Services
Co-Edition Typesetting
Project
The Brasserie Cookbook (Hardie Grant North America)
Category
Cookbook
Year
2025
The Brasserie Cookbook
70 Recipes to Drink and Eat À La Française
About the Client
Hardie Grant North America
Hardie Grant North America (HGNA) is an imprint of Hardie Grant dedicated to bringing bold ideas to life through beautifully designed books. They publish cookbooks, award-winning fiction, children’s books, and illustrated and narrative nonfiction for a global audience.
About the Book
The Brasserie Cookbook
Organized into daily menus with breakfast and dinner options, this book shows how to prepare modern, rustic French dishes such as Sausage Stuffed Brioche, Onion Soup, Haricot Verts with Sauce Gribiche, Steak au Poivre, Cassoulet, Parisian Flan, and Clafoutis.
The Process
Co-Edition Typesetting
For this project, I inherited master InDesign files of the original edition, which was published in French. Typesetting a translation is challenging because the translated text has to fit exactly where the original text did. This results in an easier and more cost-efficient printing process.
When typesetting a cookbook, I pay attention to many factors that could influence readability, including (but not limited to):
- ensuring numbers stay with their partner (a fraction with its respective measurement unit, for example)
- avoiding word and letter stacks
- following appropriate hyphenation standards
- balancing ragged lines to create a smoother edge on the text block
With so many considerations in mind, typesetting is a delicate balance that necessitates compromise.
Typesetting a co-edition requires a careful eye.
For example, even though some illustrations in this book are in black ink, many are not on the “text” layer (which means I can’t move them to fit the text).
Essentially, I had to typeset around the illustrations, using typesetting techniques that include (but aren’t limited to):
- adjusting the tracking of some lines to accommodate more text
- switching paragraph composers
- adjusting H&J (hyphenation and justification) settings
Credits
Text Lou Le Bloas of Nouvelle Garde
Recipe text Thibaut Darteyre & Baptiste Zwygart of Nouvelle Garde
Layout Studio Recto Verso
Illustrations Lucie Turenne of Nouvelle Garde
Cover design Toni Tajima
Translation Maggie Smith
Typesetting Hadley Hendrix
Hadley is stellar with her communication and organization.
I found her notes at each stage to be super helpful, whether they were about her design choices, things she was flagging for us to keep an eye on, questions, or general notes about where the project started, its current stage, and next steps.
Hadley’s clear communication helps close any gaps that can happen when working remotely and makes it easier for me to manage the project.
She is very thoughtful with her work and brings great technical knowledge to the table. It is a pleasure to work with her!
Natalie Lundgren
Editorial Assistant at Hardie Grant North America