Comments on a reading and a video (Musashi)

 Bosman's insight into the impact of book cover design on sales was interesting. Switching from the trendy covers back in the day to the modern cleaner, abstract designs, the article made me realize the efforts of the book industry to come up with a strategy for the rise of the popularity of e-books and promoting reminders of the good things of physical books. The video featuring Chip Kidd's cover-making process was very helpful. His creative designs, like one of my favorite movies, Jurassic Park, left a strong impression. The emphasis on covers as a first impression and their role in setting the stage for readers was very crucial. However, the article raises questions about the future of physical books against the convenience of e-books. I think it is inevitable not to read physical books anymore. The argument is that physical books have to weigh more on their tangible feature. While e-books are convenient and practical, the feeling of filling a bookshelf with books is undeniable. The discussion on cover design resonates, as it often has a huge impact on getting my attention to read a few pages and it was an interesting point to think about making the design of book covers crucial.

J. Bosman Reading and Chip Kidd Video (Micah)

 Bosman's article touches on how e-books are a lot more popular than actual books due to the convenience, and why that makes the cover so important. While personally I don't think that a nice cover will make me choose to buy the hard-copy over the e-book, I do agree that having a well-designed cover can go a long way in drawing more people to buy it. A lot of the time, I feel as though people will have no idea what a book is about when coming across it at a store, so if there is an eye catching cover, it will make them want to at least take a look at it. Just for me personally, the convenience of not having to store an e-book and being able to access it anywhere completely outweighs the benefit of the physical feel and look of a hard copy.

Kidd's TED Talk was very insightful to me, as it really broke down how there are many different ways to create a good book cover. For example, the cover of "My Name is Red" tells a story as you pull it out, and "1Q84" conveys different meaning when you take off the cover. Prior to watching his talk, I never realized how creative book covers can be beyond just nice artwork. Another interesting part was learning about the process of how he helped make the Jurassic Park logo. Seeing how a page from a random book he came across at a museum turned into an iconic logo really goes to show the power a creative can have. 

J.Bosman reading and Kidd videoclip (Racky)

 In the reading, Bosman introduces the reasons why the design of the cover of the book is a very critical factor for readers to buy physical books. As technology has been developing, many readers read books via e-books instead of physical books. This is because the e-book is more accessible to carry around, unlike physical books. Besides this reason, readers can change the size of the letter or even the brightness of the screen. These features are specifically for the e-book and are often appreciated by the readers. Then, what can make readers buy physical books? Then, the visual effect is essential.  People often say, "Don't judge a book by its cover," when they explain that no one should judge anything or anyone based on how it appears. But, in the case of attracting readers' attention, the design of a book cover is one of the most critical factors because book cover design can make readers wonder what the author says in the text, and book cover design does not grab readers' attention if it is on e-books.

In the TED talk video clip, one book cover design grabbed my attention. It was a book called "My Name is Red." This book cover is well-designed because readers can see more of the story as they slowly pull the book out. There are a couple on the front of the book. Once readers pull the book out, they can see a big guy staring at the couple. As the readers pull the book out more, there is a person who is aiming for a big guy's head with archery. These subsequent visual effects will not be seen in the e-books, and this is why the book cover design is critical for the physical books.  

J. Bosman Reading and Chip Kidd Video (Matt)

One thing brought up in the reading is how more people are migrating to reading ebooks compared to traditional hard-cover printed-out books because of the convenience. I definitely think that the convenience is nice, but I personally have never been able to read an entire ebook. So I was surprised to see that most of the time there is a larger amount of ebooks purchased compared to physical copies. For someone like me, having a good cover is something I definitely do place a lot of importance on. Admittedly, I do judge a book by its cover, since it really is the first impression that you get of the book. I think the cover really helps to paint a picture in the reader's mind of what type of story and what kind of things could be happening within the book. Having a great cover sets the scene for the reader and allows them to build off of that image in their mind. Designing a great cover is something I never really thought about in particular, but it was really interesting to see in the Chip Kidd video how many different, but all eye-catching covers he was able to design. I thought the coolest cover he showed was the My Name is Red cover since just by taking the book off of the shelf, you get an entire idea of what the story is. Little things like this are something I never realized that there was so much thought and effort put into making these meaningful covers.

Selling Books by their Gilded Covers (Jordan)

 I agree with the reasoning that if e-books are about convenience, then physical books need to put emphasis on the fact that they are physical, to provide a reason for buying them. While e-books are the most practical form of reading, in my opinion, there is something nice about filling up a bookshelf. The article makes me wonder if publishers can truly maintain the relevancy of physical books, or whether they will fall forever into obscurity. 

A good cover design is usually what initially draws me to a book. It may seem shallow, but I think this will apply to many people. Like Chipp brought attention to, it's a first impression. It's what you see before you know anything else about the book, and it's only human nature to make judgments based off this first impression. Despite the phrase "Don't just a book by its cover", people will continue to do so, so the design of the cover becomes of utmost importance. Sometimes I find books that don't seem like a lot of time or effort was put into the cover, and that leaves a negative impression. 

J. Bosman and Book Design Video (Jane)

 I think Bosman brings up a great point about book cover design and its importance in the sale of books. I know when I was in middle school, the dystopian books were a huge trend and had a lot of covers with faces on them. Now, I think I have noticed a shift towards more clean book covers that are more simple and abstract. I know personally, that I love collecting books, and having covers that match a series to having books with beautiful colors on their cover makes the books that much better in my eyes. I have wondered how book companies are doing since the increase in popularity of e-books, so reading this has opened my eyes to the things book industries are doing to counter it and bring back the love for reading physical books.

I really liked the delivery of the video. He took us through the process of making the cover while also keeping it light-hearted which I absolutely loved. He was also humble about his achievements like creating the Jurassic Park logo (which blew my mind that he just drew it out by himself). I think his covers were extremely creative and genuinely made me want to read the book. The manipulation of the book cover and jacket to make the idea of two related things (like for the book Naked and 1Q84) or simply using the synopsis of the book to research cover art (like My Name is Red) was extremely intriguing to me. Overall, it really put into perspective how much work book designers put into their covers for the author.

Book Covers Reading and Video Responses - Grace

BOOK COVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Selling Books by Their Guilded Covers

    

    As an avid reader of physical books myself, I very much agree with the sentiments expressed in this article. With the rise of e-books and their enticingly low prices, it is getting more and more difficult to find other bookworms who have an extensive physical collection, so innovation is needed on the publishers' part in order to entice readers back into the realm of print media. Publishers have responded to this issue by aestheticizing book covers in order to attract readers to print media. I always love to visit the bookstore and scan the covers for my next read, and this new movement to improve book covers is something that I am currently enjoying immensely. I eat up this new generation of book covers and believe that they contribute to the reading experience in a positive way. However, I do see a downside to this aestheticization of books: the price. For someone who hasn't heard of a particular work, a pleasant aesthetic alone may still not be enough to justify a hefty price tag. For example, many classics such as Dracula, are available for only $0.99 on Kindle. However, my copy of Dracula (pictured above), which places heavy emphasis on making the book look pretty, cost me $20. For those who aren't heavily invested in a particular work would most likely just choose the cheaper option. In addition to the Kindle version being cheaper, once the consumer clicks "Buy Now", the consumer has instant access to the book. Meanwhile, the reader who opts for the physical copy has to locate the book, potentially pay for shipping, and then wait for the book to arrive/wait till they get home in order to read the book. So, while aestheticizing books has the potential to attract a larger audience of readers, they are also in and of themselves luxury items in comparison to e-books.

The Hilarious Art of Book Design

    This TedTalk explored what goes into designing book covers. Through his talk, Chip Kidd draws upon his 20+ years of experience as a book cover designer to hammer home the central mission of book cover design: What do the stories look like? This is a question that I, as a reader and not a designer, had never thought about until now. However, now that I have watched his talk, I wholeheartedly agree with this mission and have begun to notice this idea when I briefly glanced over at the cover of a book that I am currently reading. In addition, It was fascinating to learn about the different techniques employed by graphic designers in order to design book covers that attract readers whilst conveying the overarching message of the work. For example, when designing the cover for Michael Crichton's iconic novel Jurassic Park, Kidd incorporated the design of signs common throughout wildlife preserves and national parks in order to reflect the animal park setting of the novel. Kidd's design has now become a pop-culture icon  worldwide. After watching Kidd's talk, I have gained a newfound appreciation for the work of book cover designers and how much hard work they must put in to their work.