Art + Design + I Design Stuff + Music + Movies + Books

Judging Books by Their Covers.

CBS News Sunday Morning did a very nice segment yesterday about book covers, including insight into the design/marketing process, some talk about the impact of eBooks on cover design, and commentary from Peter Mendelsund and Chip Kidd. I wish they’d gone a little deeper into exactly how the design process might change when eBooks increase in popularity, but I suppose that’s a discussion for another audience.

Thanks to everyone who emailed and tweeted the link to me—I wouldn’t have seen the segment otherwise. It was fun to see a couple of my covers on screen (if only for a second or two!), as well as the work of several of my colleagues.

If you’re interested in this stuff, see also:
Is Your E-Book Reading Up On You? (All Things Considered/NPR)
End Of Days For Bookstores? Not If They Can Help It (Morning Edition/NPR)

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10 Comments

  • Reply Janet December 20, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    Good informative story.

  • Reply Amy W December 20, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Thanks for all the links, I am starting to get a bit tired of all the questions about how E books are going to put me out of a job. I guess I just feel a little funny about the whole thing. I try to stay on top of all of this stuff but sometimes it is just hard to read story after story about how the job you love will no longer exist. So the NPR story gave me a bit of a smile about as I head off to work today.

    • Anna @ D16 December 20, 2010 at 1:13 pm

      Amy, did you see the post I wrote last month about Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Tree of Codes? It might make you smile a little bit more. 🙂

  • Reply Amy W December 20, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    It was lovely, this is the time of year I love seeing all the folks that only come book shopping once a year and highlighting super beautiful books. My go to pick currently is
    http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780143118206-0
    check out a copy, it is sad and lovely and the author’s intro really makes her point that even though we can dream of far away places sometimes our home can be just as amazing.

    • Anna @ D16 December 20, 2010 at 1:19 pm

      I will definitely check it out, thank you!

  • Reply Amy W December 20, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    The authors other book
    http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781568988016-0
    is also a show stopper but for a small audience.

    • Anna @ D16 December 20, 2010 at 1:22 pm

      I’ve seen that book! It’s on my wish list — I didn’t realize it was the same author. Cool!

      I think I need to do an open post and just get a bunch of great book recommendations from everyone.

  • Reply Erika December 20, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    I loved this story. Although we’ve never met, I was watching this yesterday & thinking, “I hope Anna’s watching!”

  • Reply mel December 20, 2010 at 4:59 pm

    It’s so strange, I had been thinking about this ever since you started your project about answering questions about your job. (when is the next installment coming?)

    • Anna @ D16 December 21, 2010 at 8:36 am

      As soon as I have time, Mel! You’d be amazed how long it takes me to write those super-long posts. I have to do so much editing to keep them from being 10x as long! 😉

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