Cookbook Design — 80th Birthday Tribute

I’m creating a tribute cookbook for my mum’s 80th birthday. She is of Indian heritage from Mumbai, and I’d like that heritage — along with a sense of family and warmth — to come through in the visual style. The book combines recipes from her handwritten diary with recipes she’s shared with family and friends over the years. Where possible, we have photographs of the original handwritten recipes and dinner table settings spanning roughly 50 years. Friends and family have also contributed short written messages about how she and her food shaped their lives. This is a personal, sentimental keepsake — the design should feel warm and heritage-driven rather than clinical or “cookbook-generic.” Structure The book is organised into chapters, with a range of individual recipes sitting within each chapter. Scope I need a full page design system (templates), not a one-off layout — content will be dropped into these templates across the book. Deliverables • Front cover, designed around the book’s title • Back cover • Foreword page • Chapter divider page • Standard recipe page (single recipe layout) • Image collage page (for grouping multiple photos) • Hero/full-bleed image page • Quote treatments for friends’ messages — two versions: one overlaid on a photo, one as a standalone feature pull-quote page • Dedication/index page (let me know if you meant something else by “I desk page” — I’ve assumed dedication or table of contents) Draft & Review Process • I’ll provide initial content (title, sample recipes, images) to design a draft covering the first two chapters only, so we can align on style before I send the full content • Minimum of three 30-minute calls included in scope, for briefing and reviewing changes as needed Timeline • 25 July: Initial content provided (for draft covering first two chapters) • 29 July: First draft returned for feedback • 1 August: Final content provided • 4 August: Final design completed Logistics • Format: print ready and original design files • Page count estimate: 150 To help me pick the right designer for this project, please include • Examples of your own past design work, ideally cookbooks, heritage/family projects, or similar warm editorial design • Based on what’s described above, what direction or ideas inspire you for this project