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How to use the Design Tool
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Written by Support
Updated over 3 years ago

The Cover Design Tool can be used for the following products:

  • Wire

  • Comb

  • Velo

  • Paperbacks

  • Hardbacks

  • Ring binding

  • Hardback wire

Note: for full access to the Cover Tool feature, please use a desktop or laptop. Functionality is limited on mobile and tablet devices.

To access the Cover Design Tool, complete the following steps:

  • When configuring and previewing your document, go to section '4. Cover' and click the blue 'Configure cover' button.

  • Complete the required cover set-up and choose the 'design a cover' option when shown.

  • The Cover Design Tool will appear as a separate expandable panel, as below.

If you have chosen to design a front cover and back cover, the front cover will be shown on the right and the back cover will be shown on the left, as above.

If you have chosen to design a spine for your book or ring binder, a spine area will also be shown.

Cover design options

The Cover Design Tool provides the following options:

  • Undo / redo

  • Select / rotate / move / duplicate / order / delete

  • Pan / zoom / fit to screen

  • Text colour / font / size / alignment / bold / italic

  • Background colour

  • Text

  • Image

  • Pencil

  • Line

  • Rectangle

  • Circle

  • Border

  • Fill

  • Border size

How to design your cover

A background colour can be added to all covers using the Cover Design Tool.

  • Choose a background colour by selecting 'PAGE' and then 'BACKGROUND COLOUR'.

  • Click 'BACKGROUND' and a colour picker window will appear. The appearance of this colour picker depends on the device and browser being used.

Add text

Text can be added to your covers using the Cover Design Tool.

  • To add text, click the 'TEXT' option top left hand corner.

  • You can select from the following options, 'ADD A HEADING', 'ADD A SUB-HEADING' AND 'ADD SOME BODY TEXT'.

  • Style the text using the text tool bar - you can pick a text colour / font / size etc.

Available fonts:

Abril FatFace

Amatic SC

Archivo Black

Arvo

Bebas Neue

Berkshire Swash

Caveat

Concert One

Coromorant

Epilogue

Gravitas One

Inter

Lora

Libre Bakersville

Montserrat

Merriweather

Nunito

Old Standard

Open Sans

Oswald

Pacifico

Poppins

Playfair Display

Prata

PT Serif

Raleway

Roboto

Rubik

Source Sans

Spectral

Vollkorn

Work Sans

Yatra One

Alignment options:

Left
Center
Right

To align the text, select the text box and click the relevant alignment icon.

Please note that the alignment setting will be applied to the entire text box. If you need to apply the setting to an individual word, ensure it is placed in a separate text box.

Other options:

Bold
Italic

To apply the bold or italic setting to your text, select the text box and click the relevant setting icon.

Please note that bold or italic setting will be applied to the entire text box. If you need to apply the setting to an individual word, ensure it is placed in a separate text box.

Text size: from 3 to 160

To increase the text size, select the text box and simply move the slider from left to right.

Please note that the text size will be applied to the entire text box. If you need to apply the size to an individual word, ensure it is placed in a separate text box.

Add Images

Images can be added to your covers using the Cover Design Tool.

Accepted file types: jpg, jpeg, png

  • Click the 'IMAGE' option in the top left corner and 'UPLOAD AN IMAGE'

  • Browse for your image and click 'Open' to add it to your cover

  • Once the image has been added, select it and move it into position.

  • You can resize the image by grabbing the corners.

Use the rotate option to move the text from horizontal display to vertical display.

  • Make any final tweaks - import your ISBN image, add price info, logo etc.

  • Click 'save' to save your progress (the purple button in the top right corner)

  • When you have finished your cover and wish to leave the Cover Design Tool, click 'continue' (the purple button in the top right corner) and review your cover preview.

After saving your cover you will be taken to the cover previewer:

It is here you can select whether you would like your covers printing colour or black and white. As well as cover lamination.

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