Tessa’s work impresses me on multiple levels. She has an uncanny sense for what the client is thinking but hasn’t yet articulated. She really listens effectively to what clients want, produces beautiful and creative design ideas, and does it all in a timely manner and with superb communication skills. Not sure how so many terrific talents and abilities find their way into one designer! I HIGHLY recommend Tessa and would hire her again in a heartbeat.
—Joe Fierst, Executive Manager, Creative
Cengage Learning
Boston, MA
Tessa offers that rare ability to provide an enhanced version of her client’s vision as well as her own unique and creative ideas. She is a true professional—reliable, organized, and ethical. She has designed beautiful books for us in several different genres, from picture books to novels to non-fiction with complex graphs and footnotes. And her book covers have been creative and carefully conceived. She focuses on the big picture while staying on top of the smallest details. Most of all, she is always a pleasure to work with.
—Amy Herzog, Publisher
Why Not Books
Pacific Grove, CA
Tessa has the level of experience I was looking for in an editor and designer. I wanted someone who would provide the whole package, and who would get to know my book inside and out in the same way I did. This gave me the confidence to trust Tessa implicitly when it came to sharing ideas, giving advice, and coaching me through a process that was completely new to me. She was so calming and reassuring on the days when I had doubts about my content, assertive when I needed to take on board her recommendations, and always incredibly professional and thorough in her responses to my queries. Together, we were able to produce an amazing book that exceeded my expectations, and I am in no doubt that without Tessa, I would still be sitting looking at an unfinished manuscript.
—Sallyann Beresford
writer, owner at Birthability
Hampton-in-Arden, UK
Tessa is not only wildly talented as a creative designer—she also is collaborative and made me feel invested in how the end product would look. When my book was published, I wasn’t sure just how well the content would be received by readers, but I knew for sure that people would absolutely love Tessa’s fantastic imagery on the jacket-cover as well as on the inside. And they did! Whenever I write my next book, she’s the easiest decision I will have to make.
—Michael Golden
writer, political strategist, professor
Chicago, IL
Our company has worked with Tessa for over six years, and her hard work and design skills have taken us from a dream to a very successful start-up company. Tessa turned our very raw pen sketches into dozens of polished, ready-for-market brochures. To say her patience was extraordinary would be an understatement. She not only effortlessly accepted our endless revisions and a constant stream of new ideas; she returned them with fresh, creative improvements. Super fast and exceptionally easy to work with, Tessa is a total professional. We cannot recommend her highly enough!
—Kyle Morrison, Broker Agent
Kyle Morrison Homes / Sotheby's Realty
Carmel, CA
As the designer and layout artist for our alumni newsletter, Communiqué, Tessa helped us work through a steady evolution in design approach while ensuring that layout and production was always handled in a timely fashion, with excellent communication with both the client and the printer. She is very responsive and listens carefully to clients’ needs, and we have enjoyed working with her very much.
—Jason Warburg, Executive Director of Communications
Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Monterey, CA
Tessa is that rare person who not only has the ability to use the Left and the Right Brain to effect; she does so in concert. A true artist, with an eye for substance and form, she understands how to create exceptional graphic and visual art that evokes emotion as it illustrates the point of the story.
Yet she also designs with a keen sense of audience, and what it takes to reach them. She knows the publishing world and how to access and work with it, and she knows how to read her clients to give imagery to our ideas. Tessa is bright, she is quick, and she is compassionate. She listens and she is flexible to her client’s needs, yet she also knows how to command authority over her work. A real blend of talents to an exceptional outcome, indeed.
—Lisa Crawford-Watson
writer, journalist, professor
Carmel, CA
Tessa has worked for us for the past 10 years as a contract employee. Her main responsibility has been page composition for the mathematics textbooks that we publish. She has been a very reliable and accurate compositor. She has also done design work for us and she is good at that as well. She responds quickly to all requests and is very pleasant to work with. She has our highest recommendation.
—Pat McKeague, Owner / Author
XYZ Textbooks / MathTV
San Luis Obispo, CA
Tessa is one of my favorite people to work with during textbook production. We have worked together for a few years now and she always has a way of making the difficult stuff look easy. You can always count on Tessa to meet a deadline even when her list of tasks may seem unreasonable. She finds a way to get it done. On top of all of that, she is an excellent communicator. She is great at following up and clarifying any issues she finds during production. She cares about what she is doing and it shows. I have really enjoyed getting to know Tessa, and I hope to continue working with her for a long time.
—Buddy Galetti, curriculum developer
Derivita
San Luis Obispo, CA
Working with Tessa is a first-rate experience from beginning to end. We appreciate her talents in understanding our brand, communicating with us about our projects and providing design recommendations that make the finished product better than we had imagined. I consistently recommend her to our mall retailers and to any business that would like to present quality collateral and publications to their clients.
—Jennifer Filice, Marketing Director
Northridge Mall
Salinas, CA
Tessa’s work is creative, inspired, and always on-target for the audience and the product. She meets deadlines and is always innovative with her ideas. She’s fun and collaborative to work with. I’m proud of every project I’ve done with Tessa.
—Jean Thompson, Principal
Thompson Drake Public Relations
Bend, OR