Re: The End Days of Bunny Ears?

What an intriguing question! I also love the convenience of ebooks... but I just can't leave behind that musty paper smell! As a bonafide book-lover I have, on more than one occasion, ended up purchasing the physical and electronic or sometimes audio copy of a book. But I do think people like myself are moreso in the minority. It is important to me, for example, to have a bookshelf or two or three in my home. But I'm a hopeless book romantic. Kids these days, I'd wager, haven't grown up with the same sort of relationship with physical books. So I think that it's reasonable that maybe at some point in the future, those who develop a love for physical books will shift.

What I think it comes down to is the experience one looks for. Is the story alone enough or is the story plus the weight of the book and the smell of the pages what you're after? These could be two different kinds of people who will make different buying choices.

I also think that this change will depend largely on how accessible electronic technology will become. There is still the issue of energy and affordability to consider that I think will keep this new age of ebooks at bay for a bit longer. There are still plenty of people who don't quite have the same access to ebooks and would probably prefer the traditional route.

As for my book cover designing process, I do generally have an end format/feel in mind for the book. I've never designed an entire book before but I did consider the overall look and feel for a physical book when I was designing my cover. 

Designing for an ebook could be just as involved though. There's a lot of interactivity possible with an ebook that you can't get with a physical book. That sort of interactivity could draw readers in the same way covers do for plenty of folks now. Who knows what that sort of capability could do to the experience of reading? It is faster and more convenient, but it could be a more dynamic experience as well. Physical books won't be going anywhere for quite some time, but there's lots on the horizon for books in the future!

Re: Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

Nicole to respond to your post, I've never read any of the YaYa books, but after looking at the cover's I am intrigued by them. The background colors are vibrant and bring life to the pictures. The use of the colors are clean and they compliment each other. The spacing make them clean and easy to read. Also the images are strong and convey the point of girls having fun. I agree that they do also have a nostalgic feel to them. I think the dark type treatment works as well on the bright backgrounds.

These nostalgic feel reminds me of the a series of books I use to read as a child, Goosebumps. For me a cover is a selling point of if I want to read a book or not, when trying to find new material to read. I think R.L Stine utulized these elements in his covers from the color to the actual picture to give you a description of the story.

Book Cover Comps- Beyond the Wall

Hey guys I'm posting the pictures based off my story Beyond the Wall. The gist of the story is the Author, Ambrose Bierce, goes to visit his friend while he's in San Francisco. While there he notices how he looks old and on his death bed. While there his friend, Mohan Dampier, tells him a story of how he met this girl and they never spoke to her, but he fell in love with her. The only way they would communicate is through a knock on the wall. Eventually he was upset because the girl wouldn't respond back to him, then he later found out she had died. After he found out Dampier was hurt and depressed.

So from the synopsis I took 2 approaches in the design the first is playing off the wall effect and showing a man with her shadow in the wall. I wanted to give it a dark and mysterious look. The font is suppose to represent text on the wall as well. The second approach is the man knocking on the wall, I think this effect gives it a suspenseful take. I played with the layers to also give it a dark feel to match Bierce's tone of the story. Any suggestions?

The End Days of Bunny Ears?

After Tuesday's blog post and Thursday's class presentation on favorite books, a question popped in my head. With the help of technology, are we seeing the final days of actual book printing?

As new (and old) books make their way to a Kindle, Nook or Ipad near you, are readers no longer inclined or interested in standing in the aisle of a bookstore to decide, hardcover or paperback? Have we become so entitled to instant gratification that we have lost sight of the beauty of the book? Now I will gladly admit to being amongst the population of e-book readers, where with one tap of a virtual button I can have a 300-page book delivered to me in less time it'll take for the popcorn to finishing popping in the microwave. I will also admit, however, while e-books are convenient and most times the cheaper route to travel, I refuse to  turn away from the physical book. The one I can touch, with the pages I can flip or the ends I can fold when a bookmark can't be found. We all know books aren't created equal but they are created with the reader in mind.

Printed books, whether hardcover or paperback, can be of great significance to a reader. As one person mentioned, it may be the smell of the paper. It may be the bumps along the cover, or it may even be the inscription left by your mother or grandmother as she presented you with your first or favorite book.

Last  semester I was enrolled in Book Arts, a class that transformed readers/writers to creators of their very own handmade books. From the cutting of the book cloth, scoring of the book board to the stitching of the signatures, every element, cover-to-cover was my decision and my creation. It took work, attention to detail, patience, room for trial and error but most of all creativity and connection to the text. The end result was something I could carry with pride and say, "I made this". As we've already begun the initial stages of designing book covers, I'd like to throw out the following.... when designing do you find yourself thinking of the hard/soft copy of the book or how it will solely look on a computer monitor or 7-inch tablet? As a reader have you found yourself investing more in e-books and shying away from the paperbacks and hardbacks? Do you think the end days for bunny ears, penciled underlinings and notes on margins are coming...and soon?

Just think, if you were a fan of the Percy Jackson book series, could you see this on your Kindle?

Re: Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

I also haven't read this series, but I am a little familiar with Rebecca Wells’s writing style when it comes to feminism and womanhood. It seems like the relationship of women, particularly, mothers and daughters are important elements in the Ya-Ya books. Just by looking at the covers of the books, I can tell  that it’s written in a feminist perspective. The light pinks, blues and yellows, gives it a softer and lighter feel. The imagery suggests women figures, so I already know what the book will entail. All of the girls in the images on the cover are in the air.

For Little Altars Everywhere, the little girl in jumping rope. The sky is pink and there’s some clouds in the background. On the cover of the YA-Ya Sisterhood,  one of the girls is jumping over the other girl. The sky is blue.  On Ya-Yas in Bloom, the little girl is rollerblading. She has some sort of cushion on her bottom and the sky is purple.

From the design of the covers, I can assume that Wells is very creative and have an extensive imagination. At least from the plot of the stories, she seems to be very family orientated. Her audience is probably young women.

Recently, I’ve been reading, Sophie Kinsella’s Can you keep a secret? Sophie is has written several successful stand alone novels as Madeleine Wickham and is best known for her work under the pen name Sophie Kinsella. The first two novels in her bestselling Shopaholic series, The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Abroad were adapted into the film Confessions of a Shopaholic (film) starring Isla Fisher.

Her books also give me the same sort of feminist, creative flare with a touch of humor. Her covers are also very feminine with lighter and softer colors. The typefaces are usually strong and playful. Also, there’s the similarities with the families.

On of my favorite lines from Can you keep a secret is when she’s talking about some of her secrets:

“Like for example, here are a few random secrets of mine, off the top of my head:

1. My Kate Spade bag is fake.

2. I love sweet sherry, the least cool drink in the universe.

3. I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even exactly what it is.

4. I weigh 128 pounds. Not 118, like my boyfriend, Connor, thinks..”

RE: Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

I think this is a great topic to start this semester's blog discussion. While I too am unfamiliar with the Ya-Ya Sisterhood series, I think the visual of the books within the series is an interesting look. I do like the soft colors and as previously mentioned, the girls all in motion. What bothers me, however, is the lack of consistency with the design of the book. I can usually identify a series of books based on a classic or traditional format of the cover, whether I'm a reader of the text or not. When reviewing the other posts, this is nicely executed with the Harry Potter series. Even Jessica's examples of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work has consistency with the framing of the author and title through the backgrounds are different and very elegant, might I add. When reading Nicole's post, I immediately thought back to my childhood and my fascination with The Babysitters Club and Moesha book series.

I think the publisher's choice to have the Ya-Ya covers vary so greatly in typeface and design, is very interesting. When I think of a book series, I think of a brand. We oftentimes see businesses rebranding, upgrading or trying to appeal to a new consumer. Sometimes change goes over well and other times it's met with disapproval. As readers who still believe in the hard/soft back vs the e-edition, does consistency matter when dealing with a book series? Does the publisher/designer have a responsibility to stay loyal to the readership when creating a book series?

Re: Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

I too must admit that I have not read the Ya-Ya Sisterhood series either. I think I like the color combinations, but not necessarily the imagery. Something about the juxtaposition doesn't work for me. But I think as a series the covers work well together. Again, I haven't read them so maybe there is something about colorful clouds and vintage imagery that goes with the story, but I'm not particularly drawn to it. I know people love the books though!

As far as my favorite series, I much prefer reading children's literature to any other kind of fiction. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I resonate much more with the themes found in children's literature than in books written for adults. My favorite series by far is Harry Potter. The themes of life and death, love, friendship and bravery ring very true for me. And the best part about the whole series was that I felt like it lived up to all the expectations that I held for it as I worked my way through the books. I remember being afraid before the 7th book was released that there was no way that Rowling would be able to tie up all the loose ends, will in the gaps, answer the questions and still have the end be satisfying and fulfilling, but unbelievably, it was. I felt a tremendous sense of contentment when I closed book 7.

In the US, Scholastic published the Harry Potter series. The books were illustrated by Mary Grandpre. The illustrations are beautiful and intricate, but still appeal to children and really bring out key themes and elements of each book. In the UK, however, Bloomsbury published the series. They published a children's version and an adult version, which I loved! I loved that they stopped to consider the audiences that were reading these books. It's not just a series for kids! Even now, if Scholastic published an American adult version of the series, I would totally buy them.

Re: Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

I haven't read any books in the Ya-Ya series, so I don't know that I'm allowed to comment on whether or not they work. I don't care much for the aesthetic (Sorry Nicole!), but they definitely work together as a series.

One thing I can say that's nice about them is this quality of motion that they all have. There is something young and jubilant about each of them. And the colors and the clouds give them a bit of a dreamy quality as well so that they're a bit surreal looking. The pink and purple sky make the first and third books look downright other worldly. And the second one has a blue sky but the girls' skin is tinted a sort of yellowy green, which again, is kind of surreal. But the girls are each doing something something in these covers. And their expressions and body language make you wonder why they're so happy about or what it is that they enjoy so much about what they're doing. Although not necessarily my cup of tea, I can see how there's something appealing about it. Each of the pictures suggest that the girls are striving toward something.

Definitely don't care much for the placement of the words "A Novel." It interacting a bit too much with the cover for me.

I do really like the last picture of the little girl with the skates and pillow. She is going places. And it seems like such an appropriate image for the title "Ya-Yas in Bloom." That little girl is ready to blossom! She is going places, no doubt, and seems determined to get there no matter what. And she's ready to tackle whatever comes her way. She's prepared to rebound from any setback. She is growing. She is in blossoming. Or at least that's what it looks like to me.

Again, haven't read the books.

One of my favorite series' (Are you ready for this? No judgments!) is the Dune series by Frank Herbert. Probably only the first like 5 or so because it starts to get weird after that. None of the ones written by his son count... not legit as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I love a lot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy type stuff and this series just sucked me in. I was absolutely fascinated by the world Herbert creates and the plight of water being such a precious thing.

Anyway there are several different covers but the ones I've included are fairly recent. Although not much to look at, I think they are appropriate for the book's content. They're simple, they only include what's necessary, the type is straightforward and a traditional looking, and there's a little window into what's on the inside. All consistent with the way Fremen live their lives in the series. They're not the most pleasing aesthetically, but they make sense. The Fremen would be proud!

Re: Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

Hooray for Louisiana! It is a special place. ;) I haven't read this entire series previously mentioned, just The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Which, I too think was passed on from my mom at some point. There are so many great stories, voices, and characters of the South. 

Though not a southerner himself, his bride Zelda was. These (pictured below) are not so much a series, but a collection of works by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These were recently designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith at Penguin Books and are just gorgeous.

A totally different aesthetic - and not so sweet and southern as Ya-Ya - but simple, effective, and beautiful. The art deco patterns reflect the jazz age perfectly, but also gives a fresh modern appeal to these classics. I'm sort of in love with them.

p.s. I hope I'm posting to this correctly!

Sweet Tea and Rocking Chairs

Ok so I think I have a fascination with the South. Ever since I was in high school I thought the South was so cool. I wanted to live there and I wanted that accent. I don't know if you understand how much I wanted that accent but I REALLY wanted a sweet southern accent.

I'm not sure how I came across these books, I'm guessing it was my mom but I'm just glad that I did. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells was one of my favorites. I remembering sitting in the hall before class laughing hysterically and crying while making my way through the book. Somehow it transported me to Louisiana and I loved it.

After I read the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood I realized there were two more books in this series. One that I was suppose to read beforehand "Little Alters Everywhere"and one that came after "Ya-Ya's In Bloom."

I rely enjoyed the nostalgic look of these books and I think they work fairly well together as a whole. Of course there are some parts that could be improved. One piece that sticks out to me is "a novel" through out all three books. Something about it is irking me except for "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." I really like how it is interacting with the image. But that's just my opinion.

What do you think about the covers? What is one of your favorite series?