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.
No comments:
Post a Comment