Laura Shaw's career in book design was already in full swing by the age of six, when, in collaboration with her older sister, she wrote, illustrated, designed, and stapled the now-classic tour de force Girls. The two sisters followed their triumphant publishing debut with the critically acclaimed Forin Girls, and — in a remarkable creative outpouring — by a series of small volumes about the Shaw family of New Jersey and their startling adventures.

Wishing to expand and discipline her graphic drive, Ms. Shaw attended the School for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, where, momentarily detouring from her original calling, she majored in photography and film. Realizing that jobs would be scarce in her new field (having anticipated by several years the Indy film surge), she found herself working in a small publishing house specializing in Oriental Medicine and Healing Arts. There, learning of the serif and the vast world beyond Courier, she deepened her understanding of the possibilities of the printed word. She had returned to her first and true calling.

Several years passed pasting up books and catalogs by hand before Ms. Shaw heard the whispers of a new-fangled computer and a publishing-software program that could do wondrous things for the maker of books. But it was not until she joined the staff at Shambhala Publications in Boston, Massachusetts, that she could explore for herself the true potential of the Mac and QuarkXpress. Still spec'ing type by hand, and pasting up cover mechanicals (the Mac was used primarily for the four catalogs a year that she designed and produced), she perfected her mitered ruled box using press-rules, and only stabbed herself with an exacto knife once. But she learned the craft of book design—inside and out.

After three and a half years with Shambhala, Ms. Shaw felt the inevitable surge of wanderlust, and, moving to Portland, Oregon, started Laura Shaw Design, which primarily served publishers back East. And it was soon back East that she found herself again—Ms. Shaw was hired by Random House, Inc., as the Promotion Art Director for the Knopf Publishing Group. Responsible for seven imprints (Alfred A. Knopf, Vintage Books, Pantheon Books, Everyman's Library, National Audubon Society, Schocken Books, and Random House Audio), Ms. Shaw and her staff designed and produced over 200 projects per year.

The pace was fast, the work challenging, the company great. But after three years, the urge toward independence was too compelling. Laura Shaw Design was at last firmly established as a full-service freelance studio specializing in the publishing and arts-related industries.

Ms. Shaw currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, two stepchildren, and dog.