Creating a set of book images

Images play a big role in how professional a book feels, whether they are photographs, diagrams, charts, or illustrations. Consistency, clarity, and print quality matter just as much as the images themselves. Many of our projects include creating or reworking images as part of the design process, from redrawing diagrams and charts to commissioning or producing illustrations and sourcing suitable imagery. This is an area where careful preparation makes a visible difference, and it is something we handle regularly for authors.

Charts, diagrams and infographics

Creating charts, diagrams, and infographics is one of the areas we are most frequently asked to help with. These elements need to feel coherent as a set, with consistent fonts, line weights, spacing, color use, and overall style. Our designers create these as vector artwork, which means they remain crisp and sharp at any size and reproduce cleanly in print. Well-designed diagrams improve clarity, support the text, and give the book a polished, intentional feel that is very difficult to achieve with mixed or repurposed graphics.

Your own photographs

If you're supplying your own photographs, we start by confirming that you have the right to use them. Photos you've taken yourself are usually fine, provided anyone identifiable has given permission to appear. Beyond usage rights, image quality is crucial. We routinely assess author-supplied photos for resolution, cropping, and suitability for print, and we can adjust or prepare them so they reproduce cleanly and sit comfortably within the page design.

Images from the internet

Images copied from websites, blogs, or social media are almost never suitable for book printing. Most are protected by copyright, even if there is no visible watermark, and they are typically too low resolution for print. For these reasons, we advise against using internet images in book interiors and will usually recommend alternative approaches that avoid legal and quality issues altogether.

Creative Commons images

Creative Commons libraries make it possible to find images that can legally be reused, provided the license terms are followed correctly. These images can sometimes be useful, but they still require care. Attribution rules must be observed, image quality can vary, and many Creative Commons images are widely used, which can make a book feel less distinctive. Where appropriate, we can help assess whether a Creative Commons image is suitable and handle the licensing details correctly.

Stock image libraries

Stock image libraries are often a strong option, offering a huge range of high-quality images licensed specifically for professional use. As a design business, we have access to multiple stock libraries and regularly source images as part of our projects. Stock images are supplied at print-ready resolutions and reproduce cleanly on the page. Any original artwork or diagrams we create for you belong to you, and stock images are licensed for substantial print runs, making them a reliable choice for published books.

Using AI-assisted tools

AI-assisted image tools have developed rapidly and are now capable of producing a wide range of high-quality illustrations, concepts, and visual styles suitable for final printed work. They are no longer just tools for experimentation, but have become a central part of modern design workflows, particularly in self-publishing. The real skill lies in knowing which tools to use, how to guide them effectively, and how to refine results so they meet print, licensing, and consistency requirements. We work with a wide range of AI-assisted tools and have extensive experience using them alongside traditional design software, allowing us to produce cohesive, print-ready imagery that fits naturally with the rest of the book.

Creating a strong set of book images is about more than individual pictures. It's about consistency, quality, and suitability for print across the whole project. Our role is to create, prepare, and bring together images that support the content and strengthen the finished book, so the visuals feel considered, professional, and fully integrated into the design.