Amanda Guerassio

Ines Book Formatter: Elevating a Solo Book Designer into a Confident Brand

CLIENT

Ines Book Formatter / Ines Monnet

DATE

2020-2021

INDUSTRY

Publishing / Solopreneur

SCOPE

Brand audit, logo suite, brand guidelines, social media templates and Squarespace website

Project Overview

Ines is a professional book formatter who helps women authors turn their manuscripts into ready-to-publish books that rival those from big publishers. When we first connected, she was ready to evolve from “just” a freelancer into a confident business owner. Our collaboration began with a Clarity Brand Audit to assess where she wanted to go and how her current visuals were (or weren’t) helping her get there.

After reading her audit report, Ines decided to upgrade to a full rebrand. From there, I helped her shape a new visual identity that better reflected her goals, her audience, and her expertise.

Objectives

  • Help Ines step into a more confident, credible business identity
  • Create a clean, professional brand system with an approachable, feminine feel
  • Provide branded templates and tools to help her show up consistently across platforms
  • Redesign her Squarespace website to reflect her new visual direction
Ines Book Formatter logo suite and color palette.

My Role & Deliverables

  • Clarity Brand Audit: Strategic analysis of her business vision and current branding
  • Logo Suite: Primary, stacked, alternate, and monogram logos built around an open book icon that suggests a book taking flight
  • Visual Identity: Color palette, typography system, and guidelines balancing professionalism and warmth
  • Social Templates: Designed a library of Instagram posts for testimonials, timelines, tips, quotes, and more
  • Squarespace Website: Redesigned her existing site to align with the new branding (design only)
  • Brand Guidelines: Packaged all elements into a reference-ready guide for future use

Design Approach

The logo pairs a custom open-book icon (also evoking pages or wings) with a classic serif font to keep things clean and credible. Curved lines and spacing give the design a gentle, uplifting quality—appealing to her primary audience of women authors.

Her palette centers around a professional but muted teal, softened with light neutral shades and paired with rich navy and gentle yellow accents. The typography balances structured legibility with a touch of handwritten flair.

Ines Book Formatter website

Tools & Workflow

Design: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Canva

Web Platform: Squarespace

Collaboration: fully remote, Zoom meetings and email, file hand-off via Google Drive

Social templates

Results & Impact

  • Ines fully adopted the new brand identity and still uses it across her website and social media
  • The brand helped her show up with more confidence and polish, supporting her shift into a more established business presence

Why This Project Matters

This project shows how even solo service providers can elevate their brand into something that feels aligned, intentional, and impactful. Through strategy, design, and thoughtful collaboration, I helped Ines move from DIY uncertainty to clear, confident professionalism.

Testimonial

“I hired Amanda first to brainstorm on my branding, then to work on my logo and color palette, and her expertise was very much appreciated. It was such a relief to have someone with experience and knowledge helping me steer the look of my business in the right direction. I will definitely be working with her again in the future!”

Ines M.
Book layout designer