Charlotte Heal's beautiful cookbook design for MasterChef winner

Any fans of MasterChef series seven will remember winner Tim Anderson, the eccentric American whose final plates of food were, in his words, “a global extravaganza.” Following the dream of amateur cook to big-time chef, Tim’s got a successful cookbook out and it’s been designed by Charlotte Heal, one of our Here 2015 speakers.

Nanban is all about Japanese soul food and Charlotte was keen to “create a traditional Japanese mood in a contemporary way.” Each part of the book is has been considered from how the images relate to the text, and “the open spine, which was unique in its deep glue overlay and screen print process, related perfectly to sushi roll mats,” the designer explains. It’s this attention to detail which makes the book such a beautiful object. My favourite part has to be the noodle-like Futura Script Charlotte’s used for the titles and headings, plump and delicious like udon it ties everything together wonderfully.

On the images featured in the book Charlotte says: "Paul Winch-Furness’ photographs could hold the page and created a pace change as they are so unusual in styling and content. This enabled the design to be very clear with the image always on the left and text on the right without it becoming dull or boring.

“I was inspired by the long scripts and vertical text lines of Japanese books and scrolls. It provides more elegance to the page being taller and slimmer and worked well for the photographic format.” This is a cookbook to be used, and details like the pages lying flat when using the book is a fantastically practical bit of design. Subtle and elegant, who knew a cookbook could be both slick and delicious.