Guests for the Illustration for Publishing: Book Covers season podcast are prize-winning illustrator and designer, Micaela Alcaino, and Creative Director of Headline Publishing, Patrick Insole. Both have huge experience in the book cover area. Our host is Rachel Emily Taylor.

Our guests discuss tailoring your portfolio for clients, the importance of research, personal projects, the differences between the UK and US markets, questioning contracts and lots more.

Inside Illustration Publishing season illustration by Joshua Drewe

Find out the backgrounds of our podcast guests and host below, and listen above or search Inside Illustration on Spotify, Apple or where you find your podcasts.

Micaela Alcaino, Illustrator & Designer

Micaela Alcaino is a book cover designer and illustrator who relocated from her home in Sydney, Australia to London, UK in 2013. Recognised as one of The Bookseller’s Rising Stars in 2021, she attained the esteemed title of Designer of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2022 and has once again been nominated in 2024.

Her impact on the publishing industry was underscored by her inclusion in The Bookseller 150, a prestigious list recognising the most influential figures in publishing in 2022. Her dedication to positive change was further acknowledged in 2023 when she was shortlisted for Future Leader of the Year at the FutureBook Conference. This was a testament to her commitment to fostering positive change and advocating inclusivity and fair rights for freelancers within the publishing industry.

With more than a decade of professional experience, Micaela spent many years working for both Penguin Random House and HarperCollins. Venturing into freelancing in 2019, she has since collaborated on projects with major publishing houses globally. Her portfolio boasts a distinctive fusion of creativity and artistry, influenced by her passion for travel, her diverse cultural heritage, and a deep appreciation for the fine arts.

Covers illustrated and designed by Micaela Alcaino

Patrick Insole, Creative Director at Headline

Patrick Insole is an art director and designer with over 25 years’ experience in the publishing industry. Originally trained as an illustrator, with a particular interest in storytelling through the interplay of word and image, Patrick began his career as a designer at Walker Books. There he worked on everything from baby board books and picture books to illustrated fiction and young adult novels, designing the covers and interiors for numerous award-winning books and collaborating with many of the best authors and illustrators in the industry, as well as being instrumental in helping to set up Walker’s first dedicated graphic novel list.

Since 2010, Patrick has been Creative Director at Headline Publishing Group, where he oversees the design of over 400 titles a year, designing and commissioning artwork for bestselling titles across all fiction and non-fiction genres and for some of the UK’s biggest selling authors, including Martina Cole, Victoria Hislop, Neil Gaiman and Maggie O’Farrell.

The breadth and variety of Headline’s publishing means Patrick gets to work with an incredibly diverse array of artists and illustrators, and collaboration remains at the heart of his design practice.

Book covers designed by Patrick Insole

Dr Rachel Emily Taylor, podcast host

Rachel is the Course Leader of BA Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts. She has undertaken residencies at the Foundling Museum, the Bronte Parsonage Museum, Bowes Museum, and the Horniman Museum.

Her research explores how illustration practice might communicate the historical person’s ‘voice’ and examines the value of multiple voices in the museum.

Her new book, Illustration and Heritage, explores the re-materialisation of absent, lost, and invisible stories through illustrative practice and examines the potential role of contemporary illustration in cultural heritage.

Listen to Inside Illustration podcast episodes wherever you find your podcasts.