Most of my book choices are somewhat determined by the cover since that is what grabs my attention first. Specifically though, I remember in elementary school, the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stein were the thing to have. The word Goosebumps at the top actually felt like little bumps, and the covers were always of skeletons, ghosts or scary people. I don’t remember any details from the books, but these 2 were my favorites. I probably liked the pink and purple on the phantom one, and the photo theme of the second one. I get really scared by ghost stories, so I don’t know why I would have actually enjoyed these. I guess it shows you the power of a good cover (and also the power of your peers.)

Why NOT judge a book by its cover?

I think it's high time we stop feeling guilty about judging books by the outside. With people it's a different matter, but a designer has the opportunity (and obligation, I'd say) to make the cover of a book reflect what you can expect in terms of a reading experience. Even brand covers should give you a heads-up, imho.

Covers are a large part of the reason why people interested in animal husbandry don't pick up Silence of the Lambs as a veterinary handbook, for example. You immediately get an idea of who the audience is (age group, gender, sometimes even race), a ballpark of genre, and a sense of what the tone of the book may be (note that chick flick is almost never brown or black). If the inside doesn't match the expectation I formed from the cover, I'm not ashamed to say I'll be annoyed. I don't see anything wrong with that kind of judging.

I feel like this might be why I hate movie book covers so much; it always seems to me that the designer grabbed a still or two at random. The whole movie's about this text; where can you go wrong, right? The result always looks to me more like someone wanted to slap a popular actor's face on a product than establish a meaningful relationship between cover and text. Movie covers are just another version of celebrity-endorsed cereal to me.

Poems now and then

"The Random House Book of Poetry for Children" was one of my favorites when I was little. It has great illustrations and fun poetry. I always liked the cover because of the guy holding his nose and the cute gingerbread man! I still love poetry to this day, thanks to books like this one.

I went through a phase a few years ago when I only bought poetry books, and if I didn't know the work of the author I would just buy a book based on the cover. This book by Karen Volkman is one of my favorites. I tend to like abstract art with bright colors, so I couldn't resist buying this book. I actually looked at it several times before I bought it and then I finally gave in! Luckily the poetry was good. It's a collection of sonnets that are very abstract so the content fits with the cover.

How About: Don't Judge a Book By It's Reputation?

Since I've been into reading the Classics for the last 2-3 years, and unfortunately, haven't set foot in a library or book store to peruse for pleasure in that same amount of time (I usually order series paperbacks of the classics through Amazon and have them sent to me), I can not recall a book that I judged by its cover as "good" and after reading it found out it wasn't so fun to read.

However, I have had parallel experiences with a book's reputation vs. my actual enjoyment of said book. The most recent instance of this was Oscar Wilde's, The Picture of Dorian Gray. I thought, "how can I go wrong with Oscar Wilde, one of the 'Classics'?" Well, after a good try (we're talking what was for me, painful trudging through half the book) I just had to stop reading it. I've never read Wilde before Dorian Gray, and I plan on giving him a go with something else he's written sometime later - and it's not like I didn't like some of his style - his descriptions were lovely, but I just couldn't take the random shifts in person throughout what I felt was too short a section, or paragraph even. (<--that was a run-on sentence...sorry!)

As a whole, the Classics, suffer the "don't judge a book by its cover" phenomenon. Since so many are mass produced as part of a series, the covers are quite bland (see Doran Gray above).

It is very rare for me to not finish a book once I've started. Guilt engulfs me. I am stubborn and will keep on reading, even if I find the material disappointing. However, there are two more books I can add to my list of book I feel guilty about not finishing reading:

Anne Rice's, The Witching Hour (and I LOVE the vampire series so much!)
Clive Barker's, Imajica (when I needed to take notes, I had to stop - I know...)

Maybe one day I will try finishing them.

Response to Sarah

Couple things.

1. Have you ever read The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing? (Many people feel it started the entire "chic lit" genre.)

2. I wish you selected a Sophie Kinsella book to design and layout. If her covers had a different flavor, she might be able to attract a wider audience.

Response to Jolie

I'm so relieved! Before I published this post, I ran across several covers for the Great Gilly Hopkins. The one I found in the library must have been the very first cover. It took me a while to figure out why I liked the cover so much when I first saw it. Sadly I think it's due to age. I'm glad that someone else thought it was eye-catching.

I always judge a book by it's cover...

Even though I KNOW I shouldn't, I always find myself judging books by their covers. I'll admit that most of my pleasure reading books fall under the "chick lit" category. No matter who the author, these books all have very similar cover designs, and I can usually tell right away if I'm going to like the plot of the story. The main illustration is usually of a high heeled shoe, lipstick, a woman in a dress, or a shopping bag. I have to be careful when selecting a book in this category though, because a lot of the time no-name authors try to come up with a witty chick lit story, and it fails miserably. I'm quick to put a book down if I'm not intrigued by the first chapter, so I hardly ever pick up a book by an author I've never heard of.

The pictures above are novels written by Sophie Kinsella. If you've never heard of her or her books, she's a fairly popular author in the world of women's fiction. As you can see, the colors on all of the covers are very bright, and feature similar scripty fonts for the title. I'm almost positive that a guy wouldn't be caught dead reading a book with one of these illustrations on the cover. Which is fine by me, since I like reading them!

I judged a book by its cake

I 100% picked up this book because of its cover. Not only does it use my favorite blue, but it has the most delicious looking piece of cake on it! At second glance, you might notice that the cake is actually casting a shadow of a girl instead of cake. I always look at the smoke coming from the candle and think that it must also form some sort of shape, but I can never figure out what, leading me to believe that it does not form any type of shape at all! The cake wraps around to the spine, which makes me want to grab it off of the shelf even more.

Even though I judged this book by its cover thinking it was going to be one of those light, happy reads and discovered quickly that it wasn’t, I still liked it. I usually don’t read books of the magical realism genre, but I enjoyed Aimee Bender’s style of writing, and I would read another one of her books. So although I did judge this book by its cover, my judgement turned out better than Traci's. I actually read The Great Gilly Hopkins when I was about eleven as well, and the cover did not look like the one Traci posted. It was much less enticing.

I Was Deceived

When I was 11, my "friend" Allison and I went to the library to pick out book report books. While skimming through the usual fare about mice, fudge and Ramona and Beezus, I found a brand new book titled The Great Gilly Hopkins. It had just been put on the shelf and hadn't even been checked out yet. The book cover design consisted of a giant pink bubble being blown out of bubble gum. It was like nothing I had ever seen. Most of the books available to us at that time had beautiful paintings on the cover (because most children can appreciate beautiful paintings...?) While The Great Gilly Hopkins did have an illustration, the image was edgy and sophisticated. The face in the illustration was completely hidden by a chewing gum bubble. At the time, I was admonished routinely for blowing chewing gum bubbles, so a book with a picture of a giant bubble on it was alluring, and dare I say it, risque. I had never seen a children's book cover that utilized nuance before. Holding it in my hands, I felt like an adult.

I was smug and with no attempt to conceal my glee, crowed to Allison about my find. She immediately told me that we weren't allowed to use that kind of book for our report. Not wanting to get the wrong kind of book, I reluctantly put it down. She grabbed it laughing, saying we could use any book we wanted for our report. She wanted the book with the cool pink bubble on the cover for herself. Apparently, I wasn't the only one seduced by the cover.

Not wanting to make waves or seem like I cared, I grabbed a beat up copy of Misty of Chincoteague (Newberry Award Winner by Marguerite Henry, printed in 1947). Even with the shiny Newberry Award winner sticker, I was embarrassed because the book simply featured a painting of a horse. I resigned myself to a miserable story and book report. How good could a book be if the cover doesn't have a gigantic pink bubble and stylized fonts on it?

A week or so later, I asked Allison how the book was. Apparently, after reading one chapter, she returned it and picked another. Convinced she was illiterate or an idiot, I returned to the library and brought home The Great Gilly Hopkins. ( I still remember the title after 27 years, probably, because I was so traumatized.) After struggling through two chapters, ( I had to do at least one more than Allison), I returned the book. Allison was right, it really was horrific. I was deceived. Everyone has heard of the adage, "never judge a book by its cover" a million times, but falling for it in real life was hard to swallow. A book that due to its cover, seemed at first glance to be so fun and entertaining, could barely hold my attention for two chapters when it came time to read it.

For this blog, discuss a book you chose based on it's cover and whether or not is was worth reading. I still pick up books and read the squibs based on their covers, but if the plot doesn't interest me, I won't buy it.

Incidentally, I've devoured every Marguerite Henry book ever written and have decided to start collecting them. As for the Great Gilly Hopkins, despite it and its author Katherine Patterson going on to win numerous literary awards, I still can't get myself to finish it. I've tried four different times. The only other book I've started and couldn't finish was "The Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore. As for Allison, I read somewhere that she became a lawyer.

TKAM Cover

I like the cover above because the bird drawing is very curious and you can't really understand what kind of role a bird plays in the story but in a way that makes you want to find out. I also like the type treatment in terms of hierarchy and size.

Although it is interesting, I don't think this cover works because it's not obvious enough to get away with not having the title on the cover.

I almost prefer dead bugs...

Hated the movie (and the morality class I had to watch it in) and I'll only read the book because it's one that everyone should read. I think the story is fascinating and I can't believe it's the only thing Harper Lee wrote. The story is also depressing, but not my kind of depressing. I don't know what kind of cover I think the book should have, but it's not represented on the list. The closest I can get to a nod of "okay" is the 50th anniversary cover with the silhouette of a girl on a tire swing. The entire flavor is spooky, which I remember as fitting for the book, and the design shifts the readers attention from the girl, to something more sinister. When I think of the book, I think of hopeless, despair and toxic, which the tire swing cover does a good job of conveying. I don't understand the covers with the leaves, maybe I need to reread it to grasp the meaning there. I also like the cover with the little dead bird, although I think a bird on the cover is too contrived. I hate cliche. I also hate the pictures of the girl, preferring designs with wit (little dead bird). None of these covers pass the Traci Van Buren book buying test, in a bookstore, I would ignore all of them. Can I pick the next book cover design we critique?

TKAM Cover Choice

I like this cover because I think it is clever how the designer has incorporated the title into the image. I like the use of silhouettes. I assume that the figure on the cover is supposed to be Scout. I can't quite make out what she is holding, it looks like it could be a flower, but it could also be one of the figurines Boo Radley left for her in the knothole of the tree. And if that's the case, it's almost like she's looking up for answers as to where/who these presents are coming from.






As for covers that are not so successful, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to point out little beauty. The first thing I notice is the hyphen. I really don't like that whoever created this cover couldn't figure out a way to get the whole word "mockingbird" on one line. I know this typeface isn't papyrus, but all I can think of when I see it is how much it wants to be papyrus. Is it really necessary to have "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Over 11,000,000 copies sold" as a sub-title? I think this information would make more sense somewhere else in the book...perhaps smaller and on the back. The black and orange screams "Happy Halloween!" and even though I know that part of the book does take place during Halloween, I think that's a stretch. I could go on...

To Kill a Mockingbird Covers

I'm not sure what grade I read this book in, but I do remember really liking it. The light pink background with the tree and bird on it was the cover of the book that I read. At the time, I remember thinking that I wasn't a huge fan of the cover. After looking through the covers on this page, I think I'd pick the light green background with the blue text as my favorite. I know the only image on the cover is really small below the title and author (it looks as if there's a quote of some sort below the bird, but the image is too small to make it out clearly), but I really like how clean this cover looks. I'm a big fan of simple covers, and this one really grabbed my attention. I like how some of the text is filled in with color too. It gives off a neat look without being too overbearing.

Another level

I didn't really think many of the covers were very good or did justice to the story. However, these two covers stood out as being different than all the rest. Instead of having an image of the mockingbird or of Scout, they represent the man in the story who was accused of the crime. This also represents the more abstract concepts of justice and prejudice, which are big themes in "To Kill a Mockingbird." I feel like these two covers might appeal to a more grown-audience than the others, a more abstract or human-centered viewpoint.
The jail cell cover is very simple, but the outstretched hand shows the need for compassion. Jem and Scout learn compassion through the people that Atticus defends and through his own actions.
The other cover is simply a face of a person looking down. To me this cover represents people that were discriminated against in Maycomb and other places like it; the fight between black and white.
While these covers unto themselves may not be very unique or amazing, they do stand out among the rest of the books for representing a different level of the story.

I really enjoy how this cover integrates the text with the tree. I am guessing the designer created the title text to look like an extension of the tree instead of just choosing from an existing font. The little girl is looking up to the bird, which shows the significance of the mockingbird without becoming overbearing.

We've spent a lot of time in class discussing whether something is time-period appropriate. I like this cover because it doesn't necessarily scream 1960s; the use of silhouettes allows the art to move from generation to generation (especially since it is the 50th anniversary edition).

To Kill A Mockingbird - Rebecca's Take

I am probably the ONLY person who was not required to read "To Kill A Mocking Bird" in school. That is why it is on my long list of classics I am working through. However, I did see the movie (loved it) and read the synopsis Jackie so kindly provided. My lack of knowledge of the book may also explain any incorrect assumptions or questionable reactions included in my response.

That said, I don't care for the covers that utilize the literal mocking bird imagery. A bit of research told me that mocking birds are mentioned and seen in the book. And that the mockingbird is a symbol because, as Atticus says in the book, "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." However, I feel it is redundant to use an image of the bird on the cover along with the title. Rather, I want something else on the cover to further draw me in - not a regurgitation of what I already know.

Two covers immediately grabbed my attention:

The one with the fence and the one with a representation of Scout's eye staring out at you. I feel this cover, in particular, really expresses the heart of the story - how a little girl sees what is happening around her and how she reacts to it. I am assuming the story is told from a child's perspective and so I find this cover the most effective. Besides, the intense photograph of her eye draws me in - I can't help but want to know what she is thinking.

The appeal of the cover with the fence stems from more aesthetic reasons. Yes, it accurately portrays a part of the story - the unjust incarceration and exacution of a black man during an especially racist time in history - but it also uses simple graphics to convey its message successfully. No frills here. Simple silhouettes across the entire cover (front and back) and two colors (orange and black) are used.

Redesigning the Classics

As we discussed in class last night, many of the classics have been redesigned a million times. Check out all of the covers of “To Kill A Mockingbird” here, and post/discuss your favorite version. What makes it work, and why are some of the others less effective? I’m betting everyone has read it, but if you somehow made it through high school English without Scout and Boo Radley, you can find a synopsis of the story here.

World's Shortest Blog Post

"The process began with the collection and killing of a spider." I read that sentence and promptly closed the tab.

Julian Montague's Work

Like some others who have already posted, I also have never seen his work before this class. However, after looking at some of his work, I have a great appreciation for his design. The "To Know the Spiders" exhibit was really unique. I've never seen anything like it before. I spent a fair amount of time scrolling through the pictures of shopping carts too. Who knew that pictures of shopping carts could be so interesting! It is such a simple idea, yet produced great results.

My one critique would be the design of the actual website. I don't like having to scroll from left to right; it just feels unnatural. Other than that, I really enjoy Montague's work. I took a look at his bio, and he has an impressive list of exhibits.

Rebecca's Thoughts on Julian Montague

I like Julian Montague's work. (I liked his covers). I like that his designs seem simple but obviously he puts a lot of research and thought into his projects. Utilizing basic shapes and colors, his designs are very quickly understood and legible with no extraneous elements to muck it up. I am a big fan of retro objects, especially those that fall in the domestic category (product packaging, movie posters, postcards, books, etc.) I suppose that is why I enjoy this Montague's work.

By choosing everyday subjects we can all understand and relate to, he takes the ordinary and brings it to our consciousness. For example, the 'To Know the Spiders' 2008 exhibit in which he takes dead spiders, visually breaks down their faces into their most necessary, basic shapes and displays them on large canvases. Another great example is The Stray Shopping Cart Project.

More Montague

Montague's personal style traces to his books better by seeing his other works. His use of colors and layers are subtle and intriguing like much of the works he is clearly influenced by from the 50's through 80's.

City on the Edge is a great cover because not only does it look like a city on the edge but it is actually the shape the land takes along the waterfront in Buffalo facing downtown which is a rewarding visual to someone reading the book who most likely will know that.

I also appreciate the tax credit workshop poster because that can seem like a boring event (and as someone who attended it, it indeed was) but with this poster you sense how one small rehab of an old building in your neighborhood plays into the big picture (the two layers of the city behind it adding that sense of scale).

In general, from seeing all his work, you see his fascination with book covers and with insects so that element of his exhibit was an appropriate path for him to take in a manner that would best show his own passions to convey his message.

New meanings

This website is definitely more effective at showcasing Julian Montague's work. One thing that really stood out to me as being strong in his art is the use of space. He has a way of making an image stand out on a stark background, such as the large-scale insect drawing. Another art piece where this was incredibly effective was the shopping cart against the blue and green background. I didn't even think about groceries stores or food or anything else associated with shopping carts when I looked at this. Maybe words more like oceans and loneliness.
He really takes things that people take for granted or don't even notice and gives them a new meaning. I have more appreciation for his work now that I've looked at his website.

Hey, I like your style

One thing I like about Julian Montague’s work is that when it's looked at as a whole, it looks like a complete collection. Unlike some designers, all of Montague’s work has a similar style. I like that if I knew him a bit better, I’d probably be able to see a piece and say “Hey, that’s a Montague”…or at least “Hey, that looks like a Montague”. I find it confusing when designers have a ton of different styles of work. On one hand, it might make them more marketable. But on the other hand, it almost seems as though they haven’t quite figured out who they are as a designer. This is something I struggle with myself. Looking at the rest of Montague’s work makes me envy his ability to stay true to himself and still successfully complete a wide array of projects.


I have not seen any of his other work (minus the shopping cart book that Mark brought into class), and I still think that the retro book cover project idea is kind of silly, but the designs are nice. I liked this poster the best. I have a soft spot for birds and leaves.

Revisiting Julian Montague

Now that I’ve seen the designer’s website, the book cover project feels more legit. I’m still a little fuzzy on where the idea originally came from, but I have a better understanding of his design style. The only other thing I’ve seen before is the shopping cart book that Mark brought in.

I really like his non-book designs… he makes full use of typography and primarily designs with illustrations (which I am particularly drawn to) or stylized photos. Everything has a fresh look to it, which contrasts to the aged appeal of the faux book design project.

Faux Designs

Very nicely put, Jessica. I think the real beauty in a successful book cover design is the ability for the cover and the text to effortlessly mesh. I love the feeling of finishing a book and then staring at the cover and making even more sense of it than I did before I read the book. In this scenario, there is no text, therefore, it is hard for me to fully appreciate these cover designs. I almost feel cheated. How do we know that the artist didn’t just have a bunch of cool designs and then picked titles that fit them? It’s an interesting concept, but the overall idea of creating something in the present that looks like it’s from the past screams “scam!” Kind of like those designer jeans that are all tattered and worn and outdated looking but cost 5 times more than a pair of jeans that are from the actual time period that is desired.

Faux Design: Gateway to a hidden story

I was a little thrown off initially by this collection, too. I can understand the bewilderment many people have expressed here as to why someone would re-create "retro" covers for books that don't exist. What helped me immensely was re-reading the artist's summary of the project, particularly these lines:

The project is an exploration of the intersection of wildlife and architecture through the eyes of an unknown fictional author. The material here was created to represent the reading and listening material of the author. 


It seems to me that the artist is creating the shell of a story here. The main character is a fictional author, obsessed and inspired by the intersection of wildlife and architecture. We don't know what the author writes, only that he or she spent a lot of time researching the topic. We do know, the further we look at the covers, that the world this author is living in is not quite ours. This is a world where authors collaborate on the question of "Managing Structural Bird Problems" (is it as simple as keeping birds from building nests in unwanted places? Are we to understand that people construct birds, and need a guide on how to avoid mutations in their work?), or "Ecologies of Decay: Rise of the Post-Urban City" (that feels apocalyptic, and suggests an organic quality to cities that may be different from how we understand them).


The design, for me, seems to be the artist's way of lending authenticity to this world. Since we don't have a text, as in an actual story, and we know essentially nothing about the fictional author who is our main character, we need some tangible element to ground us in the fictional space the artist is creating. Through the design, we can approximate a time and place for this offstage story to be happening. We're in something like the 80s or 90s, or even past 2000, since the 1960-1970s-style books look old and worn. We're probably not far past that (i.e. the year 2500), since the author is still consulting them as valid resources. There's a good chance we're set in America, Australia, or Great Britain. There's some kind of mass insect infestation, and the authors our author reads have different opinions of whether this is a disaster or a situation we can happily adapt to (see "Never Alone: Learning to Love the Life around You," by a doctor, no less). Based on these designs, we can start to fill in the gaps presented by the absence of text and create our own interpretation of what's happening in this world, and what this fictional author/researcher may eventually write.

Faux Design

If this series was done for a class project, I can understand why there wouldn’t be any real text to back it up. However, if it is just a project that the designer wanted to do, it seems like a loose concept. I think most of the covers successfully accomplish a “retro” look through the use of images and typeface, although I’m creeped out by all the spiders.

I totally agree with Rebecca that graphic design deserves to be displayed in a museum, but I doubt I would be interested in seeing this specific project in person. Parts of the designs would make for interesting shirt art because they have a distressed aesthetic that is popular right now. As long as they aren’t just copied and slapped on the front of the shirt, I think the look could work for merchandise.

Quixotic-Not me

First, I read Mark's post. Twice. Next, I went to the "Faux Design" website hoping to figure out what "Faux Design" was. Still nothing. Finally, I read the posts following Mark's initial "Faux Design" post. Cool, it's not just me. I want to comment on "Faux Design," but I can't get past why anyone would want to redesign somebody else's redesign. Imitation is the sincerest form of creativity? I find it annoying and insulting that somebody wants me to look at a book cover that is a knock-off of a previous era (dog-ears included) but created now? I could buy a new table and intentionally scuff it up so it resembles an antique or I could visit an antique dealer and get the real thing. Truth be told, I love retro design and I especially appreciate the black and green book cover titled Secondary Occupants, but I can't get past the idea that these aren't original retro designs. Why reinvent the wheel when the designers could come up with a new style of design. Has everything cool and creative already been done? The entire exhibition is cheapened when I take into account the pieces are covers of retro covers. I think my design is limited by my pragmatism.

What Is an eBook?

Maybe if I had that ebook in chemistry, I would have gotten an A.

After seeing the book, my first thought was, "it's not a book, it's a presentation." Which made me wonder, what is a book? In print, are pop-up books "books" or toys. I guess there will be different categories of ebooks as well. One category, comprised of jpgs and type, and then a completely different level of ebooks, which are closer to flash websites. My colleague and I were discussing how to transform our publications into ebooks today, and I had her pull up the Elements YouTube video. As we were watching it, I asked her if she thought it was a book. She responded yes, "but on steroids."

Is that kind of book going to be the new standard? Can you even call the "Elements" a book? How do you make those kind of ebooks? What software do you need? I know links can be used on iPads, but can they be used on Kindle?

Finally, some people have waaaaaay too much time.

Response to Sarah

Today, after telling my dad his Father's Day gift was en route, (a boxed set of Malcolm Gladwell's books-audio) I asked him why he didn't return my call earlier. He replied that while he packed his phone, he forgot the tiny piece of paper that his important numbers were kept on. I reminded him that Kristi (my sister) and I programmed his phone years ago with our numbers. My dad whined that it was too hard to learn how to pull up the programmed numbers and it was easier to bring the little piece of paper with him. He's only had the phone for four years. Motivation...

Faux Book Covers

Graphic Design is the most commercialized form of art. Heck, a lot of people refer to design as the only art one can actually make a living at. However, I think because of graphic design's mass commercial use, it gets a bad rap in the art world. Most non-designers, while they understand graphic design's value in business, do not really comprehend what designers do or realize the level of analytical thinking, creativity and skill required to be a good designer. It is often misjudged and under-appreciated. After all, everyone can be a designer, right?

Graphic design, as valid an art form as any other, absolutely belongs in a museum. While I do not know the artist's intentions for this project, one result I see of these faux book covers, an entire series based on a fictional topic, is to bridge the gap between the commercial use of design and design as a valid art form. It also exposes said gap into the art and business world's (and everyday people's) consciousness. There are book covers, a commercial application of design, made for a non-commercial purpose - the expression of the artist.

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One way I noticed some covers failed to convey a fully retro aesthetic was the application of transparencies, as demonstrated in the images above. Transparency is a style created easier with modern computer software that did not exist 30+ years ago, during the time I imagine these covers were emulating.

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I can't explain why T-shirts and other swag were made from the covers. It's pop culture at it's best, or self-promotion, or lord knows why...

Clarification

As stated in my original post, this is an exhibit, in an art gallery, by one specific artist. I don't know the specific reason as to why he created this installation so I thought it would be interesting if we tried to attribute meaning to it.

If you look through the photostream you will see that one cover has been turned into a t-shirt (the photo of a model wearing a t-shirt with the book cover on it). And yes, these "faux designs" are indeed fake books made to convey a look from (for the most part, at least) the 60's and 70's (hence my suggestion in trying to find covers that fail to convey that specific style/period).

Sorry for any confusion.

Faux Designs Response

Based on the description on the website, it looks as if this collection was designed for a class project. I do agree with Jolie that I probably wouldn't want to wear a t-shirt with one of these designs on them. However, I do really like the typographic designs that the designer has come up with. For the most part, I think the covers have great hierarchy. The Paper Wasp design was simple, yet clever. I really liked the picture of the "imaginary library", with all of the covers laid out in a class case. It'd be sort of cool to see all of our book designs laid out in that way.

Faux Book Design

I don't think the covers look very attractive. I think the idea here is interesting, but instead of making a fake set of book covers, why not actually try to write this series and then make book covers for it? Maybe the author plans to write the series later on. Otherwise the idea kind of falls flat. The only cover I really like is the "Never Alone" idea because it's an interesting concept. The other covers mostly look like simple shapes made on In Design. All this being said, kudos to the designer for trying something different.

Confused

I don't entirely understand this. What artist is doing this? Is it one artist or a bunch of artists? And what exactly is the purpose? Or is that something I'm supposed to figure out as part of the response to this post? To clarify...there is a collection of "retro" books that are not real books and are actually empty inside. And the covers are not real covers but they look like they were designed in the 60s and 70s? And these fake books are being turned into t-shirts?

As of now, my only thought is that I wouldn't even wear a t-shirt of a real book cover so I'm pretty sure that I would not wear one of a fake book cover. Maybe someone else can explain this to me better, I am really confused by this concept.

Re: Faux Design

I'm not sure that I would consider this being worth an exhibit in an art museum-not that I dislike it at all, I'm  just not sure if I would appreciate it so much after paying attendance, to see fake retro book jackets. At the same time, it is interesting to see a 2010 interpretation of what we have decided is "old" in terms of typeface, layout, and imagery. The wrinkled and taped covers add a fun effect. I really can't comprehend someone actually buying these books (there is no written content inside) but I must admit I wouldn't mind a t-shirt or a print.

Perhaps with the introduction of e-readers and iPads, this is the perfect time to have such an exhibit-a last hurrah of old books.

Also, I thought this cover failed to feel fully retro. The typeface and even the color scheme feel kind of mid/late 90's and the taped up corner feels like a last second attempt to make sure it feels older than it actually is.

Faux Design

An artist who is particularly interested in book covers, created a "Faux Design" art installation recently.

What about today's world in regards to the way we view books/reading/design/or consuming content would make an art museum consider this worth exhibiting? Do you think it would be worth looking at in-person? What about today's world would lead to one of these covers becoming a t-shirt and other covers, having replicas purchased for personal collections? (Both those things have indeed happened)

Also, do you notice covers that particularly fail to convey a fully retro aesthetic? If so, post it and explain why. I think I found a couple...

iPad Reflection

I enjoyed the two videos and seeing all the new ways we will be able to experience the written word in the near future. What stood out to me the most is the potential an iPad has to make people who would typically hate reading or the reading of a certain subject and instead really absorb oneself in the experience. I always hated science and only found the periodic tables interesting because of its physical appearance and mysterious letter combinations. With an iPad however, a science textbook could become very exciting and really make you want to understand the material better while also being able to get involved in the subject more. Another market it can really bring into the world of reading would be kids. A lot of kids dislike reading but an iPad can turn reading into an electronic experience that is visually stimulating while also getting a young audience into reading.

Response to Videos

After watching these videos, I think I have a better grasp on what tablets like the iPad can do for our education system. I know that the price of the medium seems daunting at first, but the iPad can really help children learn. In the case of the man explaining his periodic table, children with access to his program can explore the information of a periodic table in ways that were never possible when I was learning science in school. The medium is so engaging that kids won't lose focus, and will be eager to learn the material. Maybe in the future the price of the iPad will go down as more and more people purchase them, which will make it easier to adopt into curriculums. I hope that educators realize the potential iPads have, and start to use them to make learning fun.

My Two Cents on the iPad

Before Tom Lehrer got to the part about the 3-D glasses, I was thinking: when is advanced holographic technology going to be available to the everyday person? I think that a lot, and believe that is the next step. But let's talk iPad…

The You Tube video stopped mid-way, but I get the point about how revolutionary the iPad is. Logically I knew this, but being able to SEE it helped, too. (I really need to get one). I can see how the way we think about our design is, naturally, going to change. The more I get to use iPads and similar technology, and the more second-nature they become, I can see how my design planning process will evolve. Please note I said, "evolve", not completely change. Yes, a plethora of new opportunities are on the horizon, but the tried and true foundation of design will remain quite relevant. I am counting on them to help bolster me on to these foreign mediums.

____________

First off, I must say I LOVE how robust the iPad can make a book (re: Penguin books to iPad). Fabulous!

One concern I have with some of the features of the iPad books, and really, any electronic device, is that people may be so consumed by them (especially children, who are practically born with a computer in hand) that as a culture, and perhaps as the human race, we may lose touch with creativity and analytical thinking.

[This is perhaps a larger topic than is appropriate here, but I move on…]

The children's Spot, book, for instance, had a color page where you can help color Spot in. I've seen these types of "art" programs before. The problem I have with them is that the "creativity" is usually limited to 1 or 2 outlets. In this case, your color choice. But once you pick one of the very few color options available (no mixing here!) you click and the picture space automatically fills with a solid (no texture of the pencil on paper, for instance) and neatly within the lines. Not so much creativity going on for the child, if you as me.

I question whether a mass saturation of this kind of technology on children, hell, everyone, is necessarily healthy. I absolutely embrace the benefits of technology like the iPad. I just pray that devices like it don't further "dumb down" our culture and discourage independent thought. I hope we, as a race, as a culture, practice a balance between the technology and our "human-ness" (<----is that a word?)

My two cents.

Acceptance

I started off very against this new digital platform. But as I keep learning of all of the great capabilities of the ipad, it becomes harder and harder for me to resist the change. I know the word “amazing” is thrown around lightly in today’s speech, but the videos I have just watched have proven to me that the ipad really is amazing. I tell myself every time I see an ipad commercial that I don’t need it because everything that it does I can do either with my computer or phone, but I’m coming to realize that might not necessarily be true. I still have a hard time thinking of books in a strictly digital platform. The “Spot” book that was shown in the Penguin video hits close to home. I used to read those books when I was younger and I have a copy that includes textures. A cut-out in the book’s pages enable the reader to pet Spot’s fur or feel his rubbery ball or touch his canvas collar. It’s small interactive experiences like these that I would love to share with my children and I would hate to see them disappear all together. However, I think I now have enough reason to make some space for the possibilities of the ipad in my life. It most certainly won’t be a replacement, but it has enough advantages that I accept it and am looking forward to what the future has to offer.

ipad videos

The videos really show what the ipad and other tablets are capable of. I hadn’t realized that there were so many options for displaying content. Although design may be moving to a different medium, we are still able to be innovative and creative as graphic designers. From a consumer stand-point, the amazing images and interactive nature of the ipad make it very appealing. I see my kindle as a tool for consumption—it allows me to read the words in a book in a convenient format. The ipad, however, is much more than just a way to get the words into your head. This is a very exciting opportunity for designers to creatively branch out into uncharted territory.

Reading is still reading

I loved the You-tube video about minerals. I have always liked earth science, in fact it was one of my favorite classes in high school. Seeing something that I've always been interested in come to life on the i-Pad really got me excited about this technology. I like how the man who had the minerals collection tried everything to communicate his idea, from place mats to posters to books. Yet, as he said, they were still all flat. I agree that the i-Pad is "about as close as you can get" to really seeing the elements. I liked the data sidebar and how you can rotate the objects simultaneously by touching them. I don't feel like anything about the book was lost through putting the information on the i-Pad. My previous fear was that putting books on tablets would make them too sterile, but I don't really feel that way now. Reading is still reading, no matter what medium it's on.

When I saw the Penguin Youtube video, I immediately thought of the kindergarten students I tutored a few years ago in California. They loved to read "Spot" and would fight over the version with the pop-up element. They would go crazy for the "Spot" book on the iPad! I also appreciated the human body book that had a 3-D image of the heart. I had an anatomy book when I was a kid but it was hard for me to understand. Seeing the organs in 3-D would have helped me a lot.

Penguin did a lot better with the kids books than with the adult books. I do not want a screen on the sky when I'm stargazing. Some things are just good the way they are. I always thought the point of stargazing was to find the constellations yourself. This is just going to far! I guess I just won't use that function if I ever get an iPad.

After looking at these videos, at least I can relax because I know that the joy of reading has not been lost through the transition between print and tablets.

As a final thought, when I was a kid it was easy to transition through all the technologies, but for some reason now that I'm twenty-five I have to examine everything before I can accept it as useful. Maybe that's because people have a tendency to get used to the way things are in the past, or maybe it's because I like to be more analytical now as an adult.

What if E-readers are fixing some things about books?

I'm typically a very slow mover when it comes to electronics. I've been called "old soul," "technophobe" and "dinosaur," depending on how frustrated the other person was with me at the time. Still, my parents decided to take the risk and buy me a Kindle for my last birthday. (I know the article was about iPads, and I will get back there. The e-reader debate is too good to ignore though).

I love it. I've been facepalming a bit at the fact that I didn't get one earlier. We are at a stage where we can make things that have long batteries, and don't glare, and load a new page as quickly as you would flip a physical one. And that's just where we are on something like a black-and-white Kindle, which is a derivative device anyway, in a way. The fact that iPads and other tablets can do color and different formats opens up a whole other plane of reading experience.

I'm hesitant, as I mentioned in class, about some of that new possibility. One of the long-standing complaints about TV is that video and audio diminishes the need for imagination. I've heard countless arguments for reading based on escaping that spoon-fed surge of data. Imagining a book that has video feels like an intellectual step backward for me (with the possible exception of cookbooks and other how-tos, where it might be more practical to see the task performed). But the overall jump from print to digital? After some soul-searching, I've realized I'm for it.

Part of my stance has to do with the practical things suggested earlier: saving space, saving trees, the fact that while you wouldn't bring a Kindle into the bathtub, neither would you bring two or three shelves of books, or more. A lot of it, though, has to do with one of the first points the author of the article made: we are getting rid of the disposable books first.

We're all pretty romantic people here when it comes to books. That's why we're here, taking a class on how to design them. What we seem to want, as book people, is that ideal of a library stuffed with things of beauty. We want paper that goes creamy yellow, not old Crichton novel yellow(much as I love Jurassic Park, it is not aging well), and rich textures and smells, and lovely type and images. But skimming over a library shelf, there's an awful lot of cheaply made, thoughtlessly designed, unattractive or awkward or just plain boring looking books (note: their content may be fantastic--I'm just talking appearances right now). If bookmakers need to justify the need to have their book be physical, if the only books unavailable on pads or e-readers are the ones that are so exquisite that the very meaning of the book is lost without its physical presence, aren't we getting closer to that ideal library than if we insist on printing everything, whether it needs to be or not?

Response to Mark

I do agree with the fact that stuffing your backpack full of CDs for a weekend trip would be quite inconvenient and therefore, an mp3 player is a huge space saver. However, where it might be easy to listen to 20 songs in an hour, I myself have a hard time reading 20 books in an hour. Which is why unless I’m traveling for a week or more, I personally don’t need multiple books. I did say that an e-reader would come in handy if I was doing some traveling, but I’m not going to sit on my couch and read from a kindle. I think that is just silly. It would be like watching a movie on your computer at the movies. But as a full time student and employee, I don’t see myself travelling enough to make an e-reader a sensible purchase.

Response to Traci

It's interesting that you think digital v. print comes down to habit and effort, because I never thought of it that way before. I totally agree with you. My youngest sister is 14, and she doesn't understand why I feel the need to write down my assignments/important dates in a physical daily planner. She puts all of her assignments into the calendar on her phone. I don't think one way is better than the other, it's just how we grew up. When I was learning how to organize my responsibilities, no one used their phone to keep track of things. That's probably why I still refuse to use my phone's calendar to organize myself. 

Digital vs. Print- 2nd Post

I agree with most of the class that nothing compares to holding a real book and flipping the pages. Although I've gone electronic in the past few months, I still plan to purchase the "real" book if it makes my favorites list. I liked the comparison to CDs and MP3s... for the artists/authors you really want to support or treasure, you don't mind spending the extra money.

Even my grandma has a Kindle!

I usually am an early adapter when it comes to technology. I bought one of the original iPods, and I got a smart phone pretty early on as well. One thing that I have yet to adapt to though is the e-reader.

Over winter break, I went to Florida to visit my grandparents. They know that I'm an avid reader, so they were not surprised that I brought 4 books with me for a 7 day visit. As I was talking to my grandmother about some of my new favorite authors, she pulls out her Kindle. I looked at her in shock. I couldn't believe that the first Kindle I was coming in contact with was my grandmothers. She's a big reader herself, and she explained that with all the traveling she does (to visit her many grandchildren), she's found that the Kindle is much easier to carry multiple books in one trip. She let me play around with it to figure out how to use it, and I was very surprised at how easy the text was to read, and how light the device was.

Although it has been about 5 months since I had the Kindle in my hands, I still haven't taken the plunge to buy one. I think it's cause I, like many of my fellow classmates, like the feeling of having a physical book in my hands. I like being able to turn the pages, and I like being able to see how thick the number of pages I have left to read are. I know I'll eventually buy one, but I think I'm going to hold off as long as possible!

Adjusting to change

I must be old-fashioned; I don't own a Nook or a Kindle and my phone doesn't really do anything special, such as take amazing photos or having apps. I'm not against owning any of those things. I would like to have a Kindle at some point. I've looked at one and it seems easy to use and read. So I think it would be a good parallel to printed books.

One thing I'm not sure is whether it's printed books or e-readers that waste more materials. I've heard that it's the e-readers that waste even more natural resources than books, however. But maybe one Kindle is equal to several books, so the Kindle would in fact be more environmentally friendly.

Maybe we can keep our basic information online, and books can become like special treasures or gifts given on special occasions. Besides, most of us probably don't even reread the books on our shelves and they just get dusty and take up space. I guess the big challenge for me is thinking of the e-readers as being as normal as reading printed books, and that may take time.

Response to Jolie's Post

[anyone see how to directly respond to someone's post without having to create an entirely new one?]

I love the point Jolie brought up about CD art. Personally, I rarely purchase only the MP3 of my favorite music. I will either skip the MP3 altogether and just get the CD for the art, then upload the CD to my iTunes to get the best of both worlds or purchase the MP3 album AND the CD is if it's for one of my favorite bands and iTunes is having some sort of special offer that includes stuff not available on the CD. Conversely, I will limit myself to only the MP3 if there's only a single song I like from an artist. There's something about the CD art I'll ever be able to let go of. It makes it more personal for me.

I do not have a kindle or an iPad, so I have not had the chance to really test the waters on these devices. I have only attempted to read on my Droid phone and that totally sucks. Too small. I am open to giving either the Kindle or iPad a stab for my pleasure reading. (Actually, I'd LOVE one of the two.) It would be more convenient for travel and eliminate the inevitable "which book do I bring?" question. One the other hand, I also love the feel, smell and visceral experience of a printed book. I suppose I am on track to fall in line with what the future may hold for us: special books will be printed; utilitarian books will be digital.

I think I am okay with that.

Digital/Print

Besides our own bias as print-loving designers, e-readers are a more economical and more practical way of reading in daily life. If you think of and use your book collection the same way one would use their music collection, having an e-reader just makes sense.

In my commuting days and whenever I travel, I am always reminded as to how inconvenient it is to not have an e-reader when I want to read somewhere other than my apartment. I don't want to stuff my backpack with books for a weekend trip just like I wouldn't want to stuff it with CD's for the same reason.

As having e-readers and exclusively consuming written content online becomes more and more common, there will be more nostalgia and appreciation for print in a way that creates a niche market for it. I would have bet you my entire cassette collection if you told me in 1997 that 20-somethings in 2011 would have vinyl collections from contemporary artists. Sure, we don't by vinyl because it's the rational thing to do, but because we love the experience of it-yet we still have mp3 versions of those same albums. Look to see those same trends emerge with books.

Books Not Nooks

There’s something about holding a printed book that can’t be satisfied by the cold, hard slab that is an e-reader. I love the smell of books, old and new. I love the feel of their pages. I like to run my fingers over an embossed cover. Sometimes I even write little side notes in the margins. I also like reading what other people have written in books, what words they defined or what themes they discovered. I like to arrange the books on my shelf, sometimes by color, sometimes by size. With an electronic book, none of this is possible. Sure it may be conveniently portable, but I don’t own many books that aren’t. If I traveled more, perhaps an e-reader would be more practical for me. But for my life as it is right now, the printed copy will do just fine.

I relate this debate, printed vs. digital, to the way my parents reminisce about album artwork. My dad tells me stories about how he would buy a new record and spend all day reading every single word from front to back, cherishing the artwork as if it was a famous painting. With today’s downloadable music and even with the smaller size of CDs, album artwork is taking a backseat (if it even exists at all). I’m afraid that this will eventually happen to books as technology continues to emerge.

My Print/Digital Dichotomy

OMG, not again. Every time this topic comes up, I end up with a headache. Probably, because I find that in the last four years, despite my semi-noble efforts, I still haven't made any progress on my views regarding print v. digital. (Some of my other blog posts on print v. digital.) Reading an iPad in bed, with a plethora of titles to chose from, and I don't even have to go to the bookstore. No trees are devoured and the book stacks in my apartment aren't reminiscent of the Manhattan skyline. Oh, and the whole idea of reading literature on a Nook just makes me feel dirty.

However, something has dawned on me recently. I didn't grow up with the internet and digital publications. My life doesn't stop if I can't check my email every five minutes. The only calls I answer immediately are from my boss and that's only if my phone is within arms length. I don't know if my technology ennui can be attributed to my personality or age. I hate multitasking and it's against my religion to start a project before a previous project is finished. Maybe the problem isn't digital, but me. I've noticed the members of the association I work for who request digital publications are all under 35. During conferences, the hard copy educational materials are go to our senior members and the rest go in the trash. In fact, very few senior members even take the thumb drives we offer the materials on. I think digital v. print comes down to habit and effort. My father still can't use his cell phone, but when he found out that all general counsels have blackberrys, he figured out how to use his over the weekend.

Thoughts on Digital vs. Print

I am on the fence about the benefits of digital design versus print. In the past 4 years I have been at my job, we’ve had a surge in email production. The idea that we can get the same message out to our donors without spending thousands on a print job is alluring. Recently, however, we’ve realized there are drawbacks. With so many events and messages we are trying to get out, people are becoming over-saturated with emails. Open rates were down and we were blasting up to 5 emails a day. Of course, each donor wasn’t getting every single email, but there was enough overlap to cause concern. I feel like the overwhelming number of e-communications we receive on a daily basis are making good ‘ol print pieces, including hard copy books, more refreshing to read.

In terms of design, I agree that the possibilities for tablet design are intriguing. You can make the content interactive by placing links and videos, which will hopefully keep the reader engaged in what you are trying to sell. I absolutely love my Kindle because of its convenience and because it makes running on the treadmill more fun! But it isn’t winning any awards for fancy design-- I can see the photos in Tina Fey’s book just fine, but that’s about it for decoration. From what I understand, the ipad and other tablets have a more robust book display. I look forward to seeing how amazon and the other e-book distributors handle book design in the future.

iPads are Books, Too

Per our class discussion on Tuesday, I'd like to share with you an article I found pondering the future of print in the age of the iPad and other digital devices.

Although we are studying the printed book, digital tablets have emerged and are here to stay. They are new and exciting, convenient and down right fun. There's no doubt they'll become more affordable and better as time goes on like cell phones and iPods have.

The article I chose discusses digital tablets, specifically the iPad. But this article is not just about throwing print into question, but rather, discusses how BOTH print and digital tablets, together, may vastly improve what we read and how we read it.

I don't see their insurgence as a print vs. digital divide. Rather, I feel the arrival of sophisticated digital devices, like the iPad, offer ANOTHER format to design for. How lovely. Each medium has it's advantages - The iPad can be interactive. Books are tactile and smell great - I believe both are needed.

As designers we are no longer restricted to one format. Now we can design our content in the most appropriate medium, taking advantage of each of their strengths. I imagine a lot of the same concepts for designing printed books applies to digital tablets, with some considerations.

Personally, I am super-excited about digital tablets and what they mean for publishing. A print designer through and through, I have always kept an arms-length away from the digital medium - only accumulating the necessary skills required to collaborate effectively with my digital designer counterparts. But the increasing availability of the sophisticated, Star Trekkian device, the iPad, triggers an excitement in the pit of my stomach when I think of the design possibilities. For the first time in my life, I am pining to become more digi-telligent in order to utilize my strong print background in the digital realm.

How do YOU feel about digital tablets and their impact on printed books?
Do you believe printed books will ultimately benefit from the utilitarian use of iPads?
Or is it all a bunch of hog wash and digital will take over for better or worse?

What do you think?

'War of the Worlds' Book Covers

This is the book cover I was talking about in class, with the Starship Enterprise from the popular television series, Star Trek, on the cover of a spanish copy of War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I suppose if you don't get the reference (and how could you not - whether you like it or not, Star Trek has been infused into pop culture at large) this cover may make some sense. But if you are like me and actually enjoy Star Trek, this cover is pretty hilarious.

Here's the website where I found a plethora of international book cover designs for War of the Worlds.

Enjoy!

The Bible

I apologize for not posting on time, as well as being a bit flustered in class. I was having an extremely stressful day!

What I was trying to articulate in class was that while the design is no doubt beautiful, I find the text difficult to read. The serifs are designed too heavily for my taste. It is interesting to think about the fact that people used to find this kind of text readable, while it is not as easy to comprehend by today's standards.

The overly designed pages are nice to look at for a few pages, but I don't think I would like a book that has these designs on every page. It distracts my eye from the text, and I find myself looking at the images instead of the text itself. The images should reinforce the text, not take away from it!

Gutenberg's Bible

Last summer I took the History of Graphic Design class with Bert Smith. I found it fascinating to learn how all of the processes have evolved into our present day system, with most of the credit going to Gutenberg. Not only was it revolutionary for the print industry, it was revolutionary for society as a whole. We are now able to get information and share our thoughts with the click of a button, but in the 1400s, communication was mainly achieved through word-of-mouth. Imagine where we’ll be in another 600 years!

As a designer, I think the book is functional, while also being ornate. The flourishes on the pages are a lovely addition, although I can see what Jolie means about them not having a specific purpose. I admire the even column design that stays consistent throughout the book, making it more organized for the reader.

The Bible and the written word

I have recently become fascinated with the Bible because of reading “Jesus, Interrupted” by Bart Ehrman before class last week. I used to think of the Bible as being a very long and tedious book, but seeing Gutenberg’s Bible reminds me of how much this book created much of history, and how Gutenberg made history by creating this book.

I think the Gutenberg bible is attractive, in an archaeic, historical way. It would be very dull without the illustrations; just two straight columns of text. (It is true that after a while, every page starts to look the same). The fact that the grids are aligned so perfectly is amazing to me. I also admire the large drop cap letters.

This book is done so skillfully, and I am sad to see that according to the website, it did not make Gutenberg rich. I was happy to see that Gutenberg, like many other people, had to go through a long and tedious process of trial and error in order to get his Bible printed correctly.

I cannot read the Gutenberg Bible, and I wish that I could. I can only admire it for what it is and notice how both religion and the written word have always been merged as a power of force in human history. It would be better to learn how to read it, and I plan to if I get the time. (Which I probably won't)

Aw, what a cute little bird!

As much as I appreciate Gutenberg for revolutionizing the world of writing and printing, I have to go against what my fellow classmates are saying about the design of his Bible. I do understand that it was the 1400's and that Blackletter text was considered easily readable at the time. And I was even more aware of that when I read how Carvajal would be able to read this book without his glasses because of how neat the lettering was. However, I can’t look at a page for more than a few seconds before I feel dizzy trying to focus on just one line and I’m certain I would need glasses just to get through it.

As a designer, I do admire Gutenberg’s ability to justify his blocks of text so meticulously. After taking typography, I know this is no easy task. What I do not so much admire though, is his use of decorations around the blocks of text. I find them distracting and going against some of the first rules I learned as a designer: every picture, every illustration and every ounce of design needs to have a purpose. And that purpose needs to be clear. And to just flat out decorate your text is a big “no-no”. So when I find myself ignoring the text and looking at the cute little birdies on the page and then tempted to trace the vines and flowers with my pen, I hear those words in my head loud and clear and wonder what Gutenberg was thinking when he felt it necessary to add an entire stained glass window illustration to the whole left side of this page.

The Western World's Most Significant Invention

Several years ago, I mentioned to a friend that I had seen an edition of the Gutenberg Bible in person and I thought it was the most beautiful book ever printed. He promptly snorted and asked me why I would ever get excited about a bible. At the time, I couldn't respond because I was so astounded that a person would ever be that ignorant, especially someone I considered a bibliophile. Now that I've had some time to cool down, my reasons for gushing about the Gutenberg Bible would be:

1) The printing of the Gutenberg Bible wasn't just a product of the invention of a printing "press," but the creation of an entire system for printing. Gutenberg's system included new developments in ink, paper, typography, illustration, design and typesetting.

2) As books go, it exemplified everything graphic design and book layout should be on top of being the very first book ever printed on a press. Illuminations were combined with text producing a book that was beautiful and printed quickly.

3) The press laid the foundation for the mass production of books.

3) By developing a system to distribute books to the masses quickly and cheaply, information and literacy was spread to many more people. "Knowledge is Power" (Francis Bacon) and finally

4) Since more people had access to more knowledge, many people argue that Gutenberg's press was the single greatest achievement of the Western World.

I'm not friends with that guy anymore for many reasons, but mostly because he didn't understand the importance of the Gutenberg bible.

Chip Kidd & Gutenberg (A Two-fer Post)

After spending the last few weeks trying to think in more minimalist terms with my own design, A Cook's Tour caught my attention through its liveliness. I love the use of a diner-style order pad as a backdrop for a cook/foodie's journey, and the strip of photos that reminds me almost of what you would get in a photo booth. Combined with the round, friendly, sans serif typeface, I immediately get an impression of the playfulness, adventure and nostalgia of an old-fashioned roadtrip. The cover has a cinematic quality to it as well, with the photos serving as a preview of scenes in the book, and the text acting as credits. This also puts me in a place of expecting a journey with an element of adventure, which is fun. I'm impressed by how Chip Kidd manages such a busy design without it feeling cluttered.

It's absolutely amazing to me to look at the pages of the Gutenberg Bible and realize how much in pub design has remained constant for the last five hundred years. Entire languages have changed since that time, but this kind of neat column, drop caps, and red lettering for important lines are still common features in many modern Bibles. I like how the text block is thoughtfully placed, but not centered. It reminds me of Villard de Honnecourt's diagram, from the reading (and since he's a 13th century guy, Gutenberg may well have used it, or something like it, as the guide for his design).
As a person, Gutenberg impresses me most with his irrepressible creativity. I hadn't known that he had a streak of financial and legal problems, and the fact that he kept coming up with indulgences and experiments and other innovative projects is really inspiring. He strikes me as the kind of person who saw the next great thing just around the bend, and used that to give himself the hope and energy to get through difficulties in the moment.