Over the past few months, From Knowledge To Power: Your Handbook to Climate Science and Advocacy has undergone major transformations. Not only was the text itself finished, but it has also now gone through a few rounds of developmental editing and copyediting. One of the most interesting things about managing this project is its long timeline. Because this book is not due to be published until October 2021, it has a little more space to breathe than a normal fiction title published through Ooligan. We acquired this book before it was fully written, so while we had the opportunity to do some preliminary work, a lot of the bigger things were on a longer timeline.
As the text entered its heavy copyedit, my team was busy working on the social media strategy and the tipsheet. Both of these things posed opportunities for us to think about interactivity in the long term. How can we engage our audience? What do posts for other nonfiction books that deal with climate change look like? These are some of the questions that we have been talking about in order to inform what our strategy will look like.
At the same time, there are multiple graphic design processes happening as well, including the cover design. Writing the cover design brief for From Knowledge To Power was a meditation on the type of climate science text we are producing. For instance, on the covers of many books dealing with this same problem, you see dramatic photos—icebergs melting, the world on fire, pollution, etc. One of From Knowledge To Power‘s biggest selling points is that, while it doesn’t pull punches at the harm we have done to the world, it allows for advice and advocacy to envision a greener future. Therefore, when considering the cover, we decided to stay away from the more alarmist photos and focus instead on what we are trying to save.
Right now, the graphics for the book are being designed. I am part of a team of three who are working on creating cohesive scientific images based on the research the author has already done. While this process is challenging in making sure that all three of us stay unified in our designs, it’s really nice to work on a team and to bounce ideas off each other. The most time-consuming part of this process so far was figuring out permissions for graphics—what was fair use, what wasn’t, and what we had to exclude entirely.
It is such an amazing experience to see this book come together, as I have been working on it from the beginning. I am so excited to see all of the things we will produce for this book this term.