CHARLOTTE LLOYD
Head of Design, Oxford University Press
Head of Design, Oxford University Press
I worked with Farzie in the Academic Design team at Oxford University Press for over 10 years. In that time, I was continuously impressed with Farzie’s creativity, professionalism, and attention to detail. As a book designer, Farzie has a flair for precise and detailed typography. She is able to find a way to turn complex content into engaging and well-articulated pages. It is incredibly rare to find designers able to handle typography with such confidence and lightness of touch. Beyond the interior pages, Farzie is also a great cover designer and very talented illustrator.
Farzie will go above and beyond to meet the needs of a particular project, often delighting authors and editors who are so pleased to have worked with a designer attuned to the needs of their content. Farzie’s skill and experience shows in her ability to quickly get to grips with each brief and deliver to tight deadlines. Editors would often comment on how much they enjoyed working with Farzie because of her strengths as a communicator and designer, and genuine enthusiasm for each task.
I highly recommend Farzie – she is a brilliant creative professional and a true team player.
Farzie will go above and beyond to meet the needs of a particular project, often delighting authors and editors who are so pleased to have worked with a designer attuned to the needs of their content. Farzie’s skill and experience shows in her ability to quickly get to grips with each brief and deliver to tight deadlines. Editors would often comment on how much they enjoyed working with Farzie because of her strengths as a communicator and designer, and genuine enthusiasm for each task.
I highly recommend Farzie – she is a brilliant creative professional and a true team player.
SHERILL CHAPMAN
Design Manager, Oxford University Press
Design Manager, Oxford University Press
I had the pleasure of working with Farzie for 9 years in the Academic Design Team at Oxford University Press, first as her colleague, and then as her manager for the past 6 years. Farzie is an incredibly talented designer, a supportive and enthusiastic colleague, and a highly organized professional. Farzie makes every project and every team better by being a part of it. In her design work, she strikes a perfect balance between creative brilliance and technical prowess, equally at home designing beautiful book covers and formatting complex multi-page documents.
Farzie is that one person you can always rely on to do a great job, meet a tight deadline, or go the extra mile. I always knew that if I asked Farzie to handle a project or task, it was in good hands and every detail would be taken care of to a high standard. She is self-driven, trustworthy and very responsible.
I enthusiastically recommend Farzie for future opportunities. Any organization would be fortunate to have such a talented addition to their team.
Farzie is that one person you can always rely on to do a great job, meet a tight deadline, or go the extra mile. I always knew that if I asked Farzie to handle a project or task, it was in good hands and every detail would be taken care of to a high standard. She is self-driven, trustworthy and very responsible.
I enthusiastically recommend Farzie for future opportunities. Any organization would be fortunate to have such a talented addition to their team.
BRADY McNAMARA
Senior Art Director, Oxford University Press
Senior Art Director, Oxford University Press
It has been a joy working with Farzie at Oxford University Press. A true collaborator, she would approach each new design with an eye toward marrying subject matter and style in a way that is always inviting—no matter how complex the requirements are—while being mindful of the marketplace and author's voice. She's has always been an excellent and timely communicator, even as our office went fully remote: mindful of shared schedules and delivering flawless production files. But make no mistake, she's not just a excellent technician, she's an artist first and it's clear from her portfolio that she brings an organic beauty to both illustration and typographic design. What's more, she is simply an awesome colleague who is friendly, cheerful, and professional.
CRAIG PANNER
Publisher + Editor in Chief, Oxford University Press
Publisher + Editor in Chief, Oxford University Press
Farzie is one of the most creative, attentive, and budget-minded designers that I've ever had the pleasure to work with. With a keen eye to detail, Farzie has adapted existing designs so that they met with font requirements, she played a key role in our move to a more efficient and e-friendly format of interior designs as our format outputs continue to grow and evolve, and she always absorbs and listens to the feedback from authors, publicity, marketing, and editorial when designing covers. I honestly couldn't think of a better designer, nor a more respected colleague, than Farzie.
SUSAN FERBER
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
I have had the great pleasure of working with Farzie as an editor at Oxford University Press for over a decade. She has always been a pleasure to interact with in every way. Her design work is carried out with the utmost professionalism. We mainly interact over interior book design. Not only does she create lovely designs from scratch but she also has a close eye for the typefaces and layouts of historic books; she has done an excellent job matching contemporary typefaces to hot type and old designs so as to seamlessly create new editions of classic backlist books. Everything Farzie does (whether in person or remotely) is done with a smile. She always follows up to ensure that everything is pitch perfect, and she is highly reliable. I have also interacted with her in her capacity on the Social Committee, where she and her team have made life at the office--and remotely when necessary--more fun. Anyone would be lucky to have Farzie as a colleague.
THEO CALDERARA
Editor-in-Chief, Oxford University Press
Editor-in-Chief, Oxford University Press
I have long marveled at Farzie's ability to produce incredible work across a broad range of diverse products, each with competing demands and multiple, demanding stakeholders. Her talents as a designer are immediately evident to anyone who looks at her work. But just as important: Farzie always understands the needs of a product the first time, which makes for timely, efficient delivery of products that are designed for the market they are intended to reach.
DANA BLISS
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Farzie is a brilliant designer and a wonderful colleague. During her tenure at OUP she created countless distinctive and impactful covers for so many different types of books, working closely with editors, marketing, publicity, and sales colleagues and authors to come up with unique solutions to each design brief. Beyond being a creative designer she has been a truly great colleague. She cares for the people she works with and brings energy, enthusiasm, and warmth to any room she’s in - whether on zoom or in person!
TIMOTHY BENT
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Farzie was the designer for a number of key texts at Oxford University Press, where I work as an editor, and her work was never anything less than first-rate. When I requested a redesign of two legendary Oxford copyrights on my list: THE SEA AROUND US by Rachel Carson; and A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC by Aldo Leopold, Farzie took on the daunting challenge and created text designs that reflected their stature--these are iconic works--while giving them a fresh feel and new start. They are stunning designs. These were signal achievements, two of many that Farzie undertook while at OUP. Her keen eye, creative impulses, and work ethic--her grasp of how to make a book design do everything it can and should do--are second-to none, judging from my many years as a book-publishing professional.
DAVID McBRIDE
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Farzie is a fantastic designer who always produced beautiful covers at OUP. When Farzie first began at OUP, she was charged with working on the internal and external design of one the more complicated books I've ever published at Oxford, Lynne Sagalyn's monumental account of the rebuilding of the World Trade Center in the fifteen years following 9/11(Power at Ground Zero: Politics, Money, and the Remaking of Lower Manhattan. It had an extremely complicated art program, but there was never a hitch along the way and the final product looked stunning. Everything that followed was great too. Finally, Farzie is also extremely nice and professional -- a terrific colleague.
SARAH HUMPHREVILLE
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
Executive Editor, Oxford University Press
I've been lucky to collaborate with Farzie on a number of books over our shared time at OUP, and I can say with confidence that she is a truly fantastic collaborator. Her creative designs--both interiors and covers--have always captured the nuances of the work in question brilliantly, which is no easy task when working with academic scholarship. No matter how obscure or nit-picky the brief, Farzie would turn around elegant and clever designs that, in the case of some of my books in art history and classical studies, subtly showcased exquisite ancient artworks that are often unavailable to view outside of book reproductions. Without her designs, I'm certain some of those books would never have had the reach and impact they have had.
I would recommend Farzie so highly to any publisher or design house and hope we have a chance to work together again in the future!
I would recommend Farzie so highly to any publisher or design house and hope we have a chance to work together again in the future!
SHANE LOGAN
Owner, The Dancing Elephant Bookstore
Owner, The Dancing Elephant Bookstore
Farzana typeset and designed our most recent publication, which was an 818-page behemoth. It included Greek characters and tons of footnotes, as well as other technical challenges for a book designer. Needless to say, it was maybe the most challenging project we could have given her and she transformed it into something really excellent.
Her professianlism is unparalleled and her many decades of experience give her a quiet confidence that makes you feel like you are in good hands. Her network of colleagues within the industry is an asset as well because she always knows someone who can help. Farzana communicates well and in an orderly manner. She is very clear about what needs to be done. We could not have been happier with the end product. I truly believe she is at the top of her field.
Her professianlism is unparalleled and her many decades of experience give her a quiet confidence that makes you feel like you are in good hands. Her network of colleagues within the industry is an asset as well because she always knows someone who can help. Farzana communicates well and in an orderly manner. She is very clear about what needs to be done. We could not have been happier with the end product. I truly believe she is at the top of her field.
SPENCER BRINKER
VP of Production, Flutterbee Education Group
VP of Production, Flutterbee Education Group
I had the distinct pleasure of working with Farzana for more than 5 years, and I'm delighted to recommend her as an outstanding Design professional.
Farzana is an extremely talented designer and manager, and approaches visual tasks with a fresh look and clean, sophisticated style. She and is able to adapt to project demands immediately and efficiently, and has the ability to provide others with concrete, and practical art direction. She has an extraordinary work ethic, easily handles a multitude of projects at one time, and is able to supervise large groups of designer and artists, while still adhering to strict budgets and schedules.
Farzana would be a truly amazing asset to any Art or Design department.
Farzana is an extremely talented designer and manager, and approaches visual tasks with a fresh look and clean, sophisticated style. She and is able to adapt to project demands immediately and efficiently, and has the ability to provide others with concrete, and practical art direction. She has an extraordinary work ethic, easily handles a multitude of projects at one time, and is able to supervise large groups of designer and artists, while still adhering to strict budgets and schedules.
Farzana would be a truly amazing asset to any Art or Design department.
TONY FERRY
Co-Founder, The Dancing Elephant Bookstore
Co-Founder, The Dancing Elephant Bookstore
Farzana was an absolute lifesaver for our inaugural publication. When Gallowglass began work on Monad, a compilation of neoplatonist philosophy, we never expected it to be such an extensive project. After months of manuscript creation, we had an 800 page beast of a project that had hundreds of footnotes and countless greek passages. Farzana accepted this project enthusiastically and courageously battled this manuscript into one of the most beautifully typeset books I have ever seen. To this day, the typesetting is one of the most complemented aspects of the book.
RACHEL PERKINS
Lead Designer, Oxford University Press
Lead Designer, Oxford University Press
Farzie's text designs at OUP were always stunning: I was fortunate to work with her on a new edition of the classic environmentalist book "A Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold, and the way she enriched and subtly modernized the text design while honoring the first edition's typography and illustrations was exceptional.
Outside our book design work at OUP, I was blown away by Farzie's skills as an illustrator and hand-letterer. She kindly gave me a gorgeous hand-lettered doodle from one of our design meetings, which I treasure!
Outside our book design work at OUP, I was blown away by Farzie's skills as an illustrator and hand-letterer. She kindly gave me a gorgeous hand-lettered doodle from one of our design meetings, which I treasure!