Once our book team test cooks put the final touches on a cookbook’s collection of recipes, the design team’s job is just beginning. With finalized recipes, they can start planning out how they’ll shoot certain dishes to work with page layout, recipe lineup, and kitchen time. Then, on the day of a shoot, they work in concert with food stylists, photographers, and photo team test cooks (the ones who actually prepare the food in the photos you see in our cookbooks) to make these recipes come to life.
I spoke with two members of the design team, art director Lindsey Chandler and deputy art director Allison Boales, about their favorite shots from our new cookbook full of stunning photography (and inspired recipes), Vegetables Illustrated. Read on for some behind-the-scenes intel on the thinking behind each of the photos (some of which didn’t even end up making it into the book!) and what made each of them so special.