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Interior Designer

Why Interior Design Matters

A well-designed interior makes your book look professional and feel effortless to read. Poor interior design—cramped margins, awkward line spacing, jarring chapter breaks—signals amateur even when the writing is strong.

The Interior Designer lets you control every aspect of your book's typographic presentation without learning typesetting software.

Opening the Interior Designer

  1. Open the book you want to design
  2. Go to Project > Interior Designer (or use the keyboard shortcut)
  3. The designer opens with a three-panel layout:
    • Left rail: Panel selector icons
    • Sidebar: Active panel controls
    • Canvas: Live PDF preview

The Four Panels

Click icons on the left rail to switch between panels.

Pages Panel

Controls the fundamental page layout.

Setting What It Does
Trim Size Physical book dimensions (affects everything else)
Region US or UK trim size standards
Margins Space around text (traditional, modern, wide, compact)
Body Font Main text typeface
Font Size See Typography Fundamentals for guidance
Line Height Vertical space between lines (tighter, standard, looser)
Alignment Left-aligned or justified text
Indent First-line indent style (none, modern, traditional, wide)
Headers Running header style
Page Numbers Footer page number style

Tip: Start with trim size, then font size. These constrain your other choices. See Typography Fundamentals for the relationship between trim, font size, and line height.

Headings Panel

Controls chapter titles and section headings.

Setting What It Does
Heading Scale Size ratio between heading levels (subtle, classic, bold)
Chapter Sink Vertical drop from top of page to chapter title
Display Font Typeface for chapter titles (H1)
Chapter Alignment Left, center, or right
Chapter Case Sentence, title, small caps, or all caps
Chapter Start Start chapters on right page (recto), any page, or continuous
Structural Font Typeface for H2/H3 headings
Structural Style Bold, italic, bold italic, or small caps

Drop Caps

Drop caps are large decorative letters at the start of chapters.

Setting What It Does
Enable Turn drop caps on or off
Lines How many lines tall (2-5)
Style Inline, raised, or sunken

Chapter Image Panel

Add decorative images to chapter openings.

Setting What It Does
Enable Turn chapter images on or off
Individual Images Use different images per chapter, or one image for all
Upload Drag and drop or click to upload (PNG, JPG, SVG)
Placement Above chapter number, above title, below title, below subtitle, or background
Width Image width as percentage of text area (20-100%)
Alignment Left, center, or right

Breaks Panel

Controls scene breaks within chapters.

Setting What It Does
Style Blank line, asterisks (* * *), ornament, or horizontal line
Ornament When using ornament style: fleuron, diamond, star, heart, or dinkus
Space Above Vertical space before the break (0-3em)
Space Below Vertical space after the break (0-3em)

Working with Presets

Verkilo includes professionally designed presets to get you started quickly.

Built-in Presets

Preset Style Best For
Classic Serif, drop caps, ornaments Literary fiction, historical
Modern Sans-serif, minimal Thrillers, contemporary
Romance Decorative headings, flourishes Romance, women's fiction
Fantasy Ornate drop caps, medieval feel Fantasy, epic fiction
Clean Maximum readability Non-fiction, memoir
Paperback Dense, compact Budget-conscious printing
Large Print 13.5pt, generous spacing Accessibility

Using Presets

  1. Click the preset dropdown at the top of the sidebar
  2. Select a preset to apply
  3. Customize any individual settings as needed

Your customizations are preserved even after selecting a preset—presets are starting points, not locked configurations.

Live Preview

The canvas on the right shows a live preview of your interior design. Changes appear automatically as you adjust settings.

  • Zoom: Use the zoom controls to see details or get an overview
  • Pagination: Preview shows actual page flow with your trim size
  • Accuracy: What you see matches what you'll get in the exported PDF

Preview generation is debounced—there's a brief delay after you stop making changes before the preview updates. This keeps the interface responsive.

Saving Your Design

Your interior design is saved automatically as you work. The design is associated with your book—each book can have its own interior design.

Creating Custom Templates

If you want to reuse a design across multiple books, see Interior Templates.

Exporting with Your Design

When you export to PDF, Verkilo uses your Interior Designer settings. The exported PDF exactly matches what you see in the preview.

  1. Finish your interior design
  2. Go to Project > Export or press Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+E
  3. Select PDF format
  4. Choose your save location
  5. Click Export

Tips for Better Interiors

  1. Match genre expectations - Readers have unconscious expectations. Literary fiction uses more generous spacing; thrillers are denser.

  2. Test on paper - Screen preview is helpful, but print a test copy. Some issues only appear in physical form.

  3. Mind the gutter - Inside margins (gutter) need more space because of the binding. The margin presets account for this.

  4. Consistency matters - Pick a style and commit. Mixing styles looks unprofessional.

  5. Less is more - Ornate drop caps, decorative breaks, and fancy fonts work best in small doses.

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