Earliest Known Book Jacket Discovered

Oxford University’s Bodleian Library discovered what it thinks may be the oldest known book jacket. LINK

Early book jackets were not treated as the marketing pieces they are today–instead they were meant to be a means of protecting the book’s delicate binding from dirt and abrasions, which it fully covered much like the wrapper of a package… hence the term “dust jacket” I suppose?

10 Commandments for Good Design: Dieter Rams

 

 

 

 

Although there’s plenty of room for subjective interpretation on some of these points, Dieter Rams‘ points are nonetheless excellent reminders that as designers, our work is about transforming the product into the best that it can be, without the design getting in the way or drawing undue attention to itself. It’s been said many times before, and it’s still true: often the best design is invisible.  LINK

New Cover—Classic Toys Hall of Fame Book

I recently finished work on a complete design for a book produced in conjunction with Running Press and the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester. You may remember the Toy Hall of Fame from recent news, where they inducted a “stick” into their permanent museum exhibit. Curators ”praised its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child’s creativity.” Amen.  This was a really fun job to work on, and the Running Press folks helped turn it into a seriously nice end result.

 

The SAAB Logo—A Quick History

It’s not my intention to make this blog all about car logos, but they’re almost always a joy to look at (and I’m a sucker for anything cast in chrome). There are some interesting progressions here.  As expected, they each follow the graphic trends of their day, and some are certainly more successful than others.  SAAB began as an airplane manufacturer, reason enough to buy one if you ask me. I mean, how can you not like that stylized wing profile?  LINK.

 

The Wonderful World of Letterpress

If I were filthy rich and had no need for working, I’d still get out of bed in the mornings and go down to my basement (if I had one) and crank up my old Heidelberg letterpress (if I owned one) and commence to designing and printing hour upon hour upon hour. And I suspect that this would, for the most part, keep me happy until my dying day. Running a printing press is akin to working the soil–it’s dirty work, and laborious; your hands become fantastically covered in grime; there are moments of very real pain and frustration–but in the end when your job is complete, it is a feeling of immense satisfaction comparable to few others.  Letterpress printing is all the more wonderful because it is so real and so basic, and so mechanical. This little video is a wonderful tribute to this dying artform–enjoy…

 

Favorite Book Cover Designs of 2008

The Book Design Review has posted the winning cover designs for 2008, as voted for by readers of the BDR blog. The winning choice certainly isn’t the one I would have picked, although it’s certainly a nice enough cover. My fave–Obsession–did at least rank, although it didn’t make the top 3. I was also glad to see Against Happiness rank as well–both of these are ultra-simple designs that distill the greater idea down to its purest essence–which in my opinion often makes for quick communication and an excellent cover.  But, some very nice work overall by everyone involved!

Pedal Cars! Oh to Be 5 Again!

Sort of off subject (well, they count as nice industrial design), but I just love these!  Just look at how cool they are!  Makes me wish I was a kid again. No motor, no battery to charge, and built like a brick *#@%house. It’s all up to you–you wanna go faster, you just pedal harder! I had at least two of these growing up–a car and a tractor–and had the time of my life riding around on them. Yeah, they’re not cheap, but so what.  

Check out as well:  they also have planes, and tractors, and wagons, too!  LINK

David Drummond Interviewed by Tobias

One of my most favorite book cover designers–David Drummond–is interviewed by another excellent designer–Christopher Tobias–on Books Covered, Tobias’ personal blog. It’s a wonderful interview, and provides some great insight into the inner mind of yet another wonderfully creative individual. Chris has done some other good interviews as well, but Drummond happens to be a guy whose work I’ve followed for a number of years. Good reading for anyone interested in cover design–and thanks to both Chris and David for taking the time to put it together.

1930s – 1980s Pelican Covers

A very nice array of old Pelican book cover designs ranging from the 30s up to the 80s, hosted by (and thanks to) Things Magazine. Pretty amazing changes in design styles, especially within the last 20 years. The next logical thought is what will design styles look like in another 20 years? Good luck trying to figure that out. Whatever… for now, Enjoy!

Book Design Winners–Their Top 10 Typeface Choices

The American Association of University Presses (AAUP) holds an annual juried design show cataloging the best designs from across the country. FontFeed tallied the typefaces used from the past three year’s winners, and came up with a Top 10 list of fonts. The only surprise is… that there’s no surprise: classic choices top to bottom. While I wholeheartedly agree that there are lots of other choices out there, the alternatives aren’t typically going to show up in a Top 10 list. The classics are classic for a reason: they’re readable, predictable (in a good way), don’t draw too much attention to themselves, and work well in a variety of design situations. But trends do change, and I’m sure another review in a year or two will yield a couple new names. Meanwhile, you won’t go wrong with any on this year’s list.

A Fine Collection of Old Book Trade Labels

Excellent collection of old book trade labels can be found HERE, with thanks to SevenRoads.org for compiling all of these little gems in one place. Several really good designs, along with a bunch that are only average–but all of them interesting and worthy in some small way. “Publishers, printers, binders, importers, distributors and sellers of books–new, second-hand and antiquarian–used to advertise in this way their contribution to bringing the book to market.” The intention is to grow the collection, so it’ll be worth checking back in every so often.

Digging Deeper into the Art of Book Cover Design

A really excellent blog was recently started by Jason Gabbert at the DesignWorks Group: Cover Design Issues FaceOutBooks.com. The stated purpose is clear and simple:  ”This venue has been created to appreciate the practice of book cover design.”  An excellent designer in his own right, Jason has taken on the task of interviewing various cover designers about how they handled the design of various book covers, and then posting the responses on his blog–great insight for people such as myself who don’t work in a group environment every day. LINK  Keep up the good work, Jason.

More Cool Automobile Logos

Some of the coolest logos around can be found on cars, especially the classic ones… all that wonderful design cast in 3D chrome, then

mounted on vintage racing cars! These from the Monteray Historic Automobile Races are very worthy of a look, here.  Thanks to the photographer, Murilee Martin. Via BoingBoing.

Wonderful New Stop-Action Short from PES

A little outside the usual box, but this is so perfectly done it’ll just make you smile all over. Thanks to PES for creating such wonderful things…

Readius Book Reader’s Flexible Screen: Size Matters

The New York Times‘ technology section reports on the Readius reader–an electronic device that’s the size of a cell phone, but utilizes a flexible fold-out screen to allow viewing on a more convenient size window. The device is made primarily for reading books, magazines, newspapers, and mail. 

I’ve been watching the technological changes in electronic book readers with a curious eye. At some point, sooner rather than later I think, someone will enter the market with one that is compact and easily portable–and yet enough like a real book in the ways that are important to people–that the scales will finally tip, and the world of books and publishing will be forever changed, almost over night. Or at least, it will seem that way. The Readius is certainly approaching that milestone in some areas.

More to come on this in the near future, I’m sure. Thanks to Karen Horton at design:related for the post.

Penguin’s Wonderful “Great Ideas” Collection

Masterful design & typography displayed on David Pearson’s site showing all three volumes of Penguin’s “Great Ideas” philosophy collection. Beauty in simplicity… just magnificent. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3. Thanks again to BoingBoing for the find.

New York Street Artist Creates Creatures from Trash Bags

I absolutely love street art–it’s artistic expression in a very pure and unbridled form. However, this guy beats anything I’ve seen yet. Using trash bags mounted over subway grates, he creates animals that inflate each time a train passes through. It’s just mesmerizing… NY Magazine has a behind-the-scenes look at how he does it, here. Thanks to BoingBoing for the find.

The Outer Banks: A Little Vacation, a Little History

Back from vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where we had a great time, for the most part doing nothing but being lazy and laying on the beach. Did sneak in a bit of sight-seeing and photography, mostly toward the northern end of the islands, in a neat little community called Corolla.

Since I love all things old (especially architecture), and this being a design blog, I’m posting a couple images of some of the interesting things I was able to photograph. This area has unfortunately built up tremendously over the past several years, so there’s not a lot left to see. Still, if you venture out early enough in the morning, you can clearly imagine what must have been a very quiet peacefulness that existed many years ago.

The Life Saving Station was especially interesting. Once located in Kitty Hawk (south of Corolla), it stood very near the site of the Wright brothers’ flight. In fact, the gent who took that very famous photo of the Wright brothers’ plane worked in this very station. It was moved in 1986 to Corolla, and now functions as a real estate office. An agent who worked there was kind enough to let me in to have a look around–it’s furnished with many original artifacts from its early days. Very cool indeed.

50s Auto Nameplates Show Nifty Trends in Typography

Thanks to Mark Simonson, who provides some very cool images of 50s automobile nameplates that he took at a recent car show. Very nice, especially taken as a group. I could look at this sort of thing all day long, as it’s two things I love all rolled into one:  vintage cars and type.  Enjoy!

Book Reader Buying Survey Provides Interesting Results

The New York Daily Star provides some recent survey results about book readers that you might find interesting:

–11 percent of people like to read digital books.
–13 percent of those who would consider digital books are under age 30.
–6 percent of those who would consider digital books are over age 65.
–43 percent of people visiting bookstores go there looking for a specific title.
–77 percent who are looking for a specific title then go on to purchase more books.
–52 percent buy a book for its cover art (who says you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover?).
–49 percent are influenced by book reviews in their purchases.
–60 percent of purchases are influenced by recommendations from family and friends.
–35 percent of purchasers bought a book because of the quote on the cover.
–86 percent of purchasers buy books written by authors they like.
–49 percent of shoppers buy at both physical and online stores.

———————

I’d be willing to bet that more than 52% buy a book for its cover, or are at least swayed heavily by the cover art… I know I am. It makes a difference, even though it probably shouldn’t. But I’m glad it does.