We’re excited to introduce you our Creative Director — Julia Dutka.
We had the pleasure to have a meaningful conversation with Julia. She’s a passionate design lover with endless ideas for the fantastic book covers and lust for life.
So let’s learn about Julia a bit more.
Describe yourself in 3 words
If I’m going to say I’m creative, is it going to be a tautology?😅 Anyway, creative, open-minded, and straightforward.
What do you do at MiblArt?
I can divide my responsibilities into 5 groups:
1. My main responsibility is to create a smooth and effective workflow in the company where bright minds can easily unfold their true potential to create art.
2. My second responsibility is creating an environment where discipline and freedom work on equal terms. It is a rather challenging task. Discipline helps us keep everything structured and organized. Freedom is where you can implement your brightest and wildest ideas. So, I’m the one who’s responsible for the golden middle between these two opposites. 😅
3. When it comes to product development, each group involved in the process — designers, managers, authors — has their own vision of any situation. Here, I’m the communication bridge. I should accentuate the key points and explain the “whys”.
4. Our authors’ ideas are always bright and vivid. We have to implement the ideas and, what is the most important, do everything we can so our authors fall madly in love with our book covers. At the same time, whenever the writers are in doubt about what they want to see on the cover of their books (or even have zero ideas), we’re always ready to come up with great concepts for free.
5. Another important aspect of my job is the learning process and professional development of MiblArt designers. Our book cover designers take master classes twice a month. There, they polish their book cover design skills and share knowledge with colleagues. But that’s another story that we’re going to share soon.
What makes a book cover stand out?
I’ll be brutally honest here.
It’s a famous author.
Yes, famous authors make any book cover stand out. Sometimes, a cover doesn’t have to be extremely creative, bright, and eye-catching as long as an author has already established their name on the market. 😂
Now all jokes aside, a bright and creative book cover that clearly communicates the message and intrigues the reader is always the best catch. Be it a famous or beginning author, such a combination is a win-win.
And when we speak about book cover design as it is, we need serious preparation because any success requires hard work. So let’s quickly cover the basic ingredients of a great book cover.
1. The first stage is product analysis. During this stage, we highlight the key moment in a book to be illustrated on the cover. It needs to be interesting, intriguing, and captivating so readers want to open the book.
2. Your target audience. You need to know your book’s target audience and what message you want your book cover to communicate. Collect all possible information about your readers to find the right color scheme, fonts, and other visual components.
3. Know your competitors. Compare yourself with your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and think of what makes you unique.
4. And last but not least, people are visual creatures. That’s why it’s imperative to remember that the contrasts of size, color, and shape always attract readers’ attention. Also, as far as we know, a human eye will never miss food, catastrophe, and sex.
If the book cover speaks to your target audience, you win.
Do you have a dream destination? What’s that?
Speaking about career and company destination… Hmmm… I just can’t be too specific here. We’re going to share more info soon. But it’s always about the development, growth, and improvement — less about the destination and more about the path.
And my path is the feeling and knowledge that I am helpful and can contribute to any area of life, whether as a part of the MiblArt team, as a wife, a friend, or a human being. Again, it’s not about the destination but rather a path of learning, growing, loving, contributing.
Your message to authors who read this interview.
Authors, there are no other words to say but “thank you” for inspiring and igniting our imaginations with your breathtaking stories that teach, improve, and help us grow. You’re the masters of words and your books are the greatest tools for improvement and entertainment for many people.
If you want Julia to answer your questions, ask in the comments. 😉
