Professional Book Design Services - Transforming Personal Memoirs into Meaningful Books | Plantain
Plantain
We help you capture your stories in beautiful books.
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Doreen Ahow: My Way

We don't always write your content...

Sometimes, families and companies have already written their story, but need help crossing the finish line: fine-tuning or editing the narrative, typesetting the design, or taking the book to print.

One such book is Doreen's:

Her grandson, Damian, brought us her memoirs (which she had handwritten and dictated to him) shortly after she passed away. He wanted us to transform them into something meaningful.

The book’s design had to match Doreen’s personality, and we made use of bold reds (C: 17, M:100, Y:89 K:8) and striking fonts (ITC Caslon and Lora).

The quality of our books tends to reflect the synergy with our clients, and Damian was a dream to work with—trusting, decisive, and responsive. We thank Damian and the rest of the family for allowing us to document their legacy.

The book was printed on white uncoated paper (70# paper, 105 GSM).

Doreen's project is also Plantain's first print-on-demand book. What that means is that each family member ordered any number of books they wanted at the click of a button on our website... In the past, clients had to bulk order their books and personally distribute them among family and friends.

“While I did not have Plantain develop the content, I used their expertise to create a design from scratch. They customized the aesthetics of the book exactly as I wanted through their questionnaire about the subject's style and through my direct r

“While I did not have Plantain develop the content, I used their expertise to create a design from scratch. They customized the aesthetics of the book exactly as I wanted through their questionnaire about the subject's style and through my direct requests. They were very responsive to every question and request and genuinely cared about creating the perfect keepsake book for my family. I appreciated very much their flexibility in customizing the design and structuring the package to meet my needs. I am extremely pleased with their tasteful, elegant and professional creation.” — Damian Ahow.

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"My first recollection of anything is sitting on my father’s lap looking out the window facing east on St. Vincent Street, seeing the coolies washing and sweeping the street in the dark. The water hydrants were opened to pour the water over the str

"My first recollection of anything is sitting on my father’s lap looking out the window facing east on St. Vincent Street, seeing the coolies washing and sweeping the street in the dark. The water hydrants were opened to pour the water over the street so that they could be washed clean. This is the town that I knew. The smell of strong coffee and his cigarette were very present and did represent to me his presence and security."

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"My first recollection of anything is sitting on my father’s lap looking out the window facing east on St. Vincent Street, seeing the coolies washing and sweeping the street in the dark. The water hydrants were opened to pour the water over the str

"My first recollection of anything is sitting on my father’s lap looking out the window facing east on St. Vincent Street, seeing the coolies washing and sweeping the street in the dark. The water hydrants were opened to pour the water over the street so that they could be washed clean. This is the town that I knew. The smell of strong coffee and his cigarette were very present and did represent to me his presence and security."

"When I was a child living on St. Vincent Street, roller skating was popular. My big brother, Vin, was a good skater and had a pair of Winchesters. My brother, Victor, had a cheaper brand and he was also a good skater. I also learned to skate and V

"When I was a child living on St. Vincent Street, roller skating was popular. My big brother, Vin, was a good skater and had a pair of Winchesters. My brother, Victor, had a cheaper brand and he was also a good skater. I also learned to skate and Vic and I would skate in the afternoons after school, along St. Vincent Street to Gordon Street, up Chancery Lane to the Savannah, around Memorial Park and along Keate Street, the best skating street ever, to get back home.

When we moved to Sackville Street and I was about 10, I went out skating one evening with my brother Vin, my sister Achay on bicycle, and her friend, Elaine Assing, on skates. We were heading in a line along Queen’s Park Savannah East when we were stopped by a policeman nicknamed Tiger Tim and his partner, and taken to Belmont Police Station and charged for obstruction of traffic. This policeman said we were across the road and not in a line."

"During the lower school classes, we often had to bring about four copy books and I always had some difficulty in getting these as Pappy said that I could only write in one book at a time. It became very much worse for me when other subjects were a

"During the lower school classes, we often had to bring about four copy books and I always had some difficulty in getting these as Pappy said that I could only write in one book at a time. It became very much worse for me when other subjects were added in the upper school and more copy books were required. I could not explain to my teachers that I could not get the books that were required so that I was punished for not having them. I also could not explain at home that I got punished for not having the books since Pappy was quite capable of visiting the school to demand the reason for punishment. I solved the problem over weeks of saving the occasional penny to gradually purchase the books myself."

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