Startup education platform uses self-published textbook as lead-gen tool, and creates a best-seller in the process

The Product Book

Amazon #1 best-seller, winner of the AIGA A13 Design Awards Best Packaging

The San Francisco-based product manager education platform Product School approached us in 2016 to help them develop a comprehensive guidebook to complement their curriculum. Book projects for companies are often the most complex self-publishing projects we work on, since there are usually a larger number of stakeholders in the project that we have to make happy. 

In the case of The Product Book, we worked intimately with the authors, project managers, and CEO to develop the best possible book design for their current and potential students. The book itself went on to win an AIGA Design Award and reached #1 Best-Seller status in its category on Amazon. 

The Product Book was unique in that it only went through a single round of cover design before unanimous approval by all involved. We were on a very tight timeline, and the authors were keen to publish the book as soon as possible, so we knew delivering the right designs early in the process was crucial. The authors opted for a colorful cover design and interior featuring custom illustrations and graphics.

Some of our early cover sketches for the cover failed to meet the mark, and for obvious reasons when compared to the final design.