Cookbook Design: The 7 Rules That Do Most of the Work

The difference between a family cookbook that looks homemade and one that looks like a real book isn't money, and it isn't talent. It's a small number of decisions applied consistently.

1. Consistency, above everything else

If you only do one thing on this list, do this one.

Every recipe page should have the same structure in the same place: title in the same position, headnote in the same style, ingredients in the same column, method numbered the same way. Same margins, same fonts, same spacing.

Readers don't consciously notice consistency - they notice its absence. Pages that vary look improvised even when every individual page is nicely done. Build one recipe page you're happy with, then treat it as a template and never deviate.

2. Two fonts, and only two

One for headings, one for body text. That's the whole system. A serif for the body, because it's easier to read at length, and something with a bit of character for the recipe titles. Or the reverse. Either works - three fonts doesn't.

Then set the body text large enough to read at arm's length on a worktop, because that's where it's going. Cookbook text is read standing up, in a hurry, with flour on your hands. Small, elegant type is a mistake.

3. White space

Amateur layouts are crowded. The instinct is to fill the page, and it's wrong.

Give the text generous margins. Leave a decent gap between the ingredients and the method. Let a short recipe sit in the middle of the page with air around it rather than stretching it to fill the space. White space is what makes a page look expensive, and it costs nothing but paper.

4. One recipe per page, or one per spread

Never let a recipe break awkwardly across a page turn, with the ingredients on one side and half the method over the page.

Set your standard as: short recipes get one page, longer ones get a full spread with the photo on the left and the recipe on the right. If a recipe is slightly too long, cut words rather than shrinking the type.

5. Photography that hangs together

You don't need a photo for every recipe. If you're shooting them yourself, aim for photos that look like they came from the same book - same light, same surfaces, same style of props, same edit. A batch taken on a phone by one window will read as professionally shot.

A gathered book, where family and friends send in their own photos, plays by different rules: the mix of kitchens and cameras is part of its charm, and a slightly wonky photo of grandma's actual pie beats a styled shot of somebody else's. Either way, when you use a photo, go big - a full-page image looks like a cookbook, a small photo floating in the corner looks like a school newsletter.

How to shoot them: taking food photos on your phone.

6. A grid, and things lined up on it

Almost every "this looks a bit off" problem is an alignment problem. Pick your margins and column positions and stick to them on every page. Titles start at the same point. Ingredients start at the same point. Photos run to the same edges. Nothing floats.

Two things help enormously:

• Left-align your text. Justified text creates ugly rivers of white space in narrow columns.
• Use a hanging indent for numbered method steps, so the text lines up under itself rather than under the number.

7. The furniture

A book without navigation is a pile of paper. What makes something feel bound and finished: a title page before anything else, a contents page listing every recipe, a distinct chapter opener for each section, running heads carrying the chapter name, page numbers on every single page, and an index at the back by both recipe and main ingredient.

Nobody ever compliments a book on its running heads, but without them it doesn't feel like a book.

The one-metre test

Print two pages, put them next to each other on the table, and step back a metre so you can't read the words.

Do they look like two pages from the same book? Are the margins the same? Do the titles start in the same place? Is there air on the page, or is it crammed?

You'll see the problems instantly at that distance - and they're the same problems your reader will see, without ever being able to name them.

Common questions

What size should a cookbook be?

Somewhere between A5 and roughly 20 × 25cm - about 6 × 8 to 8 × 10 inches. Smaller than that and the type gets too small to read from standing; much bigger and it stops fitting on a worktop next to a chopping board. Portrait suits recipe text better than landscape.

What font is best for a cookbook?

Less important than the size and the consistency. A readable serif at a generous size will always beat a fashionable face set too small. Whatever you choose, use it for the body throughout and pair it with exactly one display face for titles.

Should a cookbook have a photo for every recipe?

No, and trying to is how projects stall. Photograph the dishes you can shoot well and leave the rest as type - a well-set recipe page with air around it looks perfectly deliberate.

What paper and binding should I use?

Matt paper hides fingerprints and splashes better than gloss, which matters in a kitchen. On binding, the only question that really counts is whether it lies flat - a cookbook that snaps shut when you let go is a cookbook nobody uses.

Can I design a cookbook in Word or Canva?

You can, and people do. The risk is that both make it easy to drift - a slightly different margin here, a resized photo there - and drift is exactly what this list is trying to prevent. If you use them, build one master page and duplicate it rather than laying out each recipe fresh.