Comments on Book Cover Reading and Video - Yang

The Ted Talk on book cover design was really interesting to watch. I enjoyed how Kidd thoroughly explained the reasoning behind each artistic choice he had to make while designing a book cover. It was also nice to be given a very brief summary of the book so that the book covers made sense. I did not know that this man was responsible for the famous Jurrasic Park logo design. It's crazy to think that it started as a book cover, and now the same design can be seen in Universal Studios worldwide. I also liked how there are so many layers (literally) to the 1Q84 cover. I wonder if that played a big part in how much the book sold in the United States. The cover for My Name is Red is very smart, but I'm not sure if it works that well. I would not have thought of the book cover the same way he described it if I were pulling the book out from my bookshelf. The cover also looks ridiculous once the book is out in the open. Overall, I liked the Ted Talk and it was short and informational. I thought he was trying too hard to be funny though, but that could be because I missed a lot of his jokes.

The reading covers a similar topic as mentioned in the videos regarding the increasingly popular e-book. I agree that the only way real books can fight back against the dominance of e-books is to design intriguing, eye-catching, and beautiful covers. Personally, I don't read a whole lot, but I enjoy going to bookstores just to see all the different intricate designs that people decide to use on book covers. It turns the whole bookstore into an art museum in a way. E-books will never be able to achieve that, at least not with the current technology. The textural aspect, as well as other physical elements such as feel and smell, are advantages of the paperback book, whereas e-books are all about convenience (and a bit of sustainability, I guess). I still prefer real books because staring at a screen for so long makes my eyes hurt. Also, it doesn't have the same sense of accomplishment when you're done reading an e-book compared to a paperback. I thought it was funny how "e" is an abbreviation for "e-book" in the industry, as if the latter isn't already short enough to pronounce.