Introduction
Hardcover journals are one of many great items sold on Redbubble. But to make sure your artwork displays correctly, including putting text on the spine of the book, you’ll want to use a template. Luckily, I’ve made a free one for you. Download and learn how to use it in this article.
The Before
As you can see, the design does not look like it’s perfectly centered on the cover of the book. And the spine is blank, which is not gonna be helpful to anyone who has this book stacked on a shelf.
So let’s use my template to fix it!
Step 1: Download Template
.PNG Version
.PSD Version
The .zip contains a 2.57MB .PSD file, with folders for labels, coloured zones, and to place your artwork in.Â
Step 2: Open a Copy
There are three folders in the document. The first folder contains the text labels, the second contains the coloured areas, and the third is where you will place your art.
The yellow parts of the template are safe. Whatever you put on these areas will always be visible. Centre artwork according to the marked quadrants.
The red areas are bleed and wraparound. They will be wrapping around the edges of the cover, so they won’t be visible in product photos, but at least your background colour should still cover this area.Â
The blue area is the spine. Any text you want on the spine should go here, and not go into the green area.
The green area is the sides of the spine that will be visible from the front and back.
The folder holding the coloured areas is at 50% opacity so that you’ll see your art through it.
Step 3: Add Your Art
Step 4: Add Spine Text
Type up some kind of text to place on the spine. It should relate to your artwork. For this book, I’m gonna go with ‘Do the Twist’. And if you’re not drawing the words by hand, try and choose a font that goes with the design too. I’m gonna use Alpha Rope by Chloe5972 on DaFont, because it’s free for commercial use.
When you’re done typing, right click the text, choose Transform. Right click it again, and choose Rotate 90° Clockwise. We do this so the top of the letters is aligned with the front cover of the book, which is easier to read when lying a book down on its back, as most people would do.
Quick tip:
With the outlined text I’ve selected, I can fill it on a separate layer. First, make a new layer under the text. Then, select the Fill tool, and using the following settings:Â
Tolerance: 100 | Anti-Aliasing: On | Contiguous: On | All Layers: On
Step 5: Save your artwork
Save your artwork as a JPG or PNG, and import it into Redbubble!
The Final Product
The artwork is perfectly aligned on the front cover in Preview 1. And the text on the spine is perfectly aligned in Preview 2.
[I know the artwork seems to have moved to the right in Preview 2. I’m guessing this is a mistake by Redbubble when putting the art on these mockups. I have to go with my gut instinct that Preview 1 is the move accurate preview.]​
Congratulations! You have made your new optimised journal cover!
Conclusion
I hope this template will help you make the best possible hardcover journals to sell on Redbubble. If there are other templates you need, check out my Redbubble Template Masterpost. And as always, if you have any questions or ideas, leave a comment below!
Peace, love and sunshine,
Share ThiS Post on Pinterest
Share ThiS Post on Pinterest
