Reply To: Why are designers so shy?

Its up to the paying customer as to what goes into the book. Many details can be written into the inprint page but the paying customer can say “i don't want that there, get rid of it”.

Can be politics too, depending on the size of the agency. Creative Directors are normally in charge of graphic designers. a GD may be given Carte Blanche in terms of design and allowed to put their name, others may be told by the CD that they will stick to a stylesheet and put the CD or the firm's name as a “created by”…

My workplace prints lots of books. From time to time we're acknowledged as the printer, likewise the design agency is acknowledged too, and rarely the designer personally. Sometimes though, the company listed on the inprint page which SAYS it printed the book ISN'T the company that printed the book – the printing was subcontracted, despite what the inprint page says. This happens a lot.

Depends on what the publisher puts in the inprint page ultimately. There's no reason that more information couldn't be in the inprint page, and with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, we've found authors devoting a few lines as to not only the kinds of paper used but also the source of that paper.

I also agree with Docbud where clients have foisted bad artwork into the factory and prepress has spent ages fixing, yet they have the nerve to claim the work was designed by them rather than thrown/dumped at the printer to fix… be nice to have the factory's name somewhere there. I must add that these are typically one-off publishers and isn't a representation of the industry as a whole.

But where does one draw the line and who really deserves the credit? Just like movie credits, book credits could go on ad infinitum e.g. Production Manager, Assistant to the Production Manager, Prepress, Prepress Supervisor, Platemaker, Printer, Print Supervisor, Print Offsider, Folder Operators, Bind Line Supervisor, Hand-work Operators, Despatcher, Courier Driver, Secretary etc. (and the book hasn't even left the factory yet!). There are a lot of people who really deserve credit for producing a book – its quite often a team effort of at least a dozen people.