Ranting on physical books

In his TED talk, Chip Kidd presented on the interesting idea of comparing the job of designing book cover with the job of translating the content. It seems that a designer has more freedom of artistic expression, whereas a translator cannot be forgiven for deviating too much from the original. Good for them! The collaborative effort between author and publisher is what sells a book to its readers, and I am well accustomed to finding myself curious about a book cover as much as I am about its content.

I used to only read physical books; that was before I even knew electronic books existed. Even then, I preferred going to bookstores to read and buy physical books. (And I would smell the new books too, so you ain’t new, Mr Kidd.) My mom was insistent that we ordered books online because they were cheaper, but we still ordered physical books in the end. That said, I know that only people who regularly read physical books would go to a bookstore and look at book covers; I don’t think the idea of using book covers to help people discover the charms of physical books is effective, especially if those people are already a physical-book reader.

Moreover, the “pleasure of owning” is a luxury. I still prefer physical books, but now I do not have places to store them. Even back in home my bookshelves are stuffed with books that I have read throughout the years, and we had to buy a new bookshelf every year or two to accommodate incoming collections. I do not think I can defend something that is only accessible to a particular group of readers.

- Marcus

Bosman and Kidd - Afiq

 I always thought that I never really cared for the covers of books and that I only ever buy books whose first few pages captivated me. While that still holds true, the reason I picked up those books to check the first few pages out in the first place was always because the covers caught my eye. I wholeheartedly agree with the statement that if the fancy covers are done right, then they would always attract customers. Books with good covers will never fail to make me at least pick them up and check them out.

In the video, it was really interesting to see the thought process behind the covers and the stories that they tell. I loved the hepburn and dietrich comparison especially, to see the two opposite types side-by-side, their covers indicating the type of writing in the book. 

Bosman and Kidd - Kenny

 

I agree with what Bosman says about increasing the allure/qualities of physical books. I think the reason

 why this makes sense is because it is similar to the reason why people buy art and physical music 

records and such. I felt this in class as well when the various translations of The Key (if I remember 

correctly) were passed around. Although some of them were written in languages I can’t read, I was

 more drawn to the books with beautiful or appealing covers and art. I think piquing a reader’s interest

 with cover art that is immediately seen might be better than expecting a reader to pick up a boring

 looking book and become invested after starting to read. I think increasing the beauty of physical

 books also increases their potential value to become something sentimental. I have a few books

 back home that, even though they are not particularly beautiful, have value to me because when I

 look at them I remember how I felt reading them when I was younger. I think making books more

 beautiful so that more people will buy them is a good idea not just for the sales of the books 

themselves but also for the potential experiences the readers might have with them.

Kidd’s TED talk was also interesting in that he showcased a number of examples of good book design.

 The part where he talks about typography was also interesting, I had not thought of using typography

 in such ways much before watching this. Changing the font, material used when printing, even things 

like layering an image under the text like in the cover of 1Q84 are great ideas and would definitely 

make me more likely to check the book out.

Bosman and Kidd - Brief comment

 I personally love owning physical copies of books because when I read them, I can physically feel how far I am from the book. Some would argue that on kindle, or any sort of e-book, you can see which page you are at immediately and a bar below, but I like to feel the weight of the papers on my hands. 

I own the Japanese version of 1Q84, but the covers are not as attractive as the covers in the States, which "is wrapped in a translucent jacket with arresting gaze of a young woman peering through." Now that I think about it, I believe that Japanese books tend to have simpler covers (especially fiction novels) compared to those in America. At bookstores in Japan, whenever I buy a book, they ask if I need a book cover( a thin paper that wraps and covers your book). I wonder if it's because Japanese people do not want strangers to be seen what kind of books they are reading or if they just want to cover the book to protect it?

- Airi H

Bosman and Kidd: A Response - Reshma

     I think the importance of the physical medium really something that competes with the digital in my mind. To me, digital reading feels more for trying to find new things I may or may not enjoy, and for convenience.  Physical books feel more for collection or to display. I think that playing to these strengths of physical books is a smart way to deal with competition from digital platforms.

 I appreciated the look at the though process behind making appealing covers. As a kid, I definitely bought my fair share of books based on their cover alone. That said, I am one of the people who made the switch the digital reading, only buying physical books if I genuinely already enjoy the book. I like what Bosman said about how a tasteful cover can attract interest in a book. I'd go as far as to say a good cover can make or break a book. There have been books I thoroughly enjoyed but that I would not buy physically just because I don't like the cover. At a point, I think an effective cover functions to convey the tone and the theme of the text, and if it doesn't do the story justice, it would be no different than a musician failing to play their instrument properly on a recording.

    As such, I really liked what Kidd said about the role of the cover designer being similar to that of an interpret, to interpret and translate the text. I guess it sort of falls analogous to music videos for songs, meant to enhance a work and sometimes expand upon its meaning, but can definitely destroy all interest you have in it. 

Alex - Bosman and Kidd

I think it's interesting to read/watch these pieces after always being told "don't judge a book by its cover!" In these instances, the designers are, in fact, expecting the cover to have some sort of effect on you. I suppose this is natural, given that it's the first thing you see when you see a book on a shelf. I too, am definitely guilty of falling victim to a very appealing cover. 

I definitely preferred the article to the video. I thought the examples brought up in the video were cool, but I found the speaker's attitude to be a little hard to listen to. I felt like his attempts at humor detracted from the value of his work. However, I definitely appreciated his creativity and unique approach to design. 

I thought that the article was interesting as well, but I was wondering about how the environmental impact plays a role in all of this. There will always be inherent value to physical books—I personally prefer them as well—but I think the environmental benefits of eBooks should not be ignored as well. I felt like the article neglected to fully acknowledge that, and made the push to eBooks seem like something that we need to avoid at all costs. 

Again, I do believe that well-designed covers and physical books will never be comparable to eBooks in terms of reader experience, but I think that in the modern age we might need to adapt these concepts to a more digital medium. Perhaps if cover designers made some sort of digitally animated cover, or something more modern and innovative like that, we could preserve the art form of cover design while lessening the environmental impact. 

Bosman and Kidd - Connie

 Growing up, I enjoyed reading heavily and had a huge collection of physical copies of books. I'd get excited every time I got my hands on a new book but as the years went on, my collection definitely grew way past what my shelves could hold so I was gifted an amazon kindle. I was delighted but I quickly realized that I enjoyed holding a physical copy of a book way more than swiping on a screen. Sure, it is more convenient, being able to access hundreds and thousands of books in one little light tablet over carrying several volumes of books which can be heavy after a while. I'm not sure what it was but I think back then, I so much more enjoyed flipping through actual pages and it took me more in than a tablet did. 

I definitely agree with "These extra fancy covers, if tastefully done, cause customers to notice the book, pick it up and look it over... It works the other way too. A dull uninteresting cover can make people pass over the title." If I'm walking through a bookstore, I definitely think a more aesthetically pleasing cover or spine will catch my attention which I'll then take it out and look through the summary, etc. Although unique and pretty covers do attract attention, it's not as if that is the sole factor in considering purchasing a book but it will pique interest. Covers do or should depend on the content or genre of the book. For example, you'd generally see a picture of a man/woman or both for an adult romance novel or perhaps a dark eerie cover for a horror novel. Neither could be especially aesthetically pleasing for some audiences but it sets the mood for the book and gives that obvious warning on what the book will be about. In the case of mangas, their covers feature the main characters for most mangas if not all, and makes the book really eye-capturing and colorful. Personally, I read manga digitally but if I really enjoy the manga, I will purchase the physical copy just to have that enjoyment in owning a copy and looking at the covers. 

Bosman and Kidd - Kyu

I found both the text and video very interesting since, over the past few years, I had many times where I've contemplated whether to buy a physical book or an e-book. For the longest time, I was a big physical book person. Despite everyone recommending e-books to me, I never believed them until I got myself one. Personally, I believe that regardless of how nicely a book is designed, more people are shifting towards e-books unless they just enjoy reading on paper. What I mean by this is that I think people choose physical books not because of the design but just the feel. For example, my parents both read a lot, but I've never seen them choose a book because of its nice cover. They simply choose a book because it looks interesting to them, and once they finish reading it, they move on to the next. The idea of choosing books based on the cover reminds me of the term "tsundoku" (combination of tsundoku and dokusho), which refers to the act of buying books and piling them up without reading them, basically to make yourself feel better for having a bunch of books. I'm not too sure how effective nice book covers are in convincing book lovers to buy them, considering how convenient e-books have become. 

Still, the idea of cover designers being an interpreter and translators for the text was very intriguing. I had never fully put my thought into the idea of deriving the design of the book from the text, or rather, I had never thought that so much thought was put into cover designs. For example, designing the title 'dry' to look wet with the intention of wanting the book to look like it's lying to the reader. Designing the cover of 1Q84 for the readers to see the person straddling two planes of existence. Although I'm skeptical about how effective a good cover design will help with increasing sales of physical books in the future, I certainly wish that this stays around, so people can continue to appreciate books and the art of it. 

Bosman and Kidd Comments - Kadin

This week's reading puts "judging a book by its cover" to another meaning. I've always thought that a book cover should reflect the contents of the book instead, but I am pleasantly surprised by the innovative ways Kidd designs covers which allow the reader to interact with the cover itself (for example: Naked and 1Q84). Though it is important, as a consumer I've never really cared too much for the book cover itself, besides reading a synopsis of its contents from the back. I think that the genre of the book affects the style of the cover as well. Take manga for example, I would expect to see a cover that is reflective of the theme, like something creepy for a psychological horror series. I also think that the cover of the book requires the publisher to pander towards a certain demographic depending on the contents of the book. The most prominent example being that you will see books tailored for children to read to appear in bright colors, more often than not.

Quoting from Bosman, who is quoting from Ingram: “These extra fancy covers, if tastefully done, cause customers to notice the book, pick it up and look it over,” and “It works the other way too. A dull uninteresting cover can make people pass over the title.” Indeed, I definitely would not bat an eye towards a book that looks too simplistic in design. I believe that selling a book is half attracting someone to notice the book, and the other half is the content of the book itself. I think that it is quite ironic that a bestselling book requires you to also judge it by its cover in the first place.

Regarding my stance of digital vs physical, I definitely prefer reading a book physically compared to a digital version. As Kidd said, the feel of flipping the pages, and sniffing the book (I don't really like the way he says it) truly impacts your immersion into a book. The cover of a book definitely contributes to the pleasure of owning a book physically, rather than just simply downloading it. Particularly more so if it is a collection or a series.

Bosman and Kidd Response - Suis

I used to covet aesthetically pleasing book covers but as I’ve gotten older, I started to appreciate a more minimalist lifestyle especially having moved cross-country recently. Books have always been the heaviest things to transport in my moves and possessing so many has felt like a burden. I found myself downsizing my book collection and I plan to purchase Ebooks from now on so I don’t find the marketing strategies that Julie Bosman writes of so effective (personally). Still, it is interesting to know what thought goes into making a book more visually pleasing for a consumer. Moreover, Chip Kidd’s take on the experience of a physical book as an olfactory and visual experience was interesting.

I found Kidd’s analogy for visual translation enlightening. Kidd says of book cover designing as “a distillation, [...] a haiku of the story” and that it is the designer’s job to be an “interpreter and a translator” for the text. I found his book covers to be excellent visual translations for the texts in question, especially his cover for 1Q84. This allows me to view translation from another creative perspective–translation as an endeavor to make the text more immediately (and visually) attractive to an audience. Translation is art, and a form of art that must consider the audience in order to sell. Furthermore, Kidd says it is his “job to put content into form”–something I find applies to translating creative texts as well. I’m currently translating a poetry book, and I begin by transliterating the text (content), then finally attempting to put it into a more concrete form that reads as poetry for an English audience.

Bosman and Kidd

Chip Kidd mentioned that a book designer has to be a translator for the book and I think that is a interesting way of thinking about book cover design and it is true in a way. Book cover design requires the designer to translate the content into form/a visual representation. Funnily, Kidd talked about Type101’s exercise where you are given a word and you have to represent the meaning of the word in its type, and I did have to do that exercise in the Intro to Typography class I took. There is a lot of choices to be made for type in a book and even more choices for the cover. 

I agree that an attractive book cover can appeal to readers. I used to read a lot of physical books up until high school, at which point I started reading manga and webnovels online, and usually the book cover and title are what informs my decision to pick up the book and look at the summary. Readers can interact with physical books in ways that they can’t with e-books; for example, sniffing as mentioned by Kidd, flipping the pages and seeing everything in the book, using a bookmark and so on. To be honest, I like the feel of physical books and flipping through the pages a lot more than digital ones; however, I’ve been reading on my electronic devices in recent years because there are translations available online and it is a lot more convenient to find and read stories I’m interested in. Interestingly, a webnovel cover doesn't influence my interest in the webnovel because the focus is on the content, but a manga/comic cover does influence my interest in the manga because of the visual nature of the medium. Bosman stated, “If e-books are about ease and expedience, the publishers reason, then print books need to be about physical beauty and the pleasures of owning, not just reading.” I agree because I would love to collect physical copies of webnovels/manga I like just for the sake of having them in person and being able to flip through them; I would appreciate a good cover design. The way physical books, especially multiple volumes of books, line up on a shelf is very charming (the Buddha volumes that Kidd showed is very clever), and e-books can’t replicate that charm.

This really depends on the book and my intentions with the book, but regarding the cover design, I think books don’t necessarily need “premium design elements.” I want to be able to read the book and not worry about ruining the premium elements. In addition, the difference in price between paperback and hard cover is considerably high (I usually buy paperback due to price and ease of flipping through) and I don’t want physical books to become inaccessible due to higher price from the premium elements. 

Tiffany

Bosman Kidd on Book Covers

 While it’s true a beautiful book would attract attention, I’m not sure having fancier, higher quality paper, exquisite jackets, textures, colors would make me more interested in buying a book (to read). For novels, I prefer buying books with normal quality paper with no jackets simply because I like reading without having to worry about ruining the book due to poor handling. So more often than not, while a cover interests me and propels me to pick up the book to look at the summary or first chapter, I buy the book for its content and not the cover. On the other hand, for artbooks (anime, manga, game, movies), the visual appearance of the cover as well as it’s material, texture, lettering influences my decision to buy the book. I buy artbooks for their contents and covers. Similarly, for web-novels I read online that are later published—I consider the cover for the physical copy as well: since I already know the content, I would like to own a version with a cover I like.  

The video was really interesting to watch because in my typography course over the summer, we learned about some of the concepts Kidd talked about—representation of words via the typeface, etc. We also had to design a book cover for that class so Kidd’s thought process behind his book designs were quite enlightening to listen to. While I’m not that interested in book covers that don’t have character illustrations, I found his treatment of 1Q84’s cover really cool and clever. I also really liked the Buddha on the spines.

I do have to admit though, if I receive a book as a present, I will prefer a good looking cover unless I asked for that specific book.

Lesley

Elliot - Book Cover Response

 I definitely think that I, as a consumer, am an example of the demographic that this sort of strategy targets. Since I read a lot of manga through unofficial fan scans/translations before they're actually licensed, I end up doing the majority of my reading on my phone and laptop. I then usually end up buying the physical copies of series I enjoy, even if I don't necessarily plan on rereading them. Even when I do want to reread them, I sometimes do it on my phone simply because of convenience. So, while it feels a bit shallow to say this, the cover art of a book I enjoy is fairly important to me. Even outside of buying physical copies of books, I really like to collect artbooks for games, anime, and manga I enjoy. Many of them are scanned and posted online as well, but there's something special to me about appreciate the art when it's printed in a physical book. I actually brought one of them to my dorm, and I still browse it occasionally.

After watching the video, I started to think about how the cover designs of visual media take a different approach to cover design as opposed to the fairly abstract designs Mr. Kidd featured in his presentation. After all, when you already have eye-catching character designs and imagery made for the work, you might as well use it on the cover. I do wish I saw more creative covers, though. While it's not quite in the same vein, I remember it being mentioned in the extras section of The House in Fata Morgana that the cover was intentionally designed to be misleading and disguise the later plot twists of the game. Incidentally, the artbook I have next to me is for The House in Fata Morgana. Anyway, other than that, I haven't seen many covers that stand out to me recently.