Josh Frederick - Book Cover & Interior Design

03/12/2026

Is it too late to make a holiday post?

I didn’t want to design a run-of-the-mill book. I wanted to create a book that had a little holiday magic and would become a part of the holiday rituals.

For this edition of The Nutcracker, I used book design and bookbinding to turn the act of reading into a part of the advent ritual. Instead of just reading each chapter, the reader gets to interact with the object to unlock the next part of the story.

The challenge was to create and sell it. It needed to be reproducible and marketable. And the reaction at the holiday fair surprised me. The people who stopped by my table were curious about it, they wanted to touch it, figure out the mechanics, and understand how it worked.

I was reminded that even in today’s digital world, we’re still wanting physical experiences with all of the minor quirks and flaws a handmade book can give.

I wrote a full breakdown of how I created this piece—link in bio. This is just the alpha version though, I would love to see some comments with feedback so I can revisit this book and others to make them even better!

03/05/2026

The Olympics just finished and what always amazes me about the Olympians is how effortlessly they make it seem. They’re so smooth and so good they make me believe that I too can jump off a mountain in skis. Good design does something similar. It can feel so natural and effortless that we miss all of the work and hidden mechanics that go into it.

I wrote a little bit about it here, check it out if you’re curious and let me know your thoughts!

A Design Review of Black Bag by Luke Kennard

12/10/2025

I’ll be at The Holiday Market this Saturday! I have some new bookish projects that I’ll be bringing and excited to show them off!

🏠 Christmas village concertina book with washi paper panels. Place some fairly lights behind them to light up the night sky.

📚 Mini-book ornaments, made with recycled wrapping paper

🥜 The Nutcracker Advent book - Australian reverse piano hinge book; this is an interactive book, with 13 signatures individually wrapped that can be read and placed into the book each night. On Christmas, you have the full story of the Nutcracker!

👘 Bradel bound Japanese sketchbooks with spine cloth sourced from recycled kimonos

01/27/2025

“A good book cover will understand the commercial and storytelling context in which it is entering while also interpreting the unique voice of the text it represents. If you are a writer for a specific genre, a professional writing non-fiction books, or have a set of books set in the same world, branding can come into play.”

If you’re a designer or indie author, I’ve shared three tips to keep in mind when designing book covers.

3 guidelines to designing effective book covers

12/31/2024

➡️ swipe left to the last image to see the final cover

More visual exploration! Had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for the cover. There was a lot of potential with the cover, sometimes I wish I could use them all.

12/31/2024

➡️ swipe left to the last image to see the final cover

Exploring color, imagery, and typography is so important for book cover design. I always try to give my clients very different approaches, to get a better idea of what they’re thinking and to help hone in the goals for cover.

12/31/2024

Another new release, right before new years! Had so much fun designing this retro inspired thriller. The brief was it should have airport bookstore vibes, a fun book to read while you travel. Would you pick this one up at the airport? ✈️

12/24/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 🎄

12/20/2024

I love swashes, love drama, and love the American West. It was awesome to work with .author in bringing it all together for her book cover. We wanted to bring something different to the historical romance genre, and I’m really proud with where we landed! Check out the book when it releases next year!

12/09/2024

Took a hiatus last month to go back home to Thailand after being away for almost a decade! It was a good time spent with family, reuniting with friends, and eating delicious food.

On the way back, I stopped by Tokyo and Hakone in Japan for a quick visit. Did a fun bookish workshop with the wonderful and got to learn how to make an origami lamp and learn all about their craft making washi paper. The long trip ended with a phenomenal stay at , a library-themed hotel in the mountains. Thanks to for recommending it!

My heart will always be in Thailand and Japan, but I’m glad to be back at work with some exciting projects!

11/02/2024

Got to work on a unique book project recently. Typically, I create cover concepts based on a brief from a publisher or through consulting with the author. For this book, I was brought a design concept and asked to refine it. It was fun to be presented with a visual, but still doing the process of understanding the goals of the book, messaging, and audience. Even with something presented as straightforward, it was still important to go through the design process to ensure everything from the shapes, type, and even the shade of orange are intentional.

A project like this was a great way to brush up on my process and to break autopilot.