title), must bring these ideas to life. The first thing I always do, when designing graphics or items which will promote a book, is to know what the book is about, what vibe it has, the color palette and art elements of the cover.
For Defy the Night, and for some of the cover reveal announcements, we first tried a very dark color, almost black, for the background. But because we wanted the book to pop-up more, we kept trying other colors that would make the book stand out more within the asset. Some of the first drafts of the social media graphics looked like this:
The design was not ok. The grey was too numb, the purple too bright and weird looking in contrast with the cover, and the dark ones… they were just too boring! Usually when we find a design we like, we use that design across all promotional items, marketing and publicity materials, so there is a consistent concept across every item that is representing that book, that product, that brand.
After these drafts, and after playing around with some colors, I did find a color palette and design that could work. A design to use across all advertising campaigns, which would match with the book cover, be easy to read, and eye-catching. We wanted it to have a magical design (obviously), and not be too dark; we wanted bright and powerful colors:
Once the design was approved, we incorporated the design style, typeface and art to the other campaigns and assets. Usually most of the design work that is used for online ad campaigns are either standard JPGs or one of the most common ads: GIFs. These are rotating ads, showing reviews from other readers or relevant authors. Below, there are some of the designs displayed on GoodReads, People magazine or the New York Post!
One thing I always say I love about marketing design is that there is not only one type of product you will be designing, but the variety is very, very wide. Besides ad campaigns, I do other designs, like those which appear on Defy The Night’s Amazon book page:
…. or a postcard I designed to be printed and included into the OwlCrate literary subscription Box (very, very cool and fun):
Besides these previous examples, a Marketing Designer can also work on advance reading copies (galleys). Before the final book goes to print, there is a version of the book (manuscript and cover not finalized yet), that goes out to different media outlets, book reviewers, etc., to gain book reviews, book buzz, and generate word of mouth. For this, there is a need to design a back cover and interior first color pages. These allow so much room for creativity! I always enjoy this part of my job as well, as I can play with the art and colors on the back cover however I want. For example, for Defy the Night, I designed the following back cover:
I designed other galleys, such as the one I did for A Vow so Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer, for which we also designed a belly band that would decorate the book.
There are so many types of projects… I could be sharing examples forever. Bookmarks, tote bags, enamel pins… those are a lot of fun too! But to be 100% honest, the projects I love the most are videos. Book trailers, animations of the books covers, Instagram filters (these are great to play with too)… anything is possible and it always gives me so much joy. Below, I am sharing an example of one video I designed recently that got over 55,000 views on Brigid Kemmerer and Bloomsbury’s Instagram page! (https://www.instagram.com/reel/CXOeLqulFDd/)
In summary, if you love getting creative with books, working on several projects at the same time, brainstorming about new ideas to promote books, a fast-paced work environment and quick turnarounds… marketing design is for you. You will never get bored in this job position, I never do!
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.